I will say, that being a fan of ECW since the mid '90s, I have been highly pissed off and disappointed at different levels week after week with the product being put in front of us. There are three moments that I as a wrestling fan will never forget where I was, when I was watching them, for better or worse:
1.) The first time I saw an ECW tape.
2.) Ultimate Warrior vs. Hogan at WM......Good God what was I thinking when I was a kid
3.) Undertaker vs. Mick Foley in the 'Cell.....Some of the craziest bumps I had ever seen at that point as a fan
The only one that I could give a damn about now is the first time I witnessed ECW. I was in high school, in my Independent Studies of Media Class (biggest bullshit class I have ever take in my entire life, got time to roam the halls for 90 minutes). I went to talk to my girlfriend at the time in the gym during some cheerleading meeting she had with her sponsors. I got to talking to a couple of my friends who were die-hard wrestling fans (we were doing backyard wrestling back in '95 and '96 before it became what it is now). Anyway they had always talked to me about ECW. So we took the tape, went to our media room, and watched the thing all day long (skipping a few classes in the process). I had never seen anything like it. It changed the way I looked at wrestling and what it should be.
From that point on I borrowed every video Brad had in his collection. He had taped countless shows and I watched everyone of them. I was hooked. Brad was in fact my "dealer" because I didn't have a dish at the time. So I started watching a new tape everytime he brought me one. Then I started watching PPVs as they came along and I couldn't get enough of it.
I'll never forget how happy I was when I got my first taste of what ECW was. I'll never forget how sad I was to see it go away, even though by then alot of my favorites had come and gone.
I kept watching the WWF product but grew tired of it and turned away from wrestling for most intensive purposes. I started watching again late last year for the guys that were still around that I couldn't get enough of; Kurt Angle, Chris Benoit, RVD, etc. I kept watching and realized that I had missed the first ONS. I had heard nothing about it because I was in college and working at the time and was going out and partying way too much. I just never watched TV and never heard about it until after the fact. I went and bought the DVD and loved it. It wasn't quite back to the old ECW but it was pretty damn close. I thought that's great, at least they payed a fitting tribute to these guys and left it at that.
I have continued to watch wrestling again, almost for a solid year and have tried to catch up on the business that I have loved since I was a kid. So when I heard about an ECW ONSII I was ecstatic. I ordered it, had some friends over, and it felt like the old times. My wife, the gf from college, has even become a fan of it again after we both quit watching it after high school. I watched it and thought, my God, we're going to have a wrestling reniessance. I told all my friends about it who quit watching wrestling and was very excited to see what was going to happen the following Tuesday.
Then I am met with the biggest pile of shit I have ever seen called a one hour television show. I couldn't fathom what I just saw on the TV. I thought hell it's the first week, give it time. I've continued to watch and I'm still being let down. It is not the same and I'm afraid it will never be the same. I just hope to God that Vince wakes up and realizes what he is doing to this company that we all used to love.
While some people are giving up already, my devotion to the real ECW and the guys that broke bones and bled and worked there asses off, who are still with this second version, will not let me turn away. I will keep tuning in just hoping and praying that we will get something close to what we used to love. I think there is a chance to still save this and I think there will be plenty of time to do so.
For those of you who think that this will be cancelled after its run on Sci-Fi, you're out of your fucking minds. ECW is already doing ratings almost as good as Smackdown. Vince won't let this die, although if things don't eventually change, he probably should. I think that Vince will keep spending the money and hopefully once we get another hour and more performers, I am marking out bigger than fuck about Punk coming to ECW, I think we will eventually have a very good product. I am happy with just the fact that we do get to see all these guys we grew up watching, on TV in some shape or form.
I do hope to God almighty that we do get away from the squash matches, pointless Sandman canings, the jobbing of ECW alum, etc etc. Vince always changes his mind so much about everything that I am just trying to make myself believe we will get to a point, with a longer show, where we will have time for better matches, the addition of the other titles, and after such good ratings and reviews on the main event last week, at least a more hardcore style to the matches and dropping this fucking bullshit extreme rules match a week. I don't care about the blood and guts in every match, it's nice from time to time, but you can't put Sabu in a match like they did last week and expect him to be what he is, a fucking amazing talent who is not afraid of anything. You can't have a RVD or Sabu match and take away chairs and tables.
Hopefully Vince will pull his head out of his ass, just this once, and give us something close to what we remembered as ECW, ONS and ONSII are good examples. I can't turn away for the same reason as the poster above, I've got to believe it will get better and I can't get enough of these guys that are getting another shot to make some very good money. I think if we turn away as fans now, no matter how bad it's been, we're fucking hypocrits. If we turn away from this show and these guys that entertained us for so long, when is the next time you'll see Balls, Dreamer, Sandman, etc getting paid the money they are right now. Also, albeit I'm highly pissed off that Styles can't commentate like he wants to, who knows if Joey will have a job if they close down shop on ECW.
Give it time and give it a chance. I'm not happy right now, no true ECW fan should be happy right now, but at least we've got another night of wrestling to watch and occasionally look forward to. At least some of these guys have got a solid source of income and don't have to worry about getting paid independent money and carnival money. I know its easy to forget this shit b/c they are entertainers but I think that getting older, it's hard for me not to think like this. Lets give it time and hope something.......fucking something happens to change the landscape that we've got now.
