Contrary to popular belief and the marketing material, Extreme Championship Wrestling is not back. In fact, this abomination – that premiered on the Sci-Fi Channel (?) of all places – doesn't even deserve to feature the CW in the name, let alone the E. It's nice to see some of the fans' favorites in action, but beyond that, anyone who put this together should be replaced.
This hour long disaster was lucky to have 10 minutes total of wrestling. What the WWE has done is turn this into a promotional piece for their Pay-Per-Views and RAW. The show began with an extended promo segment involving Edge, Rob Van Dam, Paul Heyman, and John Cena. It eventually degraded into a melee that led to nothing other than letting the audience know they can pay for the upcoming PPV. Usually, ECW break out brawls generally featured some sort of weaponry, broken tables, or even a little blood. Fans were treated to nothing of the sort during this premiere.
The first bout featured ECW favorite Sandman. Apparently, Vince McMahon was too cheap to spend the money to use Metallica's Enter Sandman for his entrance theme. He "battled" The Zombie, a ridiculous gimmick (also a cheap shot at Sci-Fi who requested characters like this before they agreed to run the show on their network). After a few shots with his Trademark Singapore Cane, it was over. The total match time was around 30 seconds.
More promos for this week's Monday Night RAW followed before Kurt Angle took on Justin Credible in another short, disappointing match. A little technical wrestling can go a long way. Sadly, it doesn't help when it lasts less than five minutes.
Following a commercial break, we're treated to the Jerry Lawler/Taz match from Sunday's One Night Stand PPV. As if they were trying to keep things in order, this too lasted less than a minute. The entrances of each wrestler lasted longer than the match. Paul Heyman then announced a battle royal as the main event; the winner would go on to face John Cena at the Vengeance PPV.
Article comments
1 - Glen Boyd
Matt,
I agree the Sci-Fi show sucked balls. The PPV on Sunday was pretty decent though (not as good as last years, but still not bad). The Funk/Dreamer/Foley/Edge match was positively sick in places...barbwire, fire (Foley's clothes were burning), and more blood than an Oklahoma slaughterhouse. In other words...ECW!
So I'm gonna give this a few weeks before I render judgment. Maybe thats just because I want this to succeed so badly, but so be it. The points I absolutely agree with you on if I read this correctly:
1. More wrestling, less commercials (this was actually a problem with the old ECW shows on TNN as well.
2. Vince needs to distinguish the ECW product from the WWE product if this is to succeed. He also needs to establish the individual ECW talent. Theres already way too much crossover, but I'm assuming thats just to help get it off the ground right now.
3. Spend the damn money on the Metallica song for Sandman. Hell yes. That entrance is KEY to getting him over with the new fans. Right now, it's just a generic entrance (I actually thought "The Zombie" thing was pretty funny though).
I'd add to that, Vince needs to leave this alone and let Paul Heyman run creative. I understand that nerves over this being successful may be why there is so much cross promotion right now. But ECW will get over on it's own if Vince just steps away and allows it to.
Good points all though Matt. I'm just waiting and hoping last night was just re-launch jitters.
-Glen
2 - Glen Boyd
They also need to move the tapings into smaller buildings before an ECW crowd, rather than splitting the tapings with Smackdown in a big arena.
In short, ECW needs to stand on its own.
Okay Im done now.
-Glen
3 - Joan Hunt
Heh. I fully thought the E stood for Extra-terrestrial. Silly me. It would have made sense, given the channel airing the event.
Thanks for clearing that one up for me.
Whatever happened to the good old days? You know, when wrestling was about good vs evil, the Indian in full head gear and tribal garb vs the guy in the cheesy cowboy getup? My "uncle"'s father made a living as the Wrestling Mexican once upon a time, way back in the dark ages. It was entertainment meant for the whole family. Now? You have to show proof of age to even watch this stuff on TV.
I don't get it. None of it. Then again, I haven't nary a clue since the time (almost) 20 years ago when one wrestler brought out a branding iron.
4 - Glen Boyd
The guy with the branding iron Joan?
Terry Funk.
He wrestled at ECW's PPV on Sunday. Got pretty bloody too. Glad I could clear that up. LOL....
-Glen
P.S. Sorry about the nightmare with my bio the other morning...
5 - Matt Paprocki
It's simple Joan. Either wrestling grew up with its audience or they went out of buisness. It's the same thing that's happening with video games.
Kids who grew up watching guys dressed as Indians, cops, and hicks are old enough to want their wrestling tailored to them. The adult audience is bigger, spends more money, and watches more wrestling on TV than kids do. It's only natural that they expand to capture their target audience.
Glen:
"In short, ECW needs to stand on its own."
That's all that needed to be said.
6 - R. D. Hobbs
"It's simple Joan. Either wrestling grew up with its audience or they went out of buisness. It's the same thing that's happening with video games."
What? I must have missed the class where growing up = blood, barbed wire, trash cans and canes. Or is that something you learn on the street?
I'm with you Joan. Good "professional" wrestling = good characters and good stories.
7 - Ty
I was SERIOUSLY pissed off.
First off, the matches reminded me of the old syndicated show, WWF Superstars. Remember, when every single match was a star vs. jobber??? That sux, and is NOT ECW.
2.) When the hell did Justin Credidle become a jobber?
3.) Kurt Angle may now be in ECW, but he hasn't shown me one bit of an ECW style. You don't have to be Sabu, but even the technical ECW greats like Benoit and Malenko went extreme in their ECW matches.
4.) BATTLE ROYAL??? Didn't we just see something like it on WWE vs. ECW special???
5.) now Cena faces Sabu at Vengence...didn't we just see this match on WWE vs. ECW special????
I heard that Paul Heyman was diappointed in the show. He said Vince is making them play up the Raw vs. ECW angle, because he thinks that is the way to build up people to watch ECW.
Basically (so far, I will still give it a few more weeks) it is a complete 100% re-hash of when the WWE bought out ECW and WCW and they tried a stupid inter-federation angle that failed.
Vince doesn't seem to understand that we want CLASSIC ECW, and bringing Classic ECW will make him money.
Continuing this RAW vs. ECW or WWE vs. ECW is tired.
I expected the first show to set up at least ONE feud WITHIN ECW, but it didn't do that.
8 - Glen Boyd
Agree pretty much with everything Ty said. As I said, I'm witholding judgment for a few weeks because there are so many cooks involved in this thing (McMahon, Heyman, Sci-Fi execs) that I think they may just have jitters about the launch, hence all of the cross promotional angles.
The show did a huge rating by the way. Best of the year in the teen/young adult demo for the Sci-Fi channel and number one on cable in it's time slot (source: wrestlingobserver.com)
Also, backing up what Ty said, I understand that pretty much everyone involved agrees that creatively it was a disaster.
I'd be very surprised if you don't see significant tweaking as early as next week.
My $.02 for now.
-Glen
9 - mario
I have been watching ECW since 1996, and i think everything ty said is true. Personally I think the old ECW was more violent making it better. I liked the smaller arena too. I think they should go back to that.
10 - Trent_Sheba
I have to agree that the new ECW is an abomination. The thing that bothers me most, is that it's like Vince is completely setting this up to fail. I've been an ECW fan for years. It was so completely different from anything else on television.
Now, Vince says he's bringing back ECW and starts putting out more dvds showing what ECW used to be, to get people excited and to get new fans into it. Then he puts together a show that's pretty much the opposite of what ECW was. Thus completely disappointing all the old ECW fans and even the new ones that were introduced to it by the dvds HE put out. This makes no sense.
The two most important things that need to be changed are:
1) Vince needs to allow Heyman some control. If Heyman can do what he wants with the show, it can become something again.
2) They need a different station. Sci-Fi has way too many restrictions in regards to this sort of thing. With so many restrictions, of course it's not going to be ECW.
I have to admit, I'm pretty much giving up on this show. I'll keep track of things and give it another try if things sound like they're getting any better or if it looks like Vince is going to let Paul E. have some say. Until then, they've lost me as a fan. I'll continue to watch TNA, at least it's an alternative, and hey, most of my favorites (Raven, Rhino, the Dudleys, etc.) are there anyway.
11 - df
I want whatever the kids at SCIFI are smoking.
Seriously. Wrestling just doesn't seem to fit. Maybe they should find a channel that will funnel the cash in ECW to make it the show viewers want, rather that add crap to 'fit' the SCIFI channel 'theme'.
The big names involved in this should know how to promote wrestling. Either do it right, or don't do it at all.
12 - rey
chavo is going to get his ass kicked when i get my hands on him and the chairmen ooh i tell ya im going to Bitch slap him and get help to take out Umaga
13 - Chavo .G.
haha poor little rey im the champion know to bad you cant be there on smackdown any more with the injury i gave u haha
From:Chavo .G.