Original ECW was garbage. Why?

[pshanbhag92]

Why do you think the original ECW was garbage, extremely over rated and its contribution to the world of pro-wrestling is greatly exaggerated?

If you don't think ECW was an eye-sore, you are wrong.

 

[braveh]

They broke new ground no question about it but they never had the best overall in-ring wrestling.

Sabu and Shane Douglas were two guys that put on WWF/WCW worthy matches and better consistently but the rest of the roster was overrated in the ring IMO. Essentially it was like ROH is now. Indy promotion with great fans and a booker that was ahead of his time.

 

[Thriller Ant]

They broke new ground no question about it but they never had the best overall in-ring wrestling.

Sabu and Shane Douglas were two guys that put on WWF/WCW worthy matches and better consistently but the rest of the roster was overrated in the ring IMO. Essentially it was like ROH is now. Indy promotion with great fans and a booker that was ahead of his time.

 

[braveh]

hater

 

[klunderbunker]

hater

No, no he isn't.

 

[Alex]

Being a novice on the original ECW I would say the only good 'wrestlers' ECW produced were RVD, Raven, Tazz, The Dudleys and Rhino (Tommy Dreamer as well I guess) there's a reason these guys had careers in WWE/WCW/TNA for extended periods of time when they left ECW.

 

[Thriller Ant]

hater

Of utter shit, yes.

 

[Барбоса]

Sabu was/is the flippy version of New Jack

 

[Poop Master Flex]

I wouldn't say it was garbage, I've seen plenty of good matches but I'm not a big fan of it.

It helped pave the way of the Attitude Era but IMO there was a lot more logic to the Attitude Era than to ECW. Frankly whenever I see the likes of Axel and Ian Rotten its impossible for me not to shake my head which unfortunately is what a lot of people remember about ECW. A lot of wrestlers there had no talent and basically had a job because they were willing to do ridiculously violent shit when other companies in North America weren't. I got that feeling in a lot of ECW matches, lets not put on a good match lets just be violent and be violent for the sake of being violent, not for the sake of putting on a good match or a good feud.

Then I see guys like Mysterio, Guerrero and Malenko who put on numerous good matches on ECW television and I also loved RVD and Taz. For that reason I can't call ECW garbage even if a lot of what they did was.

 

[Alex]

.
Then I see guys like Mysterio, Guerrero and Malenko who put on numerous good matches on ECW television and I also loved RVD and Taz. For that reason I can't call ECW garbage even if a lot of what they did was.

I forgot about those guys in my post, but my point still stands for every guy in ECW that could actually wrestle well, there were about three that couldn't. And when guys like Sandman (who couldn't wrestle) were featured prominently it's not hard to see why some people think the original ECW sucked.

 

[Poop Master Flex]

I forgot about those guys in my post, but my point still stands for every guy in ECW that could actually wrestle well, there were about three that couldn't. And when guys like Sandman (who couldn't wrestle) were featured prominently it's not hard to see why some people think the original ECW sucked.

If all you see is garbage you will think its all garbage so I understand some peoples POV. I did like Sandman though. He wasn't much of a wrestler but then again he wasn't about wrestling, he was about character and I did like the Sandman character.

 

[Alex]

Oh yeah ECW had great characters, but it's like brilliant technical wrestlers with no personality. You can only go so far with one until you need the other one to get you farther.

 

[klunderbunker]

ECW did indeed have Eddie, Dean and Rey. All of them stayed for a year at most. They also were never the featured act other than Dean vs. Eddie once in awhile. The freak show stuff was always the featured part of ECW until they were hanging on for dear life, then it didn't matter. Using the argument that "ECW had great wrestling" is true, but to act like it was an integral part of the company is ridiculous.

 

[pshanbhag92]

Sabu was/is the flippy version of New Jack

THIS.
I am going to blatantly copy this and use this is various places to describe Sabu.
Thank you.

 

[pshanbhag92]

ECW did indeed have Eddie, Dean and Rey. All of them stayed for a year at most. They also were never the featured act other than Dean vs. Eddie once in awhile. The freak show stuff was always the featured part of ECW until they were hanging on for dear life, then it didn't matter. Using the argument that "ECW had great wrestling" is true, but to act like it was an integral part of the company is ridiculous.

Exactly. If Benoit, Malenko, Jericho and Mysterio hadn't gone on to get famous in WCW and/or WWE, I bet no one would be even mentioning them in ECW discussions. They were to ECW what PTP are to WWE right now.

And the ECW fans didn't come to the Bingo Hall to watch these guys wrestling. They came to watch the BAM-BOOM-BHADAAAM!

 

[Poop Master Flex]

ECW did indeed have Eddie, Dean and Rey. All of them stayed for a year at most. They also were never the featured act other than Dean vs. Eddie once in awhile. The freak show stuff was always the featured part of ECW until they were hanging on for dear life, then it didn't matter. Using the argument that "ECW had great wrestling" is true, but to act like it was an integral part of the company is ridiculous.

I don't think anyone is acting like great wrestling was an integral part of ECW but at the same time I can't call the promotion complete garbage because they did have guys who could work a match and were good. They did have some memorable characters. Sure the forefront of ECW was crash TV and even if that was the focus of ECW it doesn't mean I completely overlook some of the good stuff they did. XPW is complete garbage, that ridiculous Ian Rotten promotion is complete garbage, I can't say ECW was complete garbage even if there was a shit ton of garbage in it.

Besides chances are if there wasn't an ECW I may have never had guys like Rey, Benoit and Malenko to watch on shows I did love. ECW did serve a purpose even if that purpose was keeping talent warm for WCW and WWE.

 

[The Crock]

Sabu was/is the flippy version of New Jack

Slightly less homicidal, I'd say.

 

[shattered dreams]

ECW did indeed have Eddie, Dean and Rey. All of them stayed for a year at most. They also were never the featured act other than Dean vs. Eddie once in awhile. The freak show stuff was always the featured part of ECW until they were hanging on for dear life, then it didn't matter. Using the argument that "ECW had great wrestling" is true, but to act like it was an integral part of the company is ridiculous.

Says the Foley mark

 

[pshanbhag92]

Sabu and Shane Douglas were two guys that put on WWF/WCW worthy matches and better consistently but the rest of the roster was overrated in the ring IMO. .

Sabu? No. I dont even want to talk about him.

It's Shane Douglas I want to talk about. I think his in-ring wrestling skills are extremely over-rated. He is average, at best. It is just that amid all the stunts, jumps and dives in ECW, his wrestling was good by comparison. Also, he keeps endorsing himself as this great technical wrestler in a company where everyone was focusing of killing themselves. If you compare him to WWE wrestlers in 1995, when he was with WWE, Shawn Michaels, Bret Hart, Owen Hart, Scott Hall and even Bob Backlund blew him out of the water.

As I said earlier, Shane Douglas very smartly kept endorsing himself and kept telling people how he was the only technical wrestler in ECW.

 

[Барбоса]

Slightly less homicidal, I'd say.

So his nickname should have been "The Less Homicidal than New Jack, Suicidal, Genocidal, Death–Defying Man"?

 

[pshanbhag92]

Besides chances are if there wasn't an ECW I may have never had guys like Rey, Benoit and Malenko to watch on shows I did love. ECW did serve a purpose even if that purpose was keeping talent warm for WCW and WWE.

True. But OVW made more wrestlers for WWE than ECW. You dont hear songs about OVW.

 

[AhSpicyDrop]

I would never refer to ECW as a whole as garbage, but they produced a lot more garbage than they did golden nuggets. They deserve a lot of credit for introducing different concepts to their fans, and being a Jack of all trades. That being said the brutal violence is what brought the fans to the arena, it was just a coincidence that some of those fans were also open-minded to other outlets of wrestling.

Sabu deserves a little bit more credit than just being called a "flipping New Jack" as he could work more than just the garbage wrestling style where as New Jack couldn't even properly execute a fucking wrist lock. New Jack only got monster pops when he was stapling people's faces or diving off of balconies. Sabu was able to work just about any style but primarily worked the garbage style because that's what got him the most over in that environment.

ECW obviously wasn't complete garbage or people wouldn't still be clamoring about it all these years later. Is it overrated? Definitely. But it still can't be denied that it provided a major change in the landscape of pro wrestling and was the precursor to the Attitude era.

 

[pshanbhag92]

I do not get the idea behind RVD being the TV champion for two years straight. He was clearly the most over guy, he should have been the ECW champion.
And Paul Heyman boasts about how he and RVD made the TV title mean more than the ECW heavyweight title. Ummm.. Isn't that sad?

It's like keeping the IC title on Ultimate Warrior from 1989 to 1991 and not giving him a shot at the WWE championship.

 

[pshanbhag92]

Is ECW really where the Attitude Era got its inspiration? I highly doubt it.

We all know when Vince decided to go edgy. And it had nothing to do with ECW.
As for hardcore wrestling, I think it was coming with or without ECW.

 

[shattered dreams]

ECW obviously wasn't complete garbage or people wouldn't still be clamoring about it all these years later. Is it overrated? Definitely. But it still can't be denied that it provided a major change in the landscape of pro wrestling and was the precursor to the Attitude era.

How can it be "definitely" overrated when there are people that say it was complete garbage and deny those things?