Original ECW Tarnished?

[aboynameddirt]

The other day I was going back and watching a few of Jerry Lynn vs. Rob Van Dam matches from the original ECW. After that I decided to re-watch the Rise and Fall of ECW DVD. All of this reminded me how entertaining and great the original ECW was.

Watching all that got me wondering, so I looked up ECW Championship records online and noticed that the records included wrestlers who held the belt during WWE's reincarnation of the brand. This was kind of displeasing to me. Now, absolutely nothing against guys like CM Punk, Christian, Matt Hardy etc, but this just doesn't seem right. They weren't there for ECW, they didn't live the experience. Isn't it disrespectful for them to take the title of "ECW Champion"? These high paid, glamourized "Superstars" on an expensive stage and in a fancy ring all put together by a billion dollar company isn't what ECW was about. To me it could ruin what the original ECW stood for and devalue the idea of the original ECW.

What do you think?
Has WWE's version of ECW tarnished the image and idea of the original ECW?
Let me know what you think.

Also, a few notes:
-I mean absolutely no disrespect to any wrestlers with this.
-My apologies if this thread has been done before, I searched and couldn't find it.

 

[MrHashasheen]

I stopped caring about ECW a long time ago. You know why? Because whiners are whiners are whiners. They somehow expected McMahon, a man in charge of a billion-dollar company with stock holders and public accountability to perfectly remake ECW with aging Superstars, and to continue the same hardcore shit as before.

Fuck ECW. It had an good run in the nineties and it helped bring about a new era of wrestling. But it died because of bad business practices over a decade ago. The WWE's ECW was just different, it helped create superstars like Sheamus, CM Punk, Kofi Kingston, and reinvent others like John Morrison, the Miz and re-introduce others like Christian. People should accept that and get over it.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

I think in the eyes of modern-day newer WWE fans, they could associate the name ECW with Vince's version, but I do not think that the WWECW incarnation has really tarnished the legacy of the original ECW for long-term fans who still remember and love the old-school ECW from back in the day. They know what the promotion was all about, the stars it created and the impact it had on the business.

It's a shame that the WWE version of ECW sucked so badly as it could have brought the old brand back to prominance and offer a genuine alternative to the WWE style product we see every week. However, it did help create several new stars and probably served it purpose in Vince's mind.

I will never forget the original ECW, its exciting, no holds barred style of wrestling and the cool gimmicks and storylines it had. I did not enjoy the WWECW, but that has not affected how I remember the legacy of Heyman's creation in the 90s. It had such a big impact on the wrestling business that I do not think any serious fan who knows his/her wrestling history will have their thoughts of ECW tarnised by the half-assed WWE version.

 

[GUMBO2ndcoming]

I don't believe the legacy is tarnished at all, For those who lived it as it was happening it will always be special and be known as the birth place of a lot of superstars and a lot of innovative things in the business.



Personally I love ECW not so much the Hardcore part because thats never been my favorite type of wrestling, I appreciated the fact that some of the ECW originals could actually wrestle. Even during a hardcore match some of then knew how to tell a story withing the style and was worth watching.


SO NO! It isn't tarnished it'll live as long as sports entertainment lives.



But when it comes to the WWE guys being ECW champion, I dont have a problem with it at all. Thing is Paul Heyman sold ECW to Vince so that makes ECW his brand from a legal standpoint and can do whatever he pleases. WWECW wasn't my favorite thing but its business. Hell when Big Show was champ ECW was more entertaining then some of the New Jack and Sandman stuff.

 

[The Man They Call WMD]

The first two wwe ECW ppv were epic. John Cena vs RVD might be my favorite match ever. The entrance for Sandman was incredible. How ever anything after those two ppv's I consider shit. The Original ECW wasn't tarnished at all, because anyone who watched the original ECW knows better then to compare it to the watered down wwf version.

 

[NSL]

To the real fans of the original EC f'n W, no...the image was not tarnished, because we all know it wasn't the real thing, what Vince tried, and it never had the same emotion/passion.

To casual fans, or younger fans, that came into the scene after the original company closed...then yes. They never saw it firsthand, and they only hear stories, or see an amended history of it. It will never the same as witnessing it firsthand.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I don't really see how because ECW wasn't all that great in the first place in my opinion. The roster was made up primarily of out of shape, no talent hacks that couldn't make it in either WCW or WWF. There were a few guys here and there that had actual talent, but they were the exception rather than the rule.

What I remember primarily about ECW are guys putting each other through flaming tables, wrestling in barbed wire, being slammed on thumbtacks, kendo sticks, chairshots to the head, etc. And yeah, I've heard all the schtick about ECW being more than just hardcore wrestling matches. That's all well and good but it's ECW's own fault that what most people do remember about it are the hardcore stuff. Whenever a commercial aired hyping ECW or an upcoming ECW ppv, do you know what sort of footage was compiled to advertise the product? Hardcore matches. That's what ECW hyped to get itself over and yet former ECW wrestlers and fans piss and moan about how all the hardcore stuff being all that most people think of or remember?

The thing about ECW is that the original ECW was its own worst enemy. Even though television content in general was far raunchier and embraced more controversial programming in the late 90s than they do today, ECW still had to heavily water itself down in order to have a chance to grow. Yet, by doing that, ECW cut out much of the stuff that drew fans to it in the first place. When Vince bought ECW and decided to launch it as a WWE brand, he never had the intention of making ECW a haven for hardcore wrestling fans. I do think that he could have done a far, far better job with it than he did rather than treating it, for the most part, as if it was irrelevant. But relaunching it with the original format wouldn't work because Vince probably wouldn't have even been able to get a television deal out of it. Paul Heyman couldn't and ECW was his baby.

The legacy of the original ECW won't be tarnished because there are so many nostalgiaholics among the IWC that have this image of ECW being this spectacular epitome of a pro wrestling company. Just like many of them saw and continue to see no flaws with the Attitude Era, the same applies to ECW.