ECW was a true product of its time and the counterculture promotion served as an alternative to WWE and WCW. Paul Heyman began his legacy as a wrestling genius by making the creative decisions that changed the industry. Fans no longer had to accept the stale mainstream products of the mid-1990s as the only option for wrestling.
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Although everyone remembers ECW for its hardcore violence, Paul Heyman still put together some amazing storylines.
However, time passes and things get lost over time. The end of ECW in 2001 and the fact that its history was written by WWE productions led to some misunderstandings. Wrestling fans understand the following things about ECW when talking about the defunct promotion.
The FTW Championship has been around for a long time
Belt now has a longer history with AEW than during the ECW run
- The FTW Championship was created as part of the Taz story
- ECW only used the FTW Championship for ten months
- AEW has maintained the FTW Championship for over years
Taz’s introduction of the FTW Championship to ECW and its return to AEW led many fans to believe the belt’s history lasted longer than it actually did. ECW only used the FTW Championship for about ten months as part of Taz’s storyline.
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Taz wanted to prove he was superior to the ECW Championship when he didn’t get a title shot. ECW ended the match with only Taz and Sabu holding the belt. AEW has been using the FTW Championship for over four years now to make fans believe it was a bigger deal in ECW.
ECW fans only wanted violent hardcore matches
Heyman did a great job of having a variety of styles in the roster
- Hardcore wrestling was easy to use as a counterargument to ECW
- Fans still loved technical wrestlers with many great work rate classics
- Heyman hired international wrestlers and created a diverse roster of styles
One of the most obvious mistakes fans make with ECW is believing it is only about hardcore wrestling. ECW did not use disqualification matches and had many hardcore matches on the show that inspired the use of weapons.
However, there were many great wrestlers who put on strong matches. Names like Eddie Guerrero, Dean Malenko, Lance Storm and Jerry Lynn showed outstanding technical wrestling. Super Crazy, Tajiri and 2 Cold Scorpio pushed the boundaries with innovative styles that didn’t require weapons.
Kurt Angle wanted to sign before the offensive segment
When Angle left, the contract was far from being signed
- Angle appeared as a guest on ECW thanks to Shane Douglas and Taz
- ECW had planned individual segments before Angle left the show dissatisfied
- Angle was not close to entering professional wrestling at the time of the ECW show
Kurt Angle never worked for ECW, but he showed up one night to create a controversial storyline. The Olympic gold medalist had connections to Shane Douglas and Taz, as he commentated on a match and hosted an in-ring promo.
Raven’s infamous crucifixion of Angle with the Sandman insulted Angle so much that he left the event and demanded that his segments never air on ECW television. The story is lost in translation that Angle was close to joining ECW before this upset him, but he wasn’t there to negotiate a contract in the first place.
Paul Heyman founded and led ECW from day one
Tod Gordon was the founder who gave Heyman full power
- Tod Gordon owned and ran the ECW promotion before Heyman came along
- Heyman’s growing power led him to buy the company in 1995
- Gordon has spoken about being upset that WWE never mentioned him
ECW’s background is a little confusing, as Paul Heyman owned and ran it during its heyday. Tod Gordon was actually the original founder and owner of ECW, and had been since 1992 when it was still Eastern Championship Wrestling.
Heyman joined after his WCW tenure ended and was given the creative leadership role by Gordon. The move to Extreme Championship Wrestling was Heyman’s decision to move forward in wrestling. Heyman eventually bought ECW from Gordon in 1995 to take full ownership.
TNN ruined ECW’s product through censorship
ECW suffered more from a lack of advertising and commitment to partnerships
- ECW hoped that the TV deal with TNN would help them reach the next level
- TNN censorship-inspired plot of the network as a rogue faction
- TNN did not invest in ECW and let the promotion fail after the deal
The TNN spin-off of ECW is considered a death blow for the company, which lost its only national television contract despite fighting so hard for it. Paul Heyman was unhappy with TNN censoring certain aspects of ECW’s risqué content and instructed the network faction to make fun of it.
However, this did not change the fact that ECW had strong shows with names like Rob Van Dam and Jerry Lynn at the highest level. TNN’s bigger mistakes were barely promoting the show and stabbing ECW in the back to negotiate the television rights with WWE Raw before the ECW contract ended.
Rob Van Dam never winning the ECW Championship was a mistake
Heyman intentionally made the television championship synonymous with the world championship title
- RVD only won the ECW Championship at the WWE reboot in 2006
- The 700-day reign of the TV championship was historically great
- Heyman used the ECW Championship last year to create new stars
Paul Heyman had a unique approach to booking the ECW World Championship after establishing his top stars. Names like Taz, Rob Van Dam and Tommy Dreamer were often kept out of the title picture during various stages of their popular runs.
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Van Dam never won the ECW Championship until his tenure with WWE began. Some fans were upset that ECW missed the boat. However, Heyman intentionally made RVD a dominant TV champion to make the mid-card title feel like the world title. New stars like Steve Corino, Mike Awesome and Justin Credible were given ECW Championships to try and achieve even more.
- Styles’ one-man commentary booth isn’t as good today
- Don Callis’ entry into ECW gave him a great role as a heel commentator
- Late ECW shows with Styles and Callis had the best commentary style
Joey Styles received much praise for doing the ECW show commentary alone during the promotion’s many successful years. Other wrestlers such as Tommy Dreamer and Shane Douglas joined in at times, but Styles was trusted to have a one-man booth.
However, there were many aspects of that commentary style that are no longer relevant today. The ECW shows felt fresher when former WWE talent Don Callis joined as Cyrus in 2000. The dynamic of Styles as the serious commentator and Callis as the over-the-top villain worked perfectly.
Tommy Dreamer never beat Raven until the loser leaves town
Dreamer won several house show matches before the storyline at ECW
- ECW told the story that Dreamer could never defeat Raven
- Fans of the early house show saw Dreamer score two non-televised victories
- The story still worked perfectly when the dreamer won and the loser left the match
The rivalry between Tommy Dreamer and Raven is often cited as the best feud in ECW history. A cool aspect of the story was that Raven won every televised match between the two until their most popular match, “Loser Leaves Town”.
Paul Heyman told this story on purpose, but he didn’t realize what he was trying to accomplish until a few months into the feud. Dreamer had two wins over Raven on house shows before Raven’s winning streak began. ECW was lucky that these matches were never televised or broadcast on VHS.
ECW fans rejected wrestlers from WWE and WCW
Big names often received strong applause from the ECW fan base
- Harder ECW fans had a reputation for hating WWE and WCW names
- Sid was one of the most talented players after leaving the WWE for a short time
- Even the most credible names from other promotions received fan support
ECW fans had a reputation for being tougher than any other crowd, especially when it came to names known for success in WWE and WCW, but this was rarely the case when fans were impressed by the star power and accolades of those names.
Sid Vicious had an underrated brief appearance on ECW where he destroyed his opponents and the fans loved them every time. Scott Hall, Dusty Rhodes and Tammy Sytch all received great reactions when they made surprise appearances on ECW, showing that the most passionate fans still respect big stars.
Vince McMahon made the right decisions when sending talent
Heyman was allowed to book most WWE names as he wanted
- Vince McMahon made a surprising move by teaming up with ECW and Heyman
- Heyman still had booking control over most of the WWE talent coming over
- Most WWE wrestlers lost to ECW stars before returning
WWE wanted to get ahead of WCW by trying new things, such as a working relationship with ECW. Everyone knows that ECW names occasionally appeared on WWE television, but the WWE talent appearing on ECW is often discussed with misunderstanding. There is an assumption that Heyman kept the working relationship secret from wrestlers and had to comply with Vince McMahon’s demands.
However, Heyman obviously had his own ideas for most of the names McMahon sent. WWE’s pet project Brakkus was squashed by the much smaller Taz without McMahon’s involvement. Other names like Jerry Lawler, Doug Furnas and Phil LaFon lost matches to support ECW talent without any resistance from WWE.
