ECW was always a developmental farm for the big leagues, it never was anything special apart from what ECW die hards perceived of it, The ECW title was never on par with the WWE or WCW championships because you had people carrying the belt who wouldn't work in any of the major promotions period!.
If it wasn't for ECW, there wouldn't have been the "attitude era" in WWE. ECW's ideas were stolen and used as WWE's own. ECW was a great promotion. Former ECW champions Taz, RVD, Raven, Sandman, Sabu, Dreamer, Rhyno, Mike Awesome, even Mikey Whipwreck worked for WWE or WCW at some point so you're off base there. ECW did things that the other promotions at the time never dreamed of doing. One of the most innovative promotions ever. You are totally wrong when you say it was nothing special.
Paul Heyman managed to create an aura around ECW talent which made them appealing to the big league promotions but what he didn't do is allow his talent to grow and actually work on their fundementals, look at guys like sandman who cant wrestle he was made famous by his entertaining entrance and the fact he beat the hell out of other talent, Sabu the human spot monkey, Rob Van Damn the guy who felt he was bigger then any promotion on the planet, but the thing that made Rob different then any ECW talent is that he had main event appeal, he made the ECW tv title in to a main event title because he always managed to put on classic title matches and made people actually care about the title and Rob Van Damn as i said it before its not the title that makes you, its you that makes the title, Vince Mcmahon actually elevated the new ECW championship because he made the title look good, he was a classic heel and people hated the fact that he had the belt and wanted to see him beat, do IMO Lashley only got over because of Vince period!.
WWE, TNA and when it existed WCW created an aura around their talents to make them appealing. Thats part of the business. I'm pretty sure guys that have made it to tv in WWE aren't working on their fundamentals everyday. They probably have already been trained so i don't know what that has to do with the ecw title being a midcard title. Vince destroyed the title. Anytime a non-wrestler wins a title it devalues it. Period. I don't really remember Lashley ever really getting over. The champion does make the title in a lot of instances but, how they are booked while holding it makes the most difference.
Secondly look at the financial history, Paul Heyman's ECW made money, but Paul pissed it all away, WWEECW makes money for the talent, the roster the product and overall is making a profit, Scyfy is paying the WWE for the show, Paul was Paying TNN, so IMO todays ECW title means more then it did when the company was run by Heyman the fact that IWC fans are still pissed need to get over themselves, the product is doing better then it ever did because of Vince he took the brand national and Heyman hates the fact that Vince did what he never could do and the title to me is on par with both main event belts because it still holds weight and whomever challenges for it still becomes credible enough to move to the main rosters.
What does the financial history of ecw have to do with the prestige of the title in its current state? Nothing. Vince destroyed the idea of what ecw was. It's a completely different product and they can't be compared. The real ecw was more than hardcore matches, more than the blood and gore. There were great matches that didn't involve tables or weapons. The angles booked in ECW were original and unique at the time. Theyve been copied numerous times since. The current incarnation of the brand is 180 degrees from the original. The show is a developmental show. It where guys get started or go to revive their character. It's nothing more than that, so, the title is nothing more than it is. And, yeah, whoever gets the ecw belt is sure to move to the main roster, you're right, as a mid carder. The title isn't close to being on par with the WHC or WWE belt.
Its not about the title, its about who wears it which gives it credibility which Dreamer, Christian and even swagger did, CM Punk became a world champ because of ECW, we actually have people who wrestle because of ECW which before didn't happen.