Take up thy wrestling boots and walk - The perfect formula?
Submitted by Pt2 on Tuesday, February 6, 2007 at 4:24 PM EST





Since its Tuesday, that means ECW hits our screens again tonight. So why not take a closer look at the company’s often forgotten show?

Because it may be one of the last chances we get to take a look at it. At the end of January, reports were reaching the internet about the internal belief that ECW would soon be a thing of the past. If the chairman of the company is ranting about show quality backstage, and meetings are being called…. Combined, they’re not a good sign. It wasn’t the most popular wrestling program on TV to begin with, and now it has competition: Wrestling Society X on MTV got a debut rating that wasn’t a million miles away from ECW, which let’s remember, is an established show.

The imminent loss of Rob Van Dam, which although isn’t confirmed, is more than a slight possibility, and it really kicks the roster where it hurts. With RVD on his way out, and the recent rumours regarding the possible release of Sandman and Sabu, ECW would have very little of it’s own identity left – while the announce team would sound like ECW, and the bunting would say ECW, there would be nothing in the ring to make it feel like ECW. Also, in losing RVD, they lose the biggest star on the brand. Bobby Lashley is the WWE’s elected golden boy for the show, but the fact remains, the fans of the show can get more behind ECW original Van Dam. Also, Lashley would be isolated as the only roster member with any star power. He’d be left alone with Test and Hardcore Holly. Won’t that be fun to watch.

But ECW hasn’t been kicked to the kerb, TNN Style, just yet. To help out, Dusty Rhodes has been moved across from Smackdown! And will be working with head writer Dave Lagana. Dusty has a bit of a bad rep from his WCW days, but let’s not forget how crazed things were back there. If you look at the consensus on Dusty Rhodes, the one thing that seems to appear more often than not is his creativity. Put into a situation where that creativity can be controlled, and harnessed, as opposed to “clusterfucking” as it did in the WCW days, then Dusty could be a very big positive for a flagging brand. His work on Smackdown! With Michael Hayes is apparently very highly rated right now.

The structure in which Dusty will be working will make or break ECW creatively over the coming months. Dave Lagana, as a writer from outside the wrestling industry, will either stifle Dusty’s style, or help take Dusty’s ideas from an old school mentality and transform them to suit the demands of the modern wrestling show. Also, as a fan of the old ECW, Lagana may help to dust off some of the tradition of Dusty’s ideas and will be aware of the need for everything in ECW to feel fresh and innovative, if it is going to really feel like ECW.

Combine that with the surprising amount of attention Vince McMahon has been paying to the brand recently, appearing on it himself, as opposed to the company’s flagship show, RAW. It seems rather than scrapping ECW for the time being, the big dog wants one more shot at making it fly, using himself as one of the most recognisable names in wrestling, to give the company a bit of a rub. If Dusty and Lagana’s work is accepted and shaped by the Vince McMahon that beat WCW rather than the Vince McMahon that we’ve seen more recently, who knows what could happen. For the first time, McMahon actually has some pressure on him. Not so much from the MTV show, but this is the first time one of his shows has been close to dying since the death of WCW, and we all know Vince works best with his back to the wall. It’s a common mistake to believe that wrestling is cyclical – the reality of it is that Vince McMahon only has to perform to save himself, his money, or his reputation, in cycles. Wrestling boomed in the eighties, because Vince McMahon had all his money in his grand scheme to take over wrestling, and he had to win. Wrestling boomed in the late nineties because Vince was being run into the ground by the one guy who’d had the balls and the talent to challenge him, and Vince had to win to save the company he’d built up. If ECW dies, some of his reputation as the genius of professional wrestling will be diminished, and I think Vince knows that.

I’m still not convinced all this can be enough to make the show a tremendous watch. Someone will either have to stand up and be counted (a CM Punk or Tommy Dreamer, perhaps) to give the fans someone to really get behind, but there are certainly positive signs.

Vince McMahon vs. ECW Originals may be a new version of the many McMahon vs. Wrestler feuds we’ve seen before, but it creates a demonised heel and a united fanbase very quickly.

Combine the presence of Dusty Rhodes (widely acknowledged as a creative genius), Dave Lagana (professional writer) and Vince McMahon (enough said), and I have to ask the question: Could this be the perfect formula to make ECW fly?

Actually, the answer is no. The only perfect, guaranteed way to make ECW fly again, would be if it were in the hands of Paul Heyman, and there were no corporate structure to heavily censor their product. But in the current wrestling and social climate that is not going to happen. With that in mind, I think ECW could be in worse hands than Dusty Rhodes. Considering how badly Paul Heyman works with WWE backstage, as long as ECW is WWE controlled, Dusty may even be the best man alive for the job.

But there is still a hell of a lot of work to do there.

Just a short look today. To be honest, I don’t think there is much more to say on the subject. I wish them all the best; I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again here, a healthy, booming ECW would only be a benefit for the company. Anyway, if you want to comment about anything that I’ve written here, I’d be glad to receive your mail at takeupthywrestlingboots@gmail.com

Take care

Pt2









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