Was The WWECW Experiment A Failure?

[Low_Ki]

Well the title says it all.

In your opinion, was the WWE's version of ECW a complete failure? Now before anyone asks, I don't mean in comparison to the original ECW, I mean as a stand alone brand.

Obviously the brand is no longer on the air, which I guess in the simplest way means it didn't succeed. The low ratings and of course 'THAT' WWECW stand alone PPV didn't help.

But it did become a kind of breading ground for a select few of the WWE's now main roster. The likes of CM Punk, Jack Swagger and Dolph Ziggler all came from WWECW and it helped re-establish guys like Christian and Kane.

So, what are your thoughts?

 

[D-Man]

Everyone gives the ECW revamp a bad rap because they expected the old ECW to come back to television. They wanted to see the hardcore, out of control, spot monkey-filled, racy, lesbian-storylined product that they remember from the 90's. The WWE doesn't work that way.

In the end, ECW was a failure because the WWE's version of it pissed off so many of the ECW roster, old ECW fans, and new WWE fans that no one cared to watch it anymore. Just like the XFL, the WWE tried to reinvent the wheel and failed, miserably.

 

[yeerandee]

i agree with dman. if it werent called ECW it would be a success. just the fact they called it ECW made everyone expect to see ECW of the 90s back. they should have called it something else more people would have seen it in a different context. i know that i would have for sure

 

[TheRuDOLPHIN]

WWECW was a failure in the ECW fans' eyes. In my opinion, it was a success. It reinvented stars like Christian, Kane and Chavo Guerrero and created some new ones like Yoshi Tatsu and Tyson Kidd.

 

[Defekt]

I think creatively it was a failure. The WWE spent alot of time hyping how different, original and special ECW was, then revived it as a minor league version of Smackdown.

The ECW brand was always treated as inferior, and while it did give some future breakout stars exposure, it could have been so much more if the WWE had kept the brand separate, and made ECW different from Raw or Smackdown.

 

[SinCityBlitz]

No it wasn't a failure. The WWE wanted the new ECW to be a place for younger guys to go and learn. That is what they did. It helped a lot of guys who wouldn't get a push on the big shows a chance to show what they had.

The old ECW failed for a reason. It had ran its course and would have never been big if the E tried to bring it back. Hell the original ECW was never big.

 

[Henhouse]

Kofi Kingston, Evan Bourne, D'Angelo Dinero (who unfortunately doesn't seem to be going anywhere) CM Punk and Jack Swagger all got their careers going in ECW and have gone on to become great wrestlers. WWECW was a low pressure environment that allowed would be WWE Superstars to hone their skills. It wasn't quite as B Show as Superstars is either.

 

[payney]

ive watched old ecw videos/clips before and thought when they was bringing it back "yeah this is were the wwe are gonna be a bit more gory and have more NO DQ matches/weapons e.t.c....

HOW WRONG WAS I!

it was a complete utter failiure from about the 10th episode onwards, just utter,cheaply written rubbish.......Utter Utter Crap, to me they have soiled the Original name forever i think.....

 

[WTK]

At first it was really really cool, and i enjoyed it, but once they lost RVD, Sabu, Kurt Angle and The Big Show, it quicky began to lose steam, and suck. They had no ECW originals that were any good, Tommy Dreamer was not the ECW original that WWECW needed. WWE going PG didn't help ECW either. But the biggest thing was putting the belt on low midcarders and jobbers. I still believe had they done this as a WCW Nitro like brand instead of ECW, it'd still be around today.

 

[WunNightStan619]

I dont think it was a failure until after the New Breed vs Originals angle. The Punk and Morrison Battles were epic too. I think after the extreme elimination chamber is when things really started to go down hill. I loved big show as champion, the originals were still there, kurt angle was BADDASS, and it just stuck out from the other two brands. The matches were brutal, the wrestlers characters were turned up a few notches and it was just a pure wrestling product at first. After guys like Matt Hardy, Christian and Chavo became champion it was like ok...this shit is sorry.

 

[Krossbreed]

WWE version of ECW wasnt a complete failure. It gave birth to extreme characters and performers who started with that brand like CM Punk, Evan Bourne and Kofi Kingston. Initially they wanted to keep it authentic hardcore but soon after they went for high flers and action packed type wrestlers. There is no logical way ecw couldve remained how it was under wwe. It had to be diluted and the over the top stunts had to go.

 

[sabu4life]

when they had the originals like sabu,rvd,tommy dreamer,sandman,balls mahoney,stevie richards, i was happy as sh*t but when they left it wasn't the same anymore

 

[Domamania]

Well, In my opinion, the WWECW looked good on paper. I mean on paper you would have had all the ECW fans from old come in and watch what they have missed seeing for years. Also you would have Possiable new stars that would have evolved from that style of "wrestling" and become superstars.

Now in actuality, the reasons why in My opinion the WWECW did not work is because everyone knew that it was not the real ecw that was 10 years prior. Further more the new ecw was not as extreme as one would have imagined, like how it was when the real original ECW was around. So in conclusion the ECW of mid 00's was just an ecco and a watered down shell of what it once was and the fans caught on to that pretty quickly.

 

[akathelaw]

WWECW was consistently featuring good wrestlers, veterans and rookies. It was fairly similar to what NXT is right now, swapping the reality show contest for an actual championship belt. If I could change NXT right now, I'd switch the format from reality show back to a wrestling brand. Make Zack Ryder the inaugural NXT Internet Champion and bring back the brand vibe that WWECW had. I loved watching CM Punk, Morrison, Swagger and Christian have a championship reign and carry a storyline away from the pressure of Raw and Smackdown. WWECW also gave us Miz, Kofi, Air Bourne, Kelly Kelly, Christian, Sheamus and others! Compared to NXT, I really miss WWECW and enjoyed it for what it was.

 

[Domamania]

when they had the originals like sabu,rvd,tommy dreamer,sandman,balls mahoney,stevie richards, i was happy as sh*t but when they left it wasn't the same anymore

Well even with the ECW originals, they werent as extreme as they were when the original ECW was not around. Plus they were older, alot more injuries piled up on their bodies. the only one that can really go a semi decent match out of the guy you mentioned is RVD and even he is not the same RVD that he was 10 years ago.I mean its just physics and biology the older you get the less your body can fight gravity. Most of loves the old timers to return because it brings back the nostolgia feel for what they were when their were at their best.

 

[Notorious718]

I wouldn't say it was a complete failure as out of the three weekly shows, I found myself enjoying WWECW the most from an in-ring perspective. Also, it helped guys who got lost in the shuffle on RAW and Smackdown find some measure of success such as Goldust and William Regal as well as reestablish guys like Christian while also serving as a breeding ground for young up and comers such as CM Punk, Miz, and John Morrison. Without WWECW, I don't think those guys would be as high on the card (well, maybe not Morrison now) or as relevant as they are now. The show helped the younger guys prepare themselves before moving up to one of the bigger brands and personally, I much prefer WWECW to NXT.

 

[SickJames]

Screw you all. This DID NOT FAIL. We got Kelly Kelly from this, and a nice temporary, but still, nice flashback in the past a bit, it was like a nostalgia show mixed with new blood. So it wasnt the old ECW. Ariel & Thorn were nice as a sci fi act and The Zombie was fun, ppl need to learn to laugh and enjoy shit as it they thought WWE was trying to make the guy a legit star, bashing that. Fuck you.

Lashley spearing Umaga through a steel cage and Hardcore Holly splitting open his back on a table are still the two sickest moments ever under that brand and Hardcore Holly and Test got more extreme than I ever saw them get in a long while... and for Test, ever.



YOU expected that, your problem

It wasnt gonna be and if you think it was you're fucking stupid. WWE doesnt let their wrestlers talk as freely open as ECW wrestlers would, they wont even do death matches what makes any of you think they'd do extreme all day every day?



We got Sandman kicking ass every night. I enjoyed just seeing him do that.

Bigshow and RVD had a nice feud, Kurt got a new found intensity that I wish wouldve stayed there longer, and was nice to see fate get him in ECW one way or the other after he turned down the original.

I loved it because I APPRECIATE the WWE and what they do on big brand or smaller show, because it's DIFFERENT and not the same as Raw or SD!


It was gutter and grimy and dark and dingy in 2006 and that WAS it's best year, 07 was okay too, then it pretty much went down, but 2006 was the best

 

[GoochOwnsYou]

As an "ECW" it was a complete and utter flop as people expected something remotley resembling ECW when all Vince wanted to do was exploit the name.

As a 3rd minor league brand to get young guys the opportunity to shine it served its purpose well, however its creative side was never good at any time ever. It was more effective at getting names recognised than NXT (bar Season 1 producing Nexus)

 

[jaceynightheat]

I don't think it was a failure but it could have been more.

I think if ECW had be used more similar to the original, it would be here today. The reason the ECW guys were so over to begin with was they were different. They weren't the same short hair, tattoo over the back of their shoulders, short tights guys. It went from a unique brand to just "show # 3"

If ECW had a later night schedule, it could have had the more adult oriented storylines. Hell just have it be filmed out of the manhattan center ( I think that's the name of it ) every week. Put the ECW guys there, maybe a couple vets who have nothing to do & some young guys that work well there.

The Newer guys like CM Punk, Kevin Thorn w/ Shelly Martinez, Monty Brown all fit in really well imo.

 

[hjq0023]

The biggest mistake they made was drafting Punk from ECW to Raw brand. Punk would have become the ultimate face of ECW. Also they eliminated the hardcore matches

 

[Adalam]

I have to say, WWECW gets too much heat. Look at who it brought us: Kofi & Evan, Miz & Morrison, Sheamus, CM Punk, Jack Swagger, revamped Big Show, Mark Henry, Christian, and Kane, Zack Ryder and Curt Hawkins, The Hart Dynasty, the Bella Twins, Kelly Kelly, Yoshi Tatsu, Trent Barreta.... ok maybe the last five haven't shown much (counting the twins separately with the following: Bri, Nikki, K2, Tatsu, and Barreta) with only Tatsu showing anything interesting as of late, and the Dynasty separated with Kidd jobbing and Natalya a Diva dominate. Of those, these held the ECW title while in the brand: Morrison, Punk, Swagger, Big Show, Kane, Christian, and Mark Henry. How many of them have gone on to at least hold one of the two World titles? 6/7, with Morrison being the only unsuccessful one due to his poor choices.

 

[conici]

It Was A "failure" because it was a letr down ECW fans wanted 90's ECW crazy shit jumping onto tables hitting eachother with anything WWE did it there way and ECW fans didn't like that and in the end WWECW went down sure it did produce some great talent Morrison,Punk,Sheamus and it was also a great stepping stone for the young talent eager to get noticed and in that way it was a success overall for the hardcore We want blood ecw fans it was a let down but for the youung talent who got recognition was WWECW was a Success

 

[Machianzo]

I don't think WWECW was a failure at all. It did exactly what was expected of it. Started off with the hardcore throwback matches, and moved as the WWE moved in terms of violence. It generated pushes for CM Punk, Kofi, Swagger, Lashley, Mark Henry (the forgotten Atlas reign), Ezekiel Jackson, Morrison and Miz. It was also the first TV exposure Sheamus got. Thats quite an impressive list, really I thought it was a shame what happened to ECW. By the time Christian returned, the show was devoid of star power and was dying. That's the crux of having three brands, because as much as I love Christian, he wasn't ready to carry the entire show.

As noted earlier, another part of its failure was the very fact it was called ECW, but couden't by anything like ECW when TV-14 faded out. Nostalgia fans was what it was originally geared to, and when they stopped appealing to them, they stopped appealing to 97% of ECW's fanbase. The casual fans never cared, and they certainly didn't care to see the unestablished guys that came after the change. (Please don't mistake this section as me bashing PG, I fully endorse it.)

Overall however, I feel the triumph of ECW was getting those young stars TV exposure and room to grow, when at the time of its creation the main two rosters were jam packed to begin with...and that wasn't even why I think Vince made it. ECW was a triumph at bringing back the older fans too, as you could see during the pre-PG tapings. However, the triumph of harvesting a new crop is better than rehashing an old one, and so in my eyes ECW was indeed a success.

 

[Dagger Dias]

It depends. In some ways it was a massive failure. In others it was actually sucessful. Now in terms of succeeding as a third brand, it failed miserably because they did not treat it as one from day one. That is what would lead to no one caring anymore. It needed a world champion, a secondary champion, and a tag team champion. Perhaps even a divas champion. It didn't and was automatically viewed as inferior. They made it to where ECW guys were eligible for Smackdown's titles the second year it was around but it was too late by then.

What it did suceed in was creating new stars and giving them a chance to show what they could do before moving onto the main roster. CM Punk, Evan Bourne, Jack Swagger, and Sheamus all started out there. Others went there and reinvented their characters such as Morrison and Ryder. I hated ECW as a BRAND they never needed but I highly enjoyed seeing a new group of guys before their Raw/Smackdown debuts.

 

[One to Remember]

Vince wouldn't leave them alone. He kept overuling Heyman, didn't give them proper air time before their tour, didn't get them a second hour, would not let the ECW alumns do them, and he did not restore the tag and television title. He just couldn't back off and i dont know if its because he was too power hungry to let them utilize the autonamy that always fueled them since 1992 or if it was because he did not create ECW. It was doing great with Big Show, RVD, etc. I think WWE could do with more then one World title if its lineage dates to an older championship. ECW offered that. I am glad after seeing VKM ravage ECW that I did not have to live thru watching a WWE ran WCW.. Now that would hurt..
I miss the ECW brand though...