Shining a Spotlight 6.09.06: An ECW History Review

Posted by Michael Weyer on 06.09.2006

A look at two DVDs and three books that tell the history of ECW from various aspects. Plus, my favorite ECW mark-out moment.

First, a goodbye to John Tenta, a great performer and good man who always gave his all. I recommend checking out the "Wrestlecrap" book just to read his great introduction. Good-bye John and thanks a lot for the memories.


I was a history major in college so I guess it's natural that I've got a wide range for history in my columns here. It's why I'm happy so many more books are coming out about the history of the business, to remind younger fans how things once were.

With the return of ECW upon us, I figured this was the perfect time to spotlight five histories of Extreme Championship Wrestling, two DVDs and three books. Each has their own approaches and at times, agendas and do differ in how they cover the promotion. But taken together, they give a terrific look at a promotion that still means so much.

That is a common question asked: Why does ECW have that pull? Why was it so fondly remembered? WCW lasted longer with a much broader base and yet its legacy today is to stand as an example of how a company with everything going for it could come apart so fast. ECW, however, is remembered by how it changed wrestling forever. It wasn't just the extreme action but also it pushed the envelope with more realistic behavior and the way its workers could straddle the classic face/heel line. It brought fan interaction to a whole new level and made the crowds really feel like they were part of the show. And they did it all while fighting the Big Two of WWF and WCW and ended up influencing them both as well. For all that, ECW deserves to be remembered as a key part of wrestling history.

The first history is the most famous: "The Rise and Fall of ECW." There's not much I can say about this that hasn't already been reviewed elsewhere. It's one of the most successful wrestling DVD's ever and was so big it led to WWE deciding to do One Night Stand. The key to the success of the DVD is Paul Heyman's commentary, giving his story of the struggles to keep the company going, aided by slews of footage from the time.

The program also benefits from the commentary by Eric Bischoff and Vince McMahon on their feelings on ECW. The most famous bit is Bischoff, at his smarmy best, denying that WCW stole Benoit, Guerero, Malenko, Public Enemy or any of the ECW style. Immediately, it cuts to Heyman saying "Eric Bischoff is full of shit."

Vince even gets into the spirit of things with a bit where he denies WWF was that influenced by ECW while a montage is shown of stuff obviously ripped off. Vince also makes a rare admission of a bad move when he admits he made a mistake having then-ECW champion Tazz lose to HHH on RAW in 2000: "I can't tell you what I was thinking."

While a lot of attention has been on the early stuff with the company's rise and the creation of characters and angles, I think it's more interesting to trace its downfall with the comments on how poor a businessman Paul was, that he couldn't pay wrestlers and didn't get along with the people he needed to in order to help the company like syndicates and TNN. Bischoff makes a couple of quite good points; first, that despite what Heyman says, at no time was ECW truly the number two promotion and that Heyman could not understand that he couldn't take something that appealed to a small base of fans and hope to make it work on a national level.

The DVD is still excellent with looks at Mick Foley and Steve Austin and how in ECW, they cut their teeth and lay the groundwork for the stardom they'd achieve in WWE. It is notable that there are several things the DVD skips on, however. For one thing, both Shane Douglas and Public Enemy, who Heyman admits were key in ECW's early days, are barely mentioned after they left the promotion (in fact, aside from throwing down the NWA belt, Douglas is almost never talked about at all). Mass Transit is talked about in the most general terms possible without any real detail. And I'm surprised they didn't talk about something that was mentioned in an ECW magazine special put out by WWE later: how ECW changed the role of women in wrestling, not just with the T&A but also fighting men and taking their lumps with them. Still, it is the best look at the company.

"Forever Hardcore" is the brainchild of Shane Douglas and Jeremy Borash, created as a counterpoint for "Rise and Fall." Douglas has said that it's a "more complete" story of the promotion but a counterpoint is pretty much what it is. It's weakened by the fact that they couldn't use any actual ECW footage but the interviews make up for it. The contributors are those who weren't contracted by WWE in 2004 and thus didn't speak on "Rise and Fall": Douglas, Sandman, Francine, Blue Meanie, New Jack, Tod Gordon, Joey Styles, Terry Funk and Sabu.

Yes, you read that right. Sabu finally breaks his act and speaks on camera (and quite eloquently too, I might add) as he gives his feelings on Heyman, Tazz and the firing. Indeed, most of the program is filled with the wrestlers giving their sides of stuff talked about on "Rise and Fall." Sandman and Raven give their sides of the crucifixion angle, with Raven saying he thought people overreacted and that apologizing would be bad for his character and so made the apology as insincere as possible. Tod Gordon gives his version of the "urban myth" that he was a mole for WCW with Terry Taylor giving the idea that Gordon was planning an ECW invasion of WCW. Mass Transit is talked about more with New Jack showing no regret at what happened and even seeming proud of how he "cut the shit out of that boy."

A great bit is Francine talking about how women's roles were changed by ECW and on her relationship with Shane Douglas (which she denies was ever more than friends). This leads to a cross-cutting of interviews with Douglas claiming that she went into a curse-filled tirade to her face, Francine denying it and relating that because of that, she and Shane didn't speak for six years. The most important Douglas interview is on the NWA title tournament and how it wasn't until that moment he had the microphone that he decided he was going to go through with it. It is nice that they point out how, aside from TNA, the NWA was and still is nothing more than a bunch of independent guys pounding their chests that they belong to something big. While "Rise and Fall" has Heyman gleeful over what he did, "Hardcore" has some people thinking it could have been handled differently. "It was the right thing to do for the business," Raven remarks between sips of champagne (no, seriously). "Whether it was the right thing to do karmacially, I'm not sure."

The most moving part of the documentary has actually been a bit spoiled by recent events: Terry Funk (who spends all his interviews with a copy of his autobiography set right over his shoulder) talking about how he turned down a big offer to do One Night Stand. "Do I want to work for the man who had nothing to do with ECW and made millions off the DVD of it? Do I want to do the show that really captures the spirit of that time?...That's why I'm not a millionaire." It's a wonderful speech but given how Funk has decided to do ONS II, it smacks a bit of hypocrisy today.

While the claim is that this is "the real story" of ECW, a lot of it is just counterpoint to "Rise and Fall" and there are a bit too many anecdotes (like James Mitchell talking about getting burned one time). The big weakness is that the matches come from ECW wanna-be XPW, which come off so much poorer in comparison to the great matches on the WWE's disc. However, it is good to hear Raven, Sandman, Sabu and Douglas talking about the events already covered and how it felt to take part in something special. However, there's also a bit of attitude from those talking, especially Douglas, that they give the idea that they were the real heart of ECW, not the ones who made the jump to WWE like Tazz, Dreamer or Van Dam and that this is the real history. But for the most part, if you already have "Rise and Fall," "Forever Hardcore" is the perfect bookend.

So we move from there to the books on ECW. Surprisingly to me, the most disappointing is the WWE's just-released. The Rise and Fall of ECW (WWE Books, $26.00). It's partly due to its length and structure. It's 264 pages with photos but it's not until page 200 that we get to Barely Legal so it pretty much skims over the next three and a half years. The bigger problem is that so many of the quotes are word for word verbatim what was on the DVD, right down to Bischoff and Heyman's argument. For the "official" book, there's a lot left out of this, even more so than the DVD.

That's not to say it has nothing to offer. For example, there's the most in-depth biography I've yet to see on Paul Heyman and his quick rise in wrestling. There's a fun bit at how, at 14, Heyman managed to con Vince himself into getting a backstage pass to a show. There's also talk of his antics in Continental and AWA, showing the key difference between Heyman and Bischoff and Russo: He had wrestling in his blood at an early age and he knew the in-ring action was always what really mattered.

It's intriguing how the book (by Thom Loverro), introduces every wrestler by their real name and date and place of birth, a nice touch that you rarely see in official WWE books. As noted, a lot of it is pretty much transcripts of interviews and moments that were on the DVD and it even has quotes from Mick Foley's books on his ECW antics. It also has a batch of comments at the end from wrestlers about everything from the fans to the matches to Paul himself, including comments from people who weren't involved in the DVD like Sandman and Francine. So while it may be basically a print version of the DVD, it has a few touches here and there that make it worthwhile.

A much more comprehensive view is Hardcore History: The Extremely Unauthorized Story of ECW by Scott Williams (Sports Publishing LLP, $24.95). It's shorter at 246 pages but it delves much deeper into the early part of the promotion from the demise of Tri-State into the creation of Eastern Championship Wrestling and the fallout between Gordon and Eddie Gilbert. It goes into stuff the DVD didn't, sometimes better (examining the Gordon mole story) sometimes not (devoting a whole chapter to Brian Pillman seems a bit much since that wasn't as huge in ECW's overall story). There are lots of things covering the financial aspects of the company and Heyman's debts and failings as a businessman.

Some of the smaller stories are rather interesting like the Great Sasuke, having done a great performance at Barely Legal, hitting Heyman for more money, boosted in ego to go to WWE for its new light heavyweight division only to have Taka Michinoku emerge as the big star and thus Sasuke had to go to Heyman far more humble. There's also stuff on Public Enemy, returning to ECW after a brief run in WCW, being used as fodder for fresher teams by a still-hurt Heyman.

What hurts the book and keeps it from being really terrific is the anti-WWE and even at times anti-Heyman bias it shows. From what I gather, Shane Douglas is a really nice guy off-camera but here, he comes off as the arrogant and bitter jerk people think he is. There's a whole section on his WWF stay and how Vince surrounded himself with yes-men and wouldn't give Douglas the break he thought he deserved. Williams tries to keep it as tight as he can but he does get into the attitude of those he's interviewing which is "this is the real history, not theirs." For example, one sub-chapter's heading is "One Trite Stand" and he devotes the epilogue to detailing the "Hardcore Homecoming" show Douglas put together in response to One Night Stand, commentating that Joey Styles did ONS "for money but this show was for love." Then there's Douglas calling Benoit and Guerrero "footnotes" in ECW history and saying the guys who took part in "Rise and Fall" were just carrying the ball they set up and had nothing to do with the company at the end (ignoring the likes of RVD, Dreamer and of course Heyman).

It brings to mind something of a double standard I've often seen in wrestling books about WWE. They complain over how Vince is trying to rewrite history to make himself seem the better but sometimes (Scott Keith is a main culprit) they do pretty much the same thing to make McMahon sound worse. Hardcore does try to keep things straight on but the quotes from those who are still angry with Vince and the idea that this is how things truly were hurts it. It's one thing to hear Paul Heyman's heartfelt talk over the sacrifices he made for the company, another to hear Shane Douglas demand over $100,000 to appear at One Night Stand, then say he was able to tell Vince to fuck off to his face. It also seems that the people involved in "Hardcore Homecoming" were convinced One Night Stand could never work and "we knew we'd do it right." This despite the overwhelming success of ONS and the fact many wrestlers participated in both shows. While for the most part, Williams' book is quite excellent and in-depth, this "we're better than them" subtext takes some of the impact out of the book.

So we have one book that paints the WWE in a good light, another that paints it in a poorer light with the emphasis it was the wrestlers, not Heyman, who made it work. So you might wonder if there's a more balanced and unbiased look at the company. Enter John Lister's Turning the Tables: The Story of Extreme Championship Wrestling (Exposure Publishing $15.99).

On the face of it, you might think this is the least of the books. For one thing, Lister is British and it was published in England so you might wonder how well someone from the other side of the pond can understand ECW's impact. Also, at 194 pages, it's the shortest of the three. However, it's amazing just how much information Lister manages to pack into this and does so with a steady hand.

A lot of it is stuff covered in the first two books but Lister puts some spins on it. For example, while the first two books cover Mass Transit in general terms, Lister devotes an entire chapter to a literal blow-by-blow of the entire event and then the next chapter has a timeline of how the story expanded and initially killed the first pay-per-view. It cites the belief by Heyman that the Wrestling Torch leaked the tape of the match to the PPV distributors in an attempt to kill the show, which Torch editors deny. Another timeline has pretty much every match of the Dreamer/Raven feud and how it developed.

Another unique special look is at the NWA title tournament. WWE has it that only Heyman, Gordon and Douglas knew what was going to happen while Hardcore History hints that NWA board member Dennis Coraluzzo might have known about it too. Lister goes the next step with a slew of evidence indicating that not only did Coraluzzo knew, he was fully in on it. However, it hints that Coraluzzo thought this would lead to a big ECW/NWA feud and didn't expect ECW to break away like it did. Lister leaves the actual judgment to the reader but the evidence is compelling.

Also, more so than the other books, Lister delves deep into the dollars and cents of the company and its ups and down, showing how much Heyman was making vs his spending. One of the last chapters, in fact, lists all of the creditors and workers Heyman owed money to and how much. Like Williams, Lister mentions One Night Stand and its short-term impact but, in a show of how instantly outdated wrestling books can be, both state it doesn't seem to have led to any mass revival of ECW. Lister does add a few intriguing touches like a one-page chapter of the ten best Joel Gertner introductions. Lister also has word for word stuff like Heyman's pep talk before Barely Legal and the post-"Night the Line Was Crossed" interview with Funk and Douglas that turned Douglas from babyface to the Franchise. While it may be a bit dry at times, it's a much more balanced look at ECW than the other two books.

Taken together, all these histories are a great look at ECW and its overall impact on the business. I admit I do wish at least one of them had put in a listing of all ECW title changes (although Lister does have the entire roster of every wrestler who worked there) and complete major show list. But all capture the essence of ECW and how groundbreaking it was. There's talk of the fans, with Raven making the great observation, "These are the easiest fans to con because they think they know everything and they know what's going to happen." It also mentions how Heyman and the other wrestlers respected that connection and were always up front with the crowds. As Tommy Dreamer put it, "Paul never lied to the fans. He lied to the wrestlers but not the fans." I do believe that up-front and open discussion with the fans, always letting them know when someone was leaving and why, is why ECW and Heyman still get respect from many today.

The most important figure in all five is of course, Paul Heyman. The reason Heyman still commands such respect from many is that fact that, as much as some workrate freaks may disagree, he knew that the in-ring action was the most important aspect of the show (something his major disciple, Vince Russo, could never quite understand). At a period when the Big Two were mired in stupid gimmicks and poor action, Heyman was giving the fans true wrestling. Not just the hardcore stuff but technical classics with Benoit and Guererro and the like. He tired to stay away from the cartoonish characters and stupid skits that annoyed fans so much in the Big Two while giving wrestlers a shot they never would have had elsewhere. There's also a lot of discussion on Heyman as a motivator, how he could get the roster to do most everything and brought out the best in them. Heyman himself sums up the philosophy that served ECW well which should be a mantra for all wrestling promoters: "Accentuate the positives. Hide the negatives."

However, all the histories also show the problems with Heyman and how he ran the company. As amazing as he was at booking, Heyman just could not handle the business end of things and that's why ECW was never as successful as it could have been. For example, he almost killed their TV syndication (the only exposure ECW had at the time) with the Beaullah/Dreamer/Kimona angle that was a bit too daring for its time. He failed to latch Guerrero, Benoit and Malenko to anything long-term so they made the WCW jump. Indeed, the lack of pay was a big reason a lot of guys decided to bail on the organization.

I mentioned a few weeks back how egos are common among promoters. You can add Heyman to that list. He still seems to believe that if he'd been able to get another TV deal after TNN, ECW would have stayed alive. This flies in the face not only of his massive debts but also the wrestlers who talk about how they recognized a sinking ship. Both Bischoff and McMahon noted that Heyman's refusal to change ECW's style hurt the TNN deal as much as TNN's refusal to promote it right. Heyman took far too much on his own shoulders, doing everything from booking to payroll to promotion, stuff that could have been handled by others. He also could be quite stubborn in deals, especially with WWE and TNN as well as other workers. Heyman was terrific at booking, no doubt about it. But he would not make the necessary adjustments to his ego that were needed to keep the company alive.

To read all these histories is to enjoy a look back at a company that truly did change the course of wrestling, that gave it the edge and the action it needed badly. It's also a look at how sometimes just being good in action isn't enough and appealing to a narrow base of a large fandom can hurt more then help in the long run. Extreme Championship Wrestling still continues to make echoes today and all five of these histories are a great way to realize why that truly was.


Well, as ECW is the subject here, I thought I'd share my favorite ECW mark-out moment. Some might be surprised it comes from late in the run of the promotion, not the best time for ECW or its workers. But it's a moment that still remains with me due to the circumstances.

August 26th, 1999, ECW TV.

ECW had seen big defections before but not like this. D-Von and Buh Buh Ray Dudley had just signed on with WWF. That was enough to get the fans riled at them on their last night. However, it got even worse. On what was to be their last appearance, the Dudleys defeated Balls Mahoney and Spike Dudley for the ECW tag team titles. Riling the fans as only they could, the Dudleys gloated on being able to take the tag team titles to the WWF and lay them at the feet of Vince McMahon. They went on and on about how they were the best ECW had to offer and dared anyone to challenge them.

Enter Tommy Dreamer who came to the ring alone. It wasn't just the honor of ECW that was driving him but also payback for the Dudleys giving Beulah a brutal 3D sometime earlier. Dreamer went in alone and battled both Dudleys. He tried his best but he was outmatched by the stronger pair. After a hellacious beating, Dreamer was set up for a 3D but managed to twist D-Von into a DDT. Both men lay on the mat as Buh Buh Ray moved in to attack.

From seemingly nowhere, a figure dashed out and slid into the ring. As it rose to its feet, the crowd reacted in shock to see the absolute last person in the world anyone would ever have expected to come to the aid of Tommy Dreamer:

Raven.

Raven, whose epic feud with Dreamer is still talked of. Raven, who hadn't been seen in ECW since losing a loser-leaves-town match to Dreamer two years earlier. Raven who, as far as most knew, was still under contract to WCW. Raven who, without a pause, grabbed Buh Buh Ray, gave him a savage DDT and rolled him over. Three seconds later, Raven and Dreamer, the participants in the greatest feud in ECW history, were the tag team champions.

The crowd was shocked. Dreamer was shocked. Joey Styles was so shocked he was actually almost speechless. Some had heard of Raven literally walking out on WCW so an ECW return wasn't out of the question. But coming from nowhere and joining with Dreamer like this was completely out of the blue.

This was not only a great moment but also showed the strength of Paul Heyman as a booker. He took what could have been a disaster, the loss of their top tag team, and made it good for the fans by bringing back Raven. It would have been easy to restart the Raven-Dreamer feud but Heyman knew that had run its course. Asking fans to pay for a new rush of Raven and Dreamer fighting would be a bit much. But seeing Raven and Dreamer on the same side? That would get fans' attention.

If Heyman can capture even half that magic with this new ECW…then it will succeed far better than most expect.


All for this week. Next week, I take a look back as we get to the tenth anniversary of the birth of Austin 3:16. For now, the spotlight is off.