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| ECW: One Year On |
Matt Barnes |
One year ago, the Rob Van Dam-led ECW was revived. Now RVD is gone and ECW is in ruin. What happened?
When the original ECW closed its doors in 2001, fans around the world said goodbye to a legacy of wild, unique wrestling that had influenced an entire generation. Tightly shot in a cramped bingo hall in a very bad part of Philadelphia, the ECW product was far from the glitz and glamour of the mainstream, but it meant so much to so many people. Even though the company haemorrhaged staff, cash and quality at a frightful rate during its dying days, guys like Tommy Dreamer stuck around to the death simply because they loved what it stood for.
ECW was much more than just a home to a handful of misfits that couldn’t find employment elsewhere. In so many ways, it was the embodiment of the American dream: it proved that anybody could make it, if they tried hard enough and truly believed in themselves; it proved that wrestling didn’t have to be either T&A (as in, tits and ass) or, indeed, T&A (as in, lumbering hosses like Test and Albert, the very heart of all that has ever been wrong with the wrestling world). But perhaps more than anything else, it also proved that wrestling fans were far smarter than they had ever been given credit for. In short, ECW was manna for the starving wrestling industry.
A MATCH MADE IN HEAVEN
When World Wrestling Entertainment purchased the assets of ECW and WCW after both companies closed their doors, it spelled the end of genuine competition at the highest level of American professional wrestling. The subsequent Invasion angle bombed thanks to pathetically short-sighted booking and the ludicrous unwillingness of WWE veterans to put over “the competition”, even though they were now all playing on the same team (Mark Calaway, step forward).
Although the spirit of Extreme had been thoroughly squashed, it lived on through “ECW” chants in arenas and the staggering success of The Rise + Fall Of ECW DVD. And then, in 2005, Rob Van Dam – terminally underused and floundering in the WWE midcard – approached Vince McMahon with an idea. He wanted to bring ECW for one night only, as a celebration of all things hardcore. Van Dam felt that all the guys like him who felt restricted by the WWE style could let everything hang out, proving what they could achieve in the ECW environment – and they wouldn’t even need angles or stories to build their matches. Amazingly, Vince not only took him seriously but he thoroughly got behind the idea, even handing control to Paul Heyman, the original doctor of hardcore, and from there the concept went from strength to strength.
Fans were enthused and the One Night Stand pay-per-view, which took place on 12 June 2005 at The Hammerstein Ballroom, was an absolutely roaring success. Although fate intervened and sidelined RVD with a knee injury, preventing him from taking centre stage at his baby, the card was absolutely authentic: Chris Jericho reprised his Lionheart gimmick and had a solid match against Lance Storm, there were video tributes to fallen ECW heroes, the FBI were in the house and the late Mike Awesome finally got his redemption, having an unbelievable match with Masato Tanaka that stuck two fingers up at the WWE politicians. The event was a million miles from anything WWE would ever normally present and it was a wonderful night to be a wrestling fan.
Fast forward to 2006 and such was the success of the ECW experiment that seeds were being sown for a second One Night Stand event. Moreover, rumours were running wild that WWE would be bringing back ECW as a full-time brand in its own right. Of course, few really believe that this could or would happen but as June swung around (and with Joey Styles cutting an awesome promo on Raw, seemingly the catalyst for it all) the “Extremists” began to invade Raw and SmackDown. With Heyman as their messiah, ECW icons like The Sandman, Sabu and Balls Mahoney were tearing through the WWE ranks and (although, as Mick Foley noted last issue, the angle did somewhat play second fiddle to the Vince/D-X skits), it really did begin to happen.
One Night Stand 2006 was another hit, but a completely different beast. Instead of being another celebration of the ECW of old, it was instead a launchpad for the all-new, WWE interpretation of the brand. Kurt Angle and The Big Show got extreme, Rey Mysterio and Sabu had a high-wire match and RVD versus John Cena in the main event – which saw Rob finally get his hands on the WWE Titles – brought the house down. Two nights later, ECW was given its own slot on the Sci Fi network and ECW house shows were booked across the country. Rumours even flew that RVD would throw down WWE Title in favour of the ECW belt on the first ever episode, just as Shane Douglas had done to the NWA strap a decade before. Extreme was back.
DON’T CALL IT A COMEBACK – PLEASE
Within weeks, however, the dream was in tatters. With zombies and vampires and a match even stupider than the Reverse Battle Royal, the first episode of ECW was a trainwreck from start to finish, with Joey Styles even implying (and quite rightly so) that he was embarrassed to be associated with it. Reeling and in damage control mode, the company handed more control back to Heyman (having previously booked to serve no less than three masters: Heyman, Vince McMahon and the Sci Fi network) but, despite its best-albeit-most-misguided efforts, the product simply could not manage to thrive under the WWE umbrella.
RVD got busted with pot while travelling between shows with Sabu and had to drop both the WWE and ECW titles in the space of one horrific week. The Big Show bombed as replacement champion despite unbelievable efforts on his part and, before you knew it, even Ric Flair was rolling around in thumbtacks on ECW TV. The Sandman didn’t have his original music and then, as if it couldn’t get less authentic, even the ‘Extreme Rules’ matches were dropped. So too, predictably, were the house shows, with ECW ending up under the wing of either Raw or SmackDown each week. Hardcore Holly jumped to ECW in the midst of all the chaos, followed by Rene Dupree.
It just got worse and worse and worse before, finally, it all came to a head at the most under-booked, ill-advised WWE PPV of all time, December To Dismember. When, with only a few days to go before the PPV, only one match had been announced, things looked very bleak indeed. That the show ultimately featured The Great Khali, MNM versus The Hardyz, the massively over (and then-undefeated) CM Punk being eliminated first in the Extreme Elimination Chamber and Bobby Lashley walking out as ECW Champion was simply a gigantic slap in the face to fans and staff alike. The show managed only an anaemic 90,000 buys, was resoundingly booed by fans in attendance (all 4,000 of them) and saw the end of Paul Heyman’s reign as ECW booker, despite this whole calamity not being in any way his fault.
With the brand so obviously unloved by the WWE braintrust, many felt that the show would prove the final death knell for the brand. But then something truly bizarre happened: Vince McMahon became interested again. When the innovative WSX debuted on MTV, running head to head with the second half of ECW’s programming on Sci Fi, WWE’s bastard brand was thrown a lifeline. Following the utterly disastrous December To Dismember, most within the company had largely lost interest in the ECW product, but WSX lit a fire under Vince McMahon. A rival show? How dare they! And, just like that, ECW became hugely important.
The New Breed versus ECW Originals feud was born, giving purpose to the likes of Elijah Burke, Kevin Thorn and Matt Striker, and getting the fans behind RVD, The Sandman and co once more. Vince himself became a menace to ECW champ Bobby Lashley, building towards Lashley representing Donald Trump against McMahon’s Umaga in the money match at WrestleMania 23. Giving ECW such a bold presence on the company’s biggest show of all time was a huge step; while it wasn’t the most innovative booking ever, it did represent a change of pace for ECW and, for a while, the brand became pretty interesting. Sadly, however, things have already begun to turn sour again.
Rather than truly building on Lashley’s Mania momentum and subsequently setting him loose in fresh feuds with somebody like Kevin Thorn or CM Punk, Lashley finds himself still engaged in a long, grindingly slow battle with Mr McMahon. The ‘Originals’ are decimated while The New Breed has hit the rocks already, with CM Punk having sparked a meltdown of the group from within (in what was admittedly a good, if rushed, angle) and the show is generally going nowhere fast. This year the One Night Stand metamorphosis continued, as the PPV completed its transformation from ECW show to WWECW show to WWE show, featuring such monstrosities as Vince McMahon challenging Bobby Lashley for the ECW strap and John Cena battling The Great Khali for the WWE Title. The Night The Line Was Crossed it was not.
STRAIGHT EDGE
And so it continues. Week after week, guys like CM Punk continue to impress, only to then be jobbed out to veterans like Bob Holly. Frankly, though, the point that is being missed here is that when the likes of producer Arn Anderson decide that the CM Punks of this world need to learn respect – and therefore have their super-hot undefeated streaks ended on TV – it the fatal wounds being suffered by ECW are entirely self-inflicted. So what if Bob Holly has been wrestling for 20 years and Punk only eight? Business is business and anyone with a level head should have seen that ending Punk’s well-publicised run would, effectively, diminish interest in him as a performer.
Of course, as he has a tendency to do, Punk has worked hard and bounced back, but that isn’t the point. If WWE’s incarnation of ECW is to work long-term, athletes like CM Punk, Elijah Burke and Kevin Thorn will be their salvation – not never-weres like Sparky Plugg. Of course, they do need to mix it up with more experienced guys in order to garner the respect of the crowd, but they don’t need to be made to look like assholes in front of their own fanbase. That isn’t booking, that’s just blind…
For the rest of this feature, check out issue 16 of FIGHTING SPIRIT – available at WH Smith and all good retailers. (For US readers we are now carried at Borders, so check for local availability or click here to subscribe.)
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