Take up thy wrestling boots and walk - ECW: Three heads are better than two
Submitted by Pt2 on Wednesday, June 21, 2006 at 8:04 PM EST





Welcome once again to the column that likes to take its robe off and show the ladies what a real sexy man looks like, Take up thy wrestling boots and walk. I’m the man known to the truly ravishing wrestlers as a sweathog, Pt2, back once again from the sporting delirium of the World cup and Stanley cup that is my week, and guess what? I’m here to talk wrestling, so strap yourself in, get a grip on yourself, and prepare for a Rude Awakening.

I wonder how many more Rick Rude references I can throw out before I get sued. Probably not many. Still, the man was a legend. What a heel, we could use a showman like that today.

You could be forgiven for thinking that the only thing on my mind at the moment is Rick Rude, but you’d be wrong nonetheless. In fact, the one thing wrestling wise that is on my mind right now, is the branching out of the WWE, by their “resurrection” of the ECW brand. Obviously, there are a lot of questions floating around in my head, regarding the WWE’s ability to grant ECW their “extreme” status when they have to worry about sponsors, about what Paul Heyman will be able to do with a bigger budget than he has ever been given before…. Probably the sort of questions that anyone watching that has any interest in this new WWE “brand” (and yes, it does feel weird typing that) will have right about now.

It’s pretty understandable. Vince McMahon has admitted that he phoned Paul Heyman once ECW got on major TV the first time around and told him that they’d have to change much of their extreme content to appeal to a wider audience, and of course, sponsors. How much will Vince allow Paul’s men to get away with? I mean, every wrestling fan in the world over the age of 6 knows that Vince McMahon and WWE own ECW, so if we all know, I’m guessing it won’t be too hard for any of those groups that like to watch TV just to cause trouble and complain about it to come in and harass WWE sponsors about the content of ECW shows. It wouldn’t be the first time that pressure groups have harassed a parent company over the content/actions of something that exists under their corporate umbrella. Remembering the sponsors furore that the WWE went through back in the attitude days, I think it’s a given that while we may get a few kendo stick shots, there is no chance that Paul E. will have the freedom to let his guys crucify each other on the air the way they did back when they answered to no-one but themselves. Whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing, I’ll leave you to decide.

With all that said and done, I still think it’s a fantastic move to bring back ECW.

I don’t say this as some kind of ECW mark. I’m sure a lot of people will be writing columns about how great/terrible and idea it is to bring back ECW and will be basing it on their fanatic love of the previous incarnation – I never shared that incarnation. I’m certainly not an ECW hater, I don’t agree entirely with Jerry Lawler when he said that ECW stood for Extremely Crappy Wrestling – but as a man who has never been the biggest fan of the “hardcore” style of wrestling, I would be a liar if I were to say that I am overly enamoured with ECW, and guys like the Sandman, for example.

But the thing Paul E. always used to do, that I do remember fondly about ECW, was that he would let the guys that could wrestle, wrestle. I think that was always a huge part of the appeal about ECW. A lot of their fans might look mystified were you to say that Sandman, Sabu, and Tommy Dreamer swinging barbed wire and throwing hand grenades at each other doesn’t exactly excite you, but at the same time there are a lot of fans (such as myself) who knew that turning on ECW would give you the chance to see some tremendous wrestlers, like Dean Malenko, Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, Tajiri, Mikey Whipwreck and Lance Storm.

I don’t see why Paul Heyman is going to change the classic formula that used to work for him – I can see him giving us some decent length matches on his show, because I think he appreciates how important it is to the overall show quality, and when done well, that it is the most effective way of getting people to buy a PPV. If he’s got control of the book, why would he suddenly stop doing it now, and if he’s not really got control of the book… or won’t have it for long… what’s the point of resurrecting ECW? Over a period of six months, no one is going to buy the Stephanie McMahon version of ECW, and ratings will be as bad as or worse than the worst ratings that the old “b” shows used to get.

But this added time for wrestling basically falls into part of a two pronged chain of thought that makes me think it’s a fantastic move. Actually, I don’t know how many chains have prongs. Maybe it should be a two pronged fork of thought? Meh, I’ve thought about this metaphor too much. Back to wrestling.

Obviously, the first (prong, but lets not get back to that) is, as I’ve just said, that the guys whose strength is in ring will be given the chance to wrestle and win us over using their grappling ability.

The second is that the WWE has a huge roster, and there were a lot of guys getting next to no time on shows that a sizeable number of the audience actually watched. Come on, how many people that watched RAW actually watched Heat? You know what it told those people that didn’t watch Heat every time they mentioned a Raven or Val Venis Heat victory when they had their brief flashes on RAW? It told the casual fans that this guy was minor league, and not worth the interest that you could put on the main event guys. OK, so we know that they had no interest in pushing guys like Raven (still a complete mystery to me), but there’s a difference between not pushing guys the way their talent deserves and basically pointing out to people that the man on your screen is not considered a star; and if the company doesn’t consider them a star, who watching is?

ECW will take some of that away. It’ll attract a wider audience for obvious reasons, and primarily, it won’t be a “B” show for a larger brand, so as a consequence, there will be more wrestlers getting more TV time, they will be seen by more people, and they won’t be seen as the minor league players in a big pond, but rather as a brand and identity in their own right.

Unfortunately, as I watched the premiere of ECW, one thing I do think needs to happen before it can reach it’s maximum potential, is that the separation between ECW and the other brands needs to be more complete, and needs to happen quickly. In this early stage, I can appreciate the cross brand shows as a way of starting the show off, but ultimately I think ECW has a handicap that the other shows don’t have: you will always be aware, subconsciously, that ECW is owned by WWE. The other two brands have never had to pretend that they are not, but ECW has to act as somewhat more hostile to the WWE, but ultimately we know that it is an act while they are under the WWE umbrella, and it is WWE money keeping them on the air.

That is a problem. But it’s easily rectified. As Paul Heyman said on the Rise and Fall of ECW DVD, “We couldn’t compete with WWE and WCW on lighting, so we didn’t go there”. And that’s all they need to do here. We’ve got a problem where it’s always going to be somewhat unbelievable that WWE and ECW brands hate each other and want each other off the air? Simple, don’t go there. Separate the two brands, and except where you move wrestlers between the two shows (as is WWE policy when they want to freshen things up) don’t even acknowledge the others existence. ECW survived for years without having to feud with WWE, in fact their best stuff almost always came with guys on their own show.

So when ECW loses the “invasion” style angle, and starts to feel more like a show in it’s won right as opposed to a sub-show of Monday Night Raw, hopefully, a few things will happen. Hopefully, a lot of the fans of Paul Heymans’ work who’ve not watched wrestling so much since the initial demise of ECW will turn back onto wrestling and we can get a healthier climate again. Also, hopefully a lot of guys like Tommy Dreamer and Stevie Richards who’ve not gotten their chance in the WWE can get the TV time that they deserve. Hopefully, a lot of the younger guys coming through can benefit from some time in ECW, where with Heyman in charge, we can only assume things will be done a little more “old school” than the modern day WWE policy of creating generic wrestlers. Hopefully, the splitting of the roster three ways will help to break down the problem that the WWE has had since the acquisition of the WCW and ECW rosters, that of getting enough of the workers on TV as to justify holding them and not wasting their talent.

I’d like to think that some more guys will join the ECW roster shortly, and that when the brand stops being so interdependent with RAW, it can become a highlight of the wrestling week all of it’s very own. I know a lot of ECW fans will be horrified by the thought of “ECW” programming financed and owned by Vince McMahon, but I’m optimistic for the future. At the risk of this being a case of “famous last words”, what’s the worst that can happen?

Ok, I’m finished on this one. Hope you enjoyed it. If you’d like to contact me, you can do so at takeupthywrestlingboots@gmail.com and I reply to all feedback I receive.

Until next time, take care

Pt2









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