The Goodness 06.30.06: I Like ECW
Posted by on 06.30.2006
Somebody has to be watching and enjoying the new ECW, right? Well, I'm that somebody. Before you think I'm nuts, read what I have to say. Then tell me I'm nuts.
Edit: As I'm posting this column, I just read that Vince McMahon is taking total control of ECW so everything I've written could be moot in a month. It still stands for now though...
From reading the various opinions floating around the wrestling community these days, it appears I may be just about the only one enjoying the new ECW. What makes this even more interesting is that prior to ECW's re-launch I penned a column, right here at 411, saying that the returns of DX and ECW were bad ideas. About DX, I still mean every word – watching two 40 year old men make penis jokes is not funny. The old DX with Shawn and Hunter appealed to teenagers and college kids because there was always the implicit notion that both guys were off nailing chicks every night. Now? Homoerotic isn't a strong enough word.
But this is about ECW and I said ECW was going to be a terrible mistake. I said the time and place for the old ECW was in the late 1990's in a bingo hall in Philadelphia. You know what? I was right – the old ECW is still in the memories of everyone that attended those shows. This is a new ECW, this is the continuation of the evolution of ECW and, you know what, I like it.
Before I get into why I like it, I figured I'd take some of the common criticisms thrown at the new ECW and explain why, in my opinion, they're hollow arguments. For a matter of full disclosure, I was never a huge ECW mark – I watched their show on MSG here in the Northeast occasionally and caught a pay-per-view every once in a while. I liked it, but living in Connecticut, it was WWF or nothing so of course I gravitated towards Austin and the Rock. Not that it changes my opinion of today's ECW, but I figured it should be said.
#1: There are not enough old ECW guys.
-This is the complaint I hear most frequently (or at least read) and I cannot for the life of me understand it. Just who does the old hardcore fan want to see in ECW that's not there now? Sabu was an excellent addition, as was the Sandman – two ECW legends that need to be in any ECW revival. Rob Van Dam is the face of the new brand and rightfully so. Who else do you want? Lance Storm is retired. Tazz is basically retired and an announcer. Same goes for Shane Douglas. Sure, Raven, Rhyno and possibly the Dudley Boyz would make nice additions but they're apparently happy in TNA and won't be joining ECW. So who's left that made ECW special? Do you want to bring back Bam Bam Bigelow? A 65 year-old Terry Funk? Guys like Justin Credible, who were big at the tail end of ECW's run, are (I hate to say this) glorified indy workers. In ECW's heyday, Credible wouldn't have sniffed the title. That leaves a couple of names out there like Mike Awesome, though he's probably burned that bridge, and Jerry Lynn, who I believe is with TNA.
The real problem with this argument is that ECW has been gone for five years and hasn't been relevant for seven or eight years. Most of the workers that are good and carried the company moved on – Chris Benoit is no longer an ECW wrestler, he's a WWE wrestler. Ditto for Rey Mysterio, Chris Jericho and others who made it big after leaving ECW. Secondly, we hammer the WWE for keeping wrestlers like Mark Henry around for ten years – why do we want to see guys that were relevant ten years ago? Would an appearance by Mikey Whipwreck really make this new ECW all of a sudden okay?
And just what is the problem with having established stars in a new environment? Am I the only one intrigued by the seemingly new characters created for the Big Show and Kurt Angle by becoming ECW wrestlers? Doesn't the Big Show look motivated? Doesn't Kurt Angle's "violence" style of pseudo-shoot wrestling intrigue anyone else? Don't we want to see our favorite wrestlers in new and different scenarios? How many times do we need to see Big Show take on Kane? Recall, if this were 2000, the crowd in the ECW Arena would have popped harder than a champagne cork if Kurt Angle or Big Show walked in the building. This is a crowd that went ballistic for Sid Justice! Sid would get killed for joining the "new" ECW but he was a welcome sight in the old one? That doesn't add up.
#2: It's not hardcore enough!
-Yes, the matches for the new ECW have not been all chairs, ladders and thumbtacks but, you know what, neither were the ones in the old ECW. The old ECW had its share of wrestling matches and one of its greatest contributions to American wrestling was showcasing Lucha Libre action. I don't remember Rey Mysterio and Psychosis hitting each other with garbage cans for 15 minutes, do you? In fact, I would complain there's NOT enough real wrestling on ECW – where are the cruiserweights? Get Tajiri and Super Crazy on there and let them go. As J.D. Dunn (I believe) put it, the garbage matches in the old ECW were there to hide faults and shortcomings in the wrestlers. When workers like Lynn and RVD went at it, who had few faults, the garbage was toned well down. Does anyone even remember what ECW was? It was about appreciating wrestling, with an edge to it in terms of storylines – it wasn't all blood and chairshots, that's just how it was marketed. Besides, the Sabu/Roadkill match from Tuesday night was about as hardcore as the WWE has been, on free TV, in a while. Again, what's the problem?
Secondly, wasn't the Internet in a tizzy when we got sick and tired of hardcore matches? Wasn't that one of the reasons ECW went under – people got tired of the same hardcore match week after week? Isn't that the reason the Hardcore Title is retired? It's time to move on because that type of match ran its course and became a drain to the wrestling viewer, so maybe it's good to not have an hour of each it week when the wrestling fan has proven to be tired of it?
#3: It's on Raw too much! It's not its own brand!
-Again, I don't understand this logic. There's a wrestling show on Monday we watch and it builds towards angles for a show the next night. What's bad about that? It's not like ECW is the entire focus of Raw, it's one part of the show that builds into the next night's ECW show. It's not like the WWE is going to fool anybody by making believe ECW doesn't operate under the WWE banner because it does. That's a fact. The E would be stupid to not acknowledge the existence of a new show that it wants people to watch. It's really, in the end, harmless, don't you think? The guys who are on the ECW roster are separate from the guys on the Raw roster but, let's face it, they're all working for the WWE and that's not nonsense only us wrestling geeks know, it's stuff the markiest of marks now. I don't think it's been overbearing – though Heyman booking matches for a Raw pay-per-view may have been a bit much.
#4: It doesn't feel like the old ECW, they need their own tapings.
-After the first show, I agreed that taping ECW before or after SmackDown! was a bad idea. However, I think the E's production crew has done a better job the last two weeks of making the venue seem intimate, I like darkening the arena for matches, and I think the SD crowds are starting to get more into the ECW brand and the ECW wrestlers. The problem isn't with the feel but how the ECW wrestlers were portrayed – they were feuding with John Cena who, like it or not wrestling geeks, is still mighty over with most of the crowd who doesn't read 411 or columns like this and the first show had RVD ripping Cena. So of course, when Cena shows up to kick Edge's ass and smack the annoying Paul Heyman, they're going to cheer. My girlfriend, a WWE fan but no idea about ECW, summed up everything when she said – "God, Paul Heyman is so annoying." Heyman is annoying to the WWE fan, which makes him a heel to the SmackDown audience, that's the problem.
So with those complaints out of the way, why do I enjoy ECW? It's simple, really. I have a strong belief that wrestling fans are all marks for something new. Whenever there's a new character or a new promotion or a new angle, we're intrigued. It doesn't mean we're going to like it or hate it, but we're going to pay attention. At times we've have preconceived notions – I was ready to hate Carlito based on his vignettes and now I'm his biggest fan – but we're interested about what's new. ECW sparked everyone's interest. Everyone, including myself, had opinions about whether it was going to rule or suck before we saw one second. Then, after a subpar first show, the entire wrestling community started kicking dirt on ECW's grave before it was buried.
Here's the deal – ECW is new, it's different and I like watching it. I like seeing a guy like Mike Knox get a chance. Will he end up making it? I don't know yet, but I would like to find out. I'm waiting for CM Punk to show up. I want to see what other developmental talent or misused current stars are going to show and how they can adapt to ECW. I like ECW right now because the possibilities are endless – how will the show progress, will there be other titles, who will RVD feud with, what's going to happen with Sabu, where does Big Show go from here, etc. Right now, I don't believe it's perfect but I'm going to watch next week. Wrestling is entertainment and the last two episodes (not the first) of ECW on Sci-Fi have entertained me. Angle and RVD wrestled a solid, good match with great storytelling on Tuesday night.
When I think of wrestling, I refer back to Gladiator and Russell Crowe's line after he tears up the screen, ending with the amazing super awesome double-sword chop of a guy's head. He yells, "Are you not entertained!?!" Ask yourself that question when a wrestling show was over. When Raw ended on Monday, I was not. When Impact ended last week, I was not. When ECW ended Tuesday, I was. It's that simple.
