Posted in: Hustle Is Posting Right Now Hustle Is Posting Right Now: Volume 32 ("Save ECW" Edition)
By Hustle
Feb 8, 2009 - 7:07:30 PM
Noc, you know you're a beast for this
"I'm focused, vision clear as a flat screen.."
This week's intro line is brought to you by Ya Boy, one of my favorite rappers out right now. Welcome back to the column that gets the lab cookin like a Pyrex pot.. yes, ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to Hustle Is Posting Right Now. If this is HIPRN, and I'm sitting here typing away, then that must make me Hustle, celebrating my one-year anniversary of being a main page columnist for LoP. Here's to several more years. Well, one month is down now, and we're getting closer to the end of 2009 already. Well, we're not all that close yet, of course, but it sure feels like time is moving quickly. Time moved so quickly that I'm posting this column a couple days late. Some things came up at the last minute, and I had to skip my usual Friday afternoon (my time) posting, but damnit, here I is, and here I's be. Once again, time is money, so, uh, I think it's about that time. Shall I proceed? (Yes, indeed.) Less dew eet!!
The new WWE branded version of ECW has seen its fair share of ups and downs in its short time in existence. From a start that included some of the most ridiculously stupid characters in history, to some great wrestling, to Chris Benoit, to the rise of a megastar in CM Punk, and everything in between. Every Tuesday night, I would make it my duty to park my ass on the couch and tune my TV to the Sci-Fi Network for an hour of ECW action, through the good and the bad times.
I'm finding it harder and harder to do that now, however. Watching ECW is becoming more of a chore as the weeks go on. I still record it, but I find myself fast forwarding through the DVR and getting through the entire show in less than ten minutes. There usually aren’t any more than four matches, and none of the matches last any longer than your run-of-the-mill televised Women's match, which isn't very long, of course. The backstage segments are just wastes of time, no matter who is involved in them. Basically, the show is nothing but a hot mess these days. A lot of changes need to be made for the show to become watchable again, and for the brand to gain some credibility. I figured that this was as good a time as any to share the things that I think need to take place to try and bring respectability to the ECW name once again. First and foremost, I think a large percentage of columnists who would try and tackle this topic would choose the following words as their very first step in the rebuilding process:
- Place Paul Heyman completely in charge of the brand
I, however, am not going to go down that route, as easy as it would be. In a more "realistic" scenario, that would never work, as Heyman is more of his own man than anything else, and having 800 people working above him just doesn't mesh with his style and personality all that well. There's a part of me that wanted the first step to be the following:
- Place Gabe Sapolsky completely in charge of the brand
For those of you scratching your heads right now, Gabe Sapolsky was, until a few months ago, the sole member of the Ring Of Honor booking team, and was almost single-handedly responsible with creating all the storylines, booking the matches, posting on the message board, and hell, he probably packaged some of the DVDs and shipped them off to people that bought them. However, he was also one of Paul Heyman's Right Hand Men in the original ECW, so putting him in place wouldn't be some huge stretch or anything. I'm still not putting him in charge, though. That's nothing against the guy, but I'm trying to be as real as possible here, and I just don't see Vince McMahon hiring Gabe Sapolsky anytime soon, let alone to place him in charge of ECW.
No, good readers, I'm going to start by attacking the roster. There are currently a total of 11 workers on the ECW roster, with one of them (Evan Bourne) not even being an active wrestler at the moment. That's ridiculous. The brand needs more people on it, simple and plain. Thankfully, both Raw and Smackdown have some names that don't have anything going for them, or would just fit better with ECW. That is why another Draft needs to take place, sooner rather than later. Well, maybe not even a Draft, as things don't need to be shaken up from top to bottom in the company. In response to internet criticism, however, I'd have it so that Teddy Long complains about ECW always being on the receiving end of a raw (no pun intended) deal, in that he has his wrestlers appear on Raw and Smackdown, while it never works out the other way around. That's basically true, as you'll always see The Miz & John Morrison wrestling on both Monday and Friday nights, but it's extremely rare to tune in on Tuesdays and watch Shawn Michaels or The Big Show in matches. Maybe Teddy could complain on TV about it, and then make a call and/or visit to Vince McMahon (after the Orton storyline, of course), and this would lead to Vince sending some people from Raw over to ECW, and then making Vickie Guerrero send some folks over from Smackdown, as well. Props to "The Fink", Howard Finkle, for blogging exactly what I've been thinking for a while.. that MVP would benefit greatly from a jump to ECW. Even though his lengthy losing streak is over, and he seems to be back on the right track again, some fresh scenery would do wonders for the guy and his character. MVP isn't the only guy I'd have sent to Tuesday nights, though. I'd also send the following wrestlers, in no particular order:
- Charlie Haas
- Scotty Goldman
- Manu
- Jimmy Wang Yang
- R-Truth
- Mr. Kennedy
- William Regal
- Vladimir Kozlov
- Jamie Noble (unless he's already an active ECW member after his appearance this past week)
Even with the new batch of wrestlers, they'd still be able to make occasional appearances on Raw and Smackdown, just like how it is now, but it would need to be more for a "special" reason, or if they win titles on either show (the example there being Miz & Morrison). Along with the above mentioned names, ECW would still be the place for most of the newly called-up talent from FCW to debut. This is where current FCW Heavyweight Champion, Eric Escobar, comes in, as well as newly debuted Kaval, better known to most wrestling fans as Low-Ki or Senshi. Both men fit the direction that I'd be trying to take ECW in, so both men would make impacts upon their debuts. Speaking of debuts, Vince McMahon should reach out to Ring Of Honor and see what it would take for Bryan Danielson to sign on the dotted line for a brief stint in FCW before shaking hands with Teddy Long on ECW one week. While browsing through the RoH roster, Vince could inquire about other wrestlers, as well, but I'm just going to go ahead and focus on Danielson for now, because I truly and honestly think he'd make a great ECW Champion. It might be somewhat of a long shot, but perhaps a conversation could even be started that would strike up some sort of a partnership with RoH and the ECW branch of WWE, with various RoH guys making occasional appearances in ECW, and vice versa. It would help ECW (and WWE, in general) by providing fresh talent on TV from time to time, and it would help RoH by having some bigger names on their shows to help with ticket sales, DVD purchases, etc.
With the new wrestlers on board, having one hour of televised wrestling a week makes it difficult for everyone to get their fair share of air time. I thought back to the old ECW and how they wouldn't have all of their major stars on every episode of their shows. You might tune in one week and not have Rob Van Dam appear at all, and when you tuned in the next week, Taz wouldn't be there whatsoever, etc. That may or may not work in this day and age, but it's still something I would try and have happen, just to prevent shoving certain wrestlers down people's throats, and to make sure the younger talent gets the proper amount of time to try and create some sort of a connection with the audience. I'm not saying to have two guys in a heated feud one week, only to not get on TV for another two weeks. It would just be a way of getting more people on TV, giving them more of an opportunity to win over crowds in one way or another, all while making some of the "big" names have more of a "big" feel to them because it would mean that much more when they do make appearances. As a bonus to live event crowds, you could even have a pre-show or post-show match involving people that weren't on TV that week.
Another route to go with the lack of TV time would be to run a monthly show on Sci-Fi that would be like ECW's version of Saturday Night's Main Event or Clash Of The Champions. Let's face it.. ECW isn't exactly getting a lot of exposure on WWE pay-per-views, and a new show like this would help out in that area tremendously. It could be a two-hour event, and like the aforementioned SNME/COTC cards, it would serve as a mini-PPV of sorts. It wouldn't cost people to buy it, obviously, being on Sci-Fi and all, but it would be another extension of the brand, all while allowing more matches, more exposure, more feuds, and more viewers.
With the addition to the roster, another problem becomes too many people fighting over the same title belt. The answer to that, of course, is bringing back a blast from the past.. the ECW TV Title. For those who weren't fans of the original ECW, it was ECW's equivalent to the Intercontinental or United States belts, as it was, more or less, a "midcard" belt, but it was still held in high regard, and at various points in time was even a more prestigious title than the ECW World Title. Some people may not think bringing a second title into the mix is a good idea, but I look at it like RoH's situation, where they only have the one singles title, and there are a few matches on every card that seem like they're there for no real reason. Every non-title match on your card can't be a "blood feud", so there needs to be a logical reason why Wrestler A is in the ring with Wrestler B, and why they're fighting.
I also think that ECW should be marketed more towards a particular type of audience, and not the ones that either Raw or Smackdown are geared towards. I'm not necessarily saying that the old-school ECW fan should be the coveted demographic, but just that the "smart" fan should be. Less focus on silly gimmicks or storylines, and more focus on people that can actually go in the ring, whether it's from a technical standpoint, brawling, or through high-flying. Yes, ECW does more of that than the other two brands, but I would up that just a notch. People like The Boogeyman, although he's vastly improved since he first debuted with the company, would be more of a part-time performer, unless he's given more of a "serious" edge of some sort. Personally, I'm entertained by the guy's gimmick, so it's not a knock on him whatsoever. It's just a matter of him not fitting the vision I have for the company at the moment. Perhaps a heel turn would be in order, or just something to make him a little less "cartoonish", I suppose.
So, let's take a brief look back at what I've mentioned thus far:
- The addition of various wrestlers from the Raw and Smackdown rosters
- Reaching out to Ring Of Honor for Bryan Danielson and/or other talent, and perhaps for a partnership of sorts
- Monthly Saturday Night's Main Event/Clash Of The Champions "megacard" on Sci-Fi
- Another singles title, along the lines of the old ECW TV Title
- Cater more towards the "smart" fan
When I was going through my proposed additions to the roster, the thought of William Regal VS Finlay taking place again ran through my head. Those two have had some really fun matches against each other over the years. Bryan Danielson against either one of those guys would be something special, in my opinion, especially Regal, who was one of the people who trained Danielson and brought him up in the business. Bryan Danielson and Scotty Goldman (Colt Cabana in RoH, for those who are new to the game) had a few really good matches a few years back. The RoH connections would be strong throughout, as there would be a bunch of guys who have put in work for the company over the years. After all the roster changes, and if I had my way, the "new" ECW roster would be as follows:
- Jack Swagger
- Finlay
- Mark Henry
- Evan Bourne
- DJ Gabriel
- Paul Burchill
- John Morrison
- The Miz
- The Boogeyman
- Ricky Ortiz
- Tommy Dreamer
- MVP
- Charlie Haas
- Scotty Goldman
- Manu
- Jimmy Wang Yang
- R-Truth
- Mr Kennedy
- William Regal
- Vladimir Kozlov
- Jamie Noble
- Bryan Danielson
- Eric Escobar
- Kaval
That's a total of 24 wrestlers, which, for you non-math wizards out there, is more than twice the amount of people that are on the roster now. When you look at the fact that a normal episode of ECW consists of a half-dozen or so people, that leaves more than enough wiggle room when it comes to making matches and keeping things a helluva lot fresher than they are now. It's also a nice number of people to have if you're going to have the proposed two-hour "megacard" once a month.
I would definitely keep the commentary tandem of Todd Grisham and Matt Striker. Grisham isn't bad, and he has a nice bit of chemistry with Striker, while Striker is as close to Joey Styles on commentary as anyone has been since Styles himself. If he's willing to do it, you could even get Styles to do the commentary work for the monthly two-hour show, just for shits and giggles, although it wouldn't be a must or anything.
Would all of these ideas take a lot of effort? Of course. Do I expect any of these ideas to actually take place? No, not really, although I am expecting some roster moves to take place soon. However, that obviously didn't stop me from putting in a lot of work in thinking about these things. It just bothers me to see what has become of ECW every week. They're a shell of what they were, even a couple short months ago. My ideas won't get them to rise to the level of either Raw or Smackdown, but they could definitely help break up the monotony of what watching wrestling on Tuesday nights has become.
Fin.
Writer's Note: Georges St-Pierre proved that he is the best pound-for-pound fighter in the MMA world (sorry, Anderson Silva fans) with an absolutely dominating performance against BJ Penn this past weekend. The outcome of the fight wasn't necessarily a surprise (yes, I picked Penn, but it was a close call with most people going into the show), but the lopsidedededededness of the fight was definitely a shock. The early talk is that St-Pierre beat Penn into a bit of an early retirement, and I sincerely hope that isn't true. If he decides to stick around, a Lightweight Title defense against "KenFlo" himself, Kenny Florian, will most likely be his next move. That has the potential to be a really good fight, and in the interest of always seeing good fights, I'm down for that, no doubt. Back to the St-Pierre fight, though.. this state was just about shut down for that event, folks. I was watching the pay-per-view, and when I muted the TV, I could still hear it coming from several homes in my general vicinity. When BJ lost, this state might as well have sank into the ocean. People were walking around afterwards as if they were attending a funeral. Hopefully, BJ decides to stick around a while longer, because he's still a world-class fighter, but if he does walk away, it's been a great ride for "The Prodigy", and the residents of Hawaii will continue to love and support him in whatever he does.
Writer's Note Part Deux: That was a great Super Bowl, folks. Not quite the best one of all-time, and not even as good as last year's matchup (in my opinion, anyway) between the New England Patriots and New York Giants, but it was easily in the top half-dozen or so, and the entire fourth quarter may be the best overall quarter in Super Bowl history. The Arizona Cardinals offense proved that the Pittsburgh Steelers defense could actually look somewhat vulnerable, and even in a loss, the Cardinals shocked the world and earned a lot of respect from me. That's saying a lot, considering the fact that I should hate the Cardinals (division rivals to my San Francisco 49ers). Congratulations to the Pittsburgh Steelers, and to any Steelers fans reading this right now. To you Cardinals fans, your team has the makings of a possible dynasty in the NFC, with damn near all of their talent being young, as well as a large amount of money that will be available to spend in the offseason. First things first, though.. they need to do absolutely everything in their power to re-sign WR Anquan Boldin to a long-term deal, because, without him, Larry Fitzgerald is in a world of trouble on the other side of the field. Losing both their Offensive and Defensive Coordinators in a single offseason might hurt, but it hasn't exactly been an organization killer in recent years, as the Steelers (Mike Tomlin and Ken Whisenhunt) and New England Patriots (Romeo Crennel and Charlie Weis) will attest to. It's going to be fun following and keeping track of the offseason, including my single favorite sporting event of the entire year, the NFL Draft. While we're on the subject of the NFL Draft, I'm going to be the first columnist in LoP history (the first wrestling columnist, period, perhaps?) to do a full-fledged NFL Draft preview. When I say "full-fledged", I mean it.. a multiple-round Mock Draft, previews, research, a look ahead to the 2010 Draft, etc. Look out for that a week or two before the Draft takes place.
Writer's Note Part Ekolu: On a related, yet unrelated, note.. the CareerBuilder.com Super Bowl commercial is hilarious. You know.. the one where the narrator is listing all the things that will indicate when it's time for you to find a new job. Watching the koala bear get punched in the face may go down in history as the hardest and longest (no homo) that I've ever laughed at any commercial ever created. I nearly had to stab myself in the thigh with the stylus for my cell phone just to take my mind off of watching the koala get straight mollywhopped. If you haven't already seen the commercial, YouTube it or something, because it's friggin ridiculous. There's no real reason for me adding this to my column, other than to take up space, and because I like to share with you, my readers.
Writer's Note Part Quattro: I've mentioned his name in my columns before, but for those of you that are fans of college football, and especially those of you that are fans of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, be thankful that LB Manti Te'o has just signed his letter of intent to play for Coach Charlie Weis next season. Because someone asked me after I last mentioned him, and for those of you not aware yet, the guy's name is pronounced like Man-Tie Tay-Oh. I've heard people pronouncing it 10 or 12 different varieties of wrong, so I figured I'd throw it out there for everyone to know the proper way to talk about homeboy. Anyway, he's the #2 overall recruit on ESPNU's Top 150 list, and he'll make an impact for Notre Dame from the very first time he steps on the field for them. He has sideline-to-sideline speed, perhaps the best instincts of any LB recruit to come out of high school in the last few years, is a solid tackler, and has legit LB size already at between 6'2"-6'3" and 230-235 pounds. He's a special talent, and he'll be the best defender on the Irish by midseason, if he isn't already. Sure, people here would've liked it if he went to either USC or UCLA, since they were his final choices that are closest to home, but we're just happy that we get to watch the guy every week with Notre Dame's TV contract.
Writer's Note Part Five: Damn, I could just about write an entirely different column out of these here Writer's Notes this week. Anyway, to all of you out there who have been trying to crucify Barry Bonds for the last few years, saying he's a "cheater" and a "disgrace" to the game of baseball, all while praising Alex Rodriguez for being clean and for the way he handles his business, I merely have this to say.. eat a dick. Fuck Alex Rodriguez. Let's take his fucking name out of the record books while we're at it, since that's what everyone has been saying about Bonds throughout this entire steroids scandal. Anyone trying to spin this into some sort of a positive for A-Fraud is damn near as full of shit as Rodriguez himself. As someone who has never liked the guy, I'm loving this entire thing.
What Hustle Is Listening To Right Now: "Day N Nite" by Kid Cudi.. "Lost" by Gorilla Zoe.. "Loving Arms" by Mario Winans.. "Triumph" by Wu Tang Clan.. "Hurricane" by The Click.. "The Greatest" by Chamillionaire.. "You're The Only One" by Eric Benet.. "All Bets On Ace" by Ace Hood (I know that I list this long pretty frequently in this section of my columns, but damnit, I hear it and it gets me all pumped up like just about no other song can, and when the beat actually kicks in, I feel like going and dropkicking a fuckin fuck in the face four or five times).. "Bring The Pain" by Method Man.. "I Need Love" by Sterling Simms & Jadakiss.. "I Need Love" by Lloyd & The Dream.. "Player's Prayer" by Lloyd.. "Dope Boy (Remix)" by Lupe Fiasco, Kardinal Offishall, & Wale.. "Go On Girl" by Ne-Yo.. "She's Got A Way" by Billy Joel (yup).. "Food, Clothes, Medicine" by Aesop Rock.. "Free Fallin" by Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers (yup).. "Culo" by Pitbull & Lil Jon.. "Go DJ" by Lil Wayne.. "American Superstar" by Flo Rida & Lil Wayne.. "Birthday (Remix)" by Flo Rida, Rick Ross, & Brisco.. "Fallin" by Alicia Keys.. "93 Til Infinity" by Souls Of Mischief.. "T.R.O.Y." by Pete Rock & CL Smooth.. "The Cypha" by The Game, Ya Boy, Juice, Jay Rock, K-Dot, & Dubb
The numbers just keep piling up, and we've gone through yet another HIPRN banger. You know, without these columns, I think I would've went crazy a long time ago. Fuck, these are fun to write. I just hope they're half as fun to read. I need to hurry and get the fuck out of here soon, but be on the lookout next week for something involving love (Valentine's Day and all). Well, it might not have anything to do with love, but at this very second, that's the idea. Things change, though, so there's no real guarantees on what next week's topic will end up being, but hopefully, I can get it posted on my usual Friday deadline. Yup, I'm going to try and make this a quick week, just to push myself a bit harder. Either way, keep your peepers peepin for the next column by yours truly. Until then, from the land of lifted trucks, I bid you farewell. Well, one last thing before I finally do get out of here.. you're a lucky bastard, Chepo. You get to attend the Raw where both Ric Flair and The Undertaker will make appearances? Have a good one. Get at me. Alright, now I'm bidding farewell. Aloha and Mahalo Nui Loa.
”I'm exceedin expectations, you barely meetin quota.. I give it to em straight, you cut it with baking soda..”
"I don't walk in fear. I walk as fear."
"See, that's the difference between you and I.. you get money, and you get crazy.. I get crazy, and I get money..”
