WWECW 2006 Relaunch

[ShinobiMusashi]

I totally missed the relaunch of the ECW in 2006. I laughed it off when I read about it recently, but after watching a few matches on the ECW Extreme Rules DVD compilation, I have to say that it seemed like it was pretty cool.

I enjoyed some of the 2006 matches on the DVD, as well as the footage of the whole WWE vs ECW angle they were doing in 2005/2006. Seemed like it was going pretty good, but from what I've read they really fell off by 2007. By the time I caught a glimpse of it in 2009 it was just an abomination, and disgrace to the original ECW. What happened?

My question is, why 2006? I don't understand what took so long. After all of those years went by, why bother? Seemed like they would have thought of doing it in 2002 when they split into 2 brands, and when those three letters(ECW) were still fresh on the minds of wrestling fans.

 

[PlayTheGame]

It probably had something to do with Vince's ego- not wanting to propagate an old, conquered brand at first. Same thing happened with WCW- as soon as it was bought out by WWE, the doors were closed on that company for good.

The main reason why ECW came back for a short (and, quite sad) time under the WWE banner was due to the success of the ECW-stylized PPV's that the WWE ran in the early 2000's (ECW One Night Stand). The success and attention that these PPV's got caught the attention of the WWE brass, and so they took a shot by redebuting ECW... but it really was not ECW, it was WWECW, a completely watered-down, sad, and underwhelming version.

Sure, there were a few bright spots, such as the presence of RVD, Heyman, and some other originals and this is where CM Punk really caught the attention of the WWE. But other than that, it was a pretty big flop. Not XFL bad, but still pretty bad. That's why it's gone and buried and will stay buried.

 

[Slowdude]

ECWWE was bound to flop. Just look at the first episode on Sci-Fi. Featuring Cena, Edge, Big Show and the Zombie. ECW was doomed from day one as there was no way ECW could be ECW under the WWE banner. Thus by time a year had passed most of the hardcore aspects were gone and replaced with a place where new young stars could make a break or older stars could get a place at the top.

Honestly once Miz/Morrison formed ECWWE was no longer "ECW" but it grew into its own brand that produce good quality wrestling matches with decent storylines to back it up. Besides Smackdown's Summer of 2008 I'd honestly say ECWWE was the best brand between the end of 2007 (around November) until its death in 2010. Once you got passed the whole name of the show it was a damn good product when Raw/Smackdown and even TNA were producing quite allot of lackluster content.

 

[DeathClutch]

The idea was there, the fans loved it for the most part, WWE didn't want ECW to outshine RAW nor Smackdown so they put Raw and Smackdown talent on the show, over all in 2006 the show wasn't that bad but what hurt the show was the fact they WWE erradicated all the ECW talent bar one or two all within the year of restarting.

 

[ShinobiMusashi]

I have to say the 2006/2007 ECW matches that I've seen may not be ECW, but they were much better than anything I remember seeing in TNA around that time after UFC on Spike. I remember seeing some of those shows, and thinking to myself "Wow! This is really what pro wrestling has evolved into? No way!"

Can anyone tell me what role, if any, Paul Hayman played in the WWE's ECW? You would think he would have had a pretty big one, but looking at some of the shows/characters, it just didn't have that Hayman style to it.

 

[King Hobo]

I'd take a collar and elbow tie up to a hardcore bloodbath with thumbtacks and burning tables any day, but that's just me. Vince McMahon had a much different vision for ECW then the Creative Mastermind, Paul Heyman, may have had in 2006. To Heyman, he saw fans demanding more ECW! ECW! ECW! Vince McMahon saw an opportunity for "blood-ploitation" and I'll be damned if I don't remember hearing that it was largely a vehicle to Superman Bobby Lashley as a major leaguer.

The original reincarnation didn't suck, either. It came out with both guns blazing, seemingly trying to cater to fans of old school ECW with matches like Big Show v. Sabu v. Someone else I can't remember in a tables match (or extreme rules, I apologize my memory is so foggy). The problem was, WWE already had a strong B show, so ECW ranked somewhere within the "filler" range no matter how hard Paul E. tried. It was only an hour long, too. The first signs of the dam cracking came in December, when the ECW exclusive December to Dismember PPV. Lets say, it didn't do so well...

Finally, you started losing superstars... RVD, Sabu, Sandman; the originals were not so well adjusted to the WWE way of business, and without Heyman, nobody in Stamford was going to start caring about "old school" ECW. Then we even lost some good WWE starts from the roster, such as Lashley. By the time they came out with the "Talent Initiative", WWECW was as good as NXT anyway, why even keep lying to ourselves and allude that we may see something "extreme" on Tuesday nights.

I think it took until 2006 because Vince McMahon was truly NOT a fan of the old ECW. He didn't want wrestling on his program to look like a wild mob brook loose and were rioting like in Philly. It was only because of the exceptional popularity of the ECW vids in his library that he finally, although objectionably nonetheless, brought back the acronym ECW. To say he wanted it any longer than the duration of it's novelty... I'm not so sure about that.

 

[hlhbk]

The sad part is that when they did the 2 One Night Stands in 2005 and 2006 they were amazing. I am convinced that the plan origionally was to let Paul Heyman run the new ECW in the old style.

Once the PPV's were so popular Vince realized they were better than anything he had on RAW or Smackdown he decided to run ECW into the ground. I still say to this day if Heyman got to run ECW without worrying about the finanaces it would have crushed both RAW and Smackdown.

 

[AndThat'sTheBottomLine]

Did they ever have a WCW reunion show? Seems like reviving that brand would have been a smarter move.

No. Vince hated WCW so much he continuously humiliated Bischoff when he became raw manager. But back to the topic.

ECW's reincarnation started off really well. I enjoyed it as something new and refreshing as I am a huge fan of hardcore matches. They had Kelly Kelly doing her stripper thing it was awesome. Lol. The Originals vs the new guys is an angle i enjoyed too. I didnt see the original ECW but i enjoyed its reincarnation at first. Then i stopped watching wrestling for a while and got back to watching it around 2008 or 2009 and ECW was so terrible. It was a watered down and just a disgrace to its former self. Paul had been fired not long after its relaunch along with a majority of its originals who ended up in, you guessed it, tna lol. It was so bad and the PG era was in full swing so I said to hell with it im goin to bed on tuesdays now.

I think it took so long for Vince to relaunch it I think because he was uninterested in that style. But I think Paul bugged the hell out of him until he did. If it had been left up to Heyman to run it would still be here and crunching Raw and Smackdown.

 

[thrashtastic]

Despite some of the lame stuff, when it originally came back I was pretty optimistic as a huge fan of the original ECW. I went one of the house shows when they were still doing the ECW shows in smaller venues, and it was almost like being at an old school ECW show in some ways. Honestly, it was one of the best wrestling shows I've ever been to and I've been to quite a few.

I thought they could do so much after that show I went to and seeing the potential on TV. Then, they screwed it all up. Heyman was gone. The originals disappeared. It actually pissed me off enough to where I basically stopped watching wrestling for five years minus catching random CM Punk matches here and there on YouTube just to see how he was progressing.

 

[Dagger Dias]

I was never too interested in the idea of them reviving ECW. They closed the doors on both WCW and ECW when WWE bought them out. This was done for obvious reasons, why would Vince want to promote the ideas of his competition? I disagree there and he should have kept each promotion alive at the time. We all know how that went down in the end though. The announcement in 2006 that ECW was being revived didn't generate much interest in me, but I still watched the brand thinking it might be alright. It had me scratching my head from the very beginning though. The zombie. The lack of titles. Something just didn't seem right about the show from day one.

It started off ok. I remember thinking this is doomed to fail, they are treating it as inferior to Raw or Smackdown by only giving it one title. It should have had a world title of its own and at the very least also a midcard title. Yes, it was a smaller brand, but it needed to have its own set of titles in order to avoid being seen as inferior. People didn't care, as seen in the infamous December to Dismember PPV that saw the lowest buyrate in history. Things got even worse when it turned into a developmental brand. WWE never needed a third brand. If they wanted to capitalize on the success of the ECW reunion shows they should not have watered down the product or made it inferior to the two older brands. If they wanted a developmental show, they should have gone that route from the start.

 

[closet_fan]

I know Vince wouldn't do it because he hates using something that doesn't have his name on it, but it would have been great to have him pump some money into the old ECW and use it as another farm system like FCW.

The only thing I remember from the new version was Sandman giving that guy who dressed up like a zombie a caning over the head.