E-C-W! E-C-W! E-C-W!
Often credited by pro-wrestling fans as the pioneer of the style known today as "hardcore," Paul Heyman's Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) promotion has been sorely missed by those fans since it folded up shop for good back in 2001. Today, the chant of "E-C-W" still echoes through arenas as a sort of tribute by knowing fans, usually following a chair-shot to the head, or an insane spot through a table.
In the early to mid '90s, ECW came to epitomize the style known as hardcore. In doing so, it also played a major role in helping to create the wrestling boom which would occur later in the decade.
The formula was simple. Using older wrestling veterans like Terry Funk nearing their twilight years to "put over" then young, rising talent like Raven, Sandman, and Tommy "The Innovator of Violence" Dreamer, ECW built a reputation for hard hitting realism that stood directly opposite the "sports entertainment" driven storylines of their more established counterparts in Ted Turner's WCW (World Championship Wrestling) and Vince McMahon's then World Wrestling Federation (WWF).
The staged violence, even by pro-wrestling standards, was off the charts. Barbed wire matches. Bodies hurtling through stacks of flaming tables — and occasionally off of a second floor balcony or two. And lots of lots of blood. All of these things were commonplace in the matches which took place in the small "ECW Arena" (often referred to as a "bingo hall") in Philadelphia.
Throw in plenty of T&A, some cat-fighting lesbians, and characters like the cigarette smoking, beer swilling Sandman, and it was only a matter of time before the big boys would begin to take notice. Which is exactly what happened shortly after the ECW Pay Per View "Barely Legal" in 1995.
Shortly thereafter, when Vince McMahon began to duplicate the ECW formula on his shows.
With many of ECW's biggest names, including Rob Van Dam, the Dudley Boys, and even Paul Heyman himself, working for McMahon by that time, it was inevitable an ECW "family reunion" would eventually take place on Pay Per View. That happened last summer when WWE reunited many of the ECW hardcore legends for the "One Night Stand" PPV in June 2005.
At that show there were plenty of bittersweet moments sandwiched in between the numerous chairshots and flaming table spots. More than a few of the players, including Heyman and the "Voice of ECW" Joey Styles—guys who are supposed to be tough as nails—wept openly on camera.
The other somewhat unexpected thing which happened was the show became one of WWE's most profitable events of that year. ECW DVDs like The Rise and Fall of ECW and ECW Bloodsport: The Most Violent Matches began selling like hotcakes. Rumors of a full-time return of ECW began circulating almost immediately.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Ty
EC F-IN W!!!!
Hellz yeah!!! I was a huge fan during it's entire run, especially of Sabu. Hopefully he'll be there too.
I only hope this resembles the the classic 90's ECW, and is not some compromise between the current WWE crap and original ECW.
The One Night Stand PPV last year was okay, hopefully this year will be better. I like that they even have a house show tour set up, BUT nothing on the west coast??? I watched ECW in the Bay Area, CA in the early to late 90's. There are ECW fans there too!!!
Great news though...thanks!!!!
2 - Glen Boyd
Ty,
Sabu will be going up against Rey Mysterio for the World (Smackdown) title at One Night Stand.
F.Y.I...
I hope they get out west too...Lotta ECW fans in my hometown of Seattle. Thanx for the comment.
-Glen
3 - Ty
One thing I hope the WWE funded ECW does is bring back the intro songs ECW stars used back in the day.
If you watch official ECW DVD's, you see the music taped over with crap because then ECW/Pioneer was too cheap to pay for the rights. This shouldn't be a problem for WWE though.
So, hopefully at One Night Stand 2006, for example, I hope RVD will come out to "Walk" by Pantera.
4 - Glen Boyd
Maybe we can get Metallica to cough up the rights for "Enter Sandman". That was always a classic. Lars and the boys seem pretty touchy about that song copyrights these days though (remember the Napster wars?.
One thing I do know for sure is the ECW theme is intact. Great riff on that one.
Again, appreciate the comment Ty.
-Glen
5 - Ty
Actually you don't have to cough up any rights, just pay a fee (through something like ASCAP). The problem with the old ECW was that fee was quite hefty for their DVD's, so the DVD had the music muted and something else put in its place. This made watching Gangstas/New Jack matches (or run-ins) on DVD weird because the music was strange.
Speaking of New Jack, is there any word he might be in the new ECW? Thanks!!!
6 - Glen Boyd
I think New Jack may be considered too volatile even for ECW. I mean didn't he nearly KILL guys?
-Glen
7 - xpak
So hers th deal.
Vinie Mac won the war, evrybody knoes that.
nd wressing on TV has sucked ever since. Vince hade a golden oppurtunity when he got WCW to take this sht to another level. and he fuked it up. bigg time.
i wanna see this shit fly agin. evrybdy does
wers jaracho
weres xpack? tht mufuka could fly.
8 - taz
Mcmann is probly goona fuk this up, but its still ecfuciking ndub.
9 - taz
at ther end of the day i win
10 - dave
Barley Legal was in 1997
11 - Baronius
These were the guys who started the forehead cut, right? A razor blade across the forehead in the middle of a match will result in blood all over the ring. It's a horrible thing.
WWE began doing it about five years ago, but I think ECW started it. I gave up on wrestling about a year ago after Eddie died, because it just isn't fun anymore when you know that people are dying from steroids. I just want action and stupid story lines, not to see people getting hurt. I guess that McMahon is going in the direction of violence.
12 - Ty
Baronius: It is quite unfair to label ECW as the "Guys who started the forehead cut." I am not sure if they are, but they did have an incident in the late 90's where a supposed rookie wrestler died because of this.
ECW was not just about violence, but it was also about pure technical matches that seemed to bore the WWF/WCW crowds. I remember matches between Benoit and Taz and Malenko and Taz where there would be an endless series of moves, counter moves, counter counter moves, etc. The ECW fans roared for these matches too.
ECW fans, ironically, don't want action and stupid story lines. That isn't fun. What is fun is a federation where the face and heel lines are blurred, and people like Sabu entertain the crowds no matter who he is up against.
McMagon is NOT going in the direction of violence. He simply saw that the ECW PPV he put on last year had a good buy rate, and the ECW merchandise he has been selling like crazy, especially the DVD's. McMahon is ready to see if ECW will seriously be a cash cow for him. With old ECW fans and new fans who are joining up, it looks like this could work out.
You mention Roids, and that's the great thing about ECW: You don't need Steroids to "get over" in ECW. Hell, the (formerly) scrawny Mikey Whipwreck was ECW World Champion. Dude was skinny as a twig. ECW has NEVER promoted muscle and physique like the WWE.
13 - Glen Boyd
Baronius,
The practice you describe, commonly referred to as "blading" in wrestling circles, did not originate in ECW. It goes back at least as far as the 1960's and possibly further. What did originate (at least in America) in ECW were the insane spots and bumps you see.
Guys flying off of balconies, through tables stacked three times high, and the rest. Even stuff like barbwire matches and exploding rings were being done in places like Japan long before ECW though.
And Ty is quite correct about the fact that ECW fans also appreciate very sound technical wrestling as well. Some of ECW's best matches featured guys like Chris Benoit applying scientific moves and counter-moves and the use of submission holds. The fact that Kurt Angle is being sent to ECW encourages me that McMahon is looking to emphasize this in the new ECW as Angle is probably the best technical wrestler in the business today.
As for the violence in WWE? It has actually been toned way down in recent years, compared to the "Attitude" era of the late nineties when WWE was basically duplicating the ECW formula.
ECW fans were and are among the most "smart" fans in the business. You can't put something over them as easily as you can in places like WWE. It will be interesting to see how the "New ECW" plays itself out.
-Glen
14 - Ty
As a teenager when I first watched ECW (I first watched it when it was Eastern Championship Wrestling), I was drawn to it because unlike the WWF/WCW at the time, it didn't have clearly drawn faces (good guys) and heels (bad guys). You as the fan simply liked who you like, and there was a family-like atmosphere with ECW meaning that if an outside came in (Lawler), ECW wrestlers would band together against them. Those anti-ECW people were the only true heels.
Sure some wrestlers were not as popular as others at times, and some did piss off fans with things they did towards other favorites, but in the end ECW was about entertaining professional wrestling.
Even someone as hated as Lawler amongst the ECW ranks would get a standing ovation from ECW hardcore people if he were to actually wrestle and have a great technical match OR use creative self-sacrificing violence to beat another opponent.
That's one of MANY reasons that ECW stands apart.
Another thing about violence in WWE/ECW: If anything, McMahon wants to remove violence from WWE. By bringing back ECW, he can make WWE less violent and anyone who is going to be a huge draw for fans but it's due to hardcore violence he can send to ECW.
15 - Glen Boyd
Ty,
In ECW, you could almost make the argument that everyone was a heel. At least if "heelish" behaviour is characterized by things like using "foreign objects" in matches.
But I'd say there we're a few distinctions.
I dont go back as far as you do with the Eastern Championship Wrestling days...my first ECW show was Barely Legal (which I believe WAS in 1995, not 1997 as one of the commenters above says).
But by the time it was Extreme Championship there we're definitely some pretty well defined babyfaces (Tommy Dreamer for example) as well as heels (Raven fit the heel role like a glove).
But you know what really made ECW cool for me? It was the relationship they had with their audience...often to the point of the crowd getting involved in the matches.
That picture of hundreds of chairs being thrown into the ring that ECW uses in it's promos? Priceless.
-Glen
16 - irv
I think New Jack may be considered too volatile even for ECW. I mean didn't he nearly KILL guys?
-Glen
actually, he was a bounty hunter and has 3 or 4 justifiable homicides, so he actually did kill guys, though not in the ring.
17 - Glen Boyd
A bounty hunter? I didn't know that. Actually I had heard quite the opposite, that he actually had done some time for violent crimes. Can't remember exactly where I heard that though so I could very well be wrong.
-Glen
18 - Big Dick Dudley
I noticed your article didn't mention the WWE VS ECW special coming up on USA. Do you know when thats gonna beon?
ECW FN RULZ!!!!!!!!!
19 - irv
glen: New Jack on Wikipedia
20 - Tommy
Big Dick Dudley -
The WWE vs. ECW: Head-to-Head special will be on wednesday night, June 7th, at 9 p.m., on the USA Network.
21 - Glen Boyd
Thanx Irv.
-Glen
22 - joe
hey, what is the name of the intoductionary song for the show ECW on scifi?? it has the lyrics "let the bodies hit the floor"
23 - Glen Boyd
Not sure, but i know its something by Limp Bizkit. I like the old ECW theme a lot better.
-Glen
24 - Fading
No, the theme song isn't by Limp Bizkit lol, far from it. It's 'Bodies', or you can call it 'Let the bodies hit the floor', and it was sung by Drowning Pool before they replaced their singer (and went downhill IMO). Also talking about songs, I wish they'd let Sandman have his old Metallica theme back.
Personally I'm happy ECW is back, I went to a few live shows, and they kicked ass. The wrestlers gave it more than 100% or any of the 'big' promotions for a room full of 80 or so with a few elderly ppl in the crowd. They weren't too arrogant to mix with the crowd, New Jack stood in the back hitting on the ladies, RVD fought thru the crowd and sprayed us with a fire extinguisher when Taijiri I believe it was moved out of the way. I appreciated the whole atmosphere.
The new ECW, or as ECW faithfuls are calling it WWECW, is not the same. Only about 1 match per night is hardcore....I mean "extreme rules". Most of the ECW origionals job to the WWE rejects, and many have recently been let go. It tends to be a lot of talk, and it seems rare for any ECW origional other than Sabu to be in any main events, tho now that RVD's back he'll be in a few. I have nothing against most of the WWE wrestlers, I actually like the big show, but this is ECW and it feels nothing like it. Just my opinion, glad to have it back, but finding myself liking TNA more and more, hoping ECW will be what it used to be but I keep caring less about tuning into it. I've altogether quit caring about the Man-drama soap opera WWE has become, like 2/3 of the show is talk, and 1/3 wrestling on a wrestling...oops sports entertaiment show lol.
25 - Sharp-Dressed-Man
'The Drive Of Extreme Has Risen Once Again!' - Let The Bodies Hit The Floor!
E-C-F'N-W!
ECW was not just about violence, but it was also about pure technical matches that seemed to bore the WWF(wwe)/WCW crowds. I remember matches between Benoit and Taz and Malenko and Taz where there would be an endless series of moves, counter moves, counter counter moves, etc. The ECW fans roared for these matches too.
But you know what really made ECW cool for me? It was the relationship they had with their audience...often to the point of the crowd getting involved in the matches.