'Sports Entertainment'

“Sports entertainment” was unofficially born on January 23, 1984 when a bleached blond bodybuilder used an unconvincing legdrop to defeat an Iranian amateur wrestling star in just over five minutes. The idiom was officially coined five years later when Vince McMahon needed to differentiate professional wrestling from legitimate sports in order to circumvent the New Jersey State Athletic Commission’s hefty licensing fees on genuine contests. The words “sports entertainment” are ridiculously redundant and superfluous. All sports endeavor to be entertaining to its fans and, despite denials to the contrary, rules changes have clearly been made in virtually every sport to further appeal to the masses, sometimes at the expense of the integrity of the games. Besides, wrestling had most certainly stressed entertainment for many years before McMahon came along. But McMahon needed to come up with a catchy phrase and “sports entertainment” works as well as any other. The real problem lies not in the name, but in the interpretation.

“Sports entertainment” was gradually bastardized until it came to mean the antithesis of professional wrestling. While McMahon himself must shoulder a great deal of the responsibility for this, inferior replicas such as Kodo Fuyuki and Vince Russo are the biggest culprits.

McMahon has never made a secret of the fact that his objective is to make money, period. Whether it’s Chris Benoit or Doink the Clown who is drawing money is of little consequence to him. During the mid-80s, McMahon marketed real life cartoon characters like Hulk Hogan to children who ate it up every Saturday morning. When these children grew up and moved away from wrestling, McMahon, after several unsuccessful attempts to win them back, eventually turned to the pure athleticism of men like Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels to retain the hardcore fans and salvage what was left of his company. When Steve Austin captured the imagination of an older crowd (many of whom were the same fans that had outgrown the Hogan era), “WWF Attitude” was born and McMahon made his money by marketing a more adult-oriented product. If McMahon can maximize profits 5 years from now by bringing back G.L.O.W., then he’ll do it. Where he runs into problems is during transitional periods like this current one, where McMahon attempts a “please look at me” approach which comes across as a desperate cry for attention. Of course, if you need to beg for attention from fans and the mainstream media, then you’re not deserving of it in the first place.

And speaking of desperate cries for attention, that brings us to Fuyuki and Russo. Whereas most other wrestling promoters have ignored “sports entertainment” and have been content with letting McMahon sustain own creation, these two men have attempted to make it their own and in the process have destroyed every wrestling promotion left in their care. The main problem is that Fuyuki and Russo think that “sports entertainment” actually means something. Their definition involves celebrities wrestling, half-naked women getting involved in every match, tons of profanity, championships as mere “props”, bizarre or outrageous angles that don’t necessarily have to make sense, and, most importantly, lots of airtime for themselves. McMahon’s definition of “sports entertainment” can be summed up in one word: MONEY. And that’s why Vince usually makes it and the impersonators don’t.

Whether gimmick or reality, Fuyuki and Russo have always tried to sell wrestling by showing a complete disdain for it. Regardless of success or failure, they have pressed on and have tried to force-feed their ideas down the throats of fans with unparalleled arrogance and condescension. After committing to a certain philosophy on how to run a wrestling company, any modifications to that philosophy would be seen as an admission of flawed logic. Instead of changing, they insist that the consumer change.

In 1995, Atsushi Onita sold his piece of FMW to Shoichi Arai, giving Arai full control of the company. After approximately 3 years of continuing to run the company in Onita’s image, Arai took on Fuyuki as a business partner. Fuyuki quickly gained the political edge over Onita, Arai sided with Fuyuki because he needed his partner’s money, and Onita severed all ties with FMW. Fuyuki and Arai then took FMW in a dramatically different direction and transformed the promotion from the most hardcore in the world to a sideshow featuring porn stars, transsexuals, and cross-dressers. Business immediately plummeted. Fuyuki booked himself in all the main events and Arai and his niece in major angles. He eliminated exploding barbed wire death matches in favor of “dog food ladder matches”. Fuyuki drove five of the company’s top stars (Masato Tanaka, Gedo, Jado, Kaori Nakayama, and Hideki Hosaka) away. He booked himself (as FMW Heavyweight champion, of course) against singer Captain Jack. FMW went from having a solid niche audience in Japan (and America) to becoming a laughingstock. FMW went out of business in February 2002. When Arai declared personal bankruptcy for himself and de-facto bankruptcy for FMW, Fuyuki feigned shock and claimed that he had no idea that FMW was in severe financial trouble. He completely hung Arai out to dry. Later, Fuyuki was accused (although never charged) of embezzling funds from FMW. Arai, broke and owing money to the Yakuza, committed suicide on 5/16/02.

After heavily relying on the internal checks and balances within the WWF to create the facade of competence, Russo made a name for himself and was offered control of the troubled WCW in April 2000. After a pitiful reign which only lasted several months and saw him erode what little credibility WCW had left, he left the second largest wrestling company in America on its death bed before being fired and replaced by a rag-tag booking committee headed by Kevin Sullivan. He gave the WCW World title to B movie actor David Arquette as well as to himself while failing to create any new stars. He had no idea what to do with WCW’s biggest star, Bill Goldberg, but never seemed to run out of ideas for David Flair and the Harris Brothers. He brought back the long-past-its-prime NWO because his original ideas (mainly consisting of Viagra-on-a-pole matches) flopped. He repeatedly humiliated WCW’s greatest legend, Ric Flair, and publicly told another, Hulk Hogan, that he couldn’t draw anymore only 1 year before he was part of the most memorable Wrestlemania main event ever.

Undeterred, Russo later went on to murder the once-promising TNA by using those same ideas, most notably bring back yet another watered-down NWO and appropriately enough naming them “Sports Entertainment Xtreme” (because if there’s two terms in wrestling that aren’t hackneyed, it’s certainly “sports entertainment” and “extreme”).

Meanwhile, Vince McMahon will continue to weather the tough times and make money in the prosperous times and his family will continue to rule wrestling long after men like Fuyuki and Russo are nothing but depressing footnotes in “sports entertainment” history.

When I ceased to be a WWF fan

Being a child of the 80s, I was a fan of WWF, NWA and AWA, along with any indie promotions I happened to catch on television, such as UWF and USWA. By the early 90s, I'd become more interested in wrestling as opposed to cartoon nonsense, so WWF seemed really stale and boring to me. I still watched, but I cared much less. By the time I had discovered ECW, I really paid less attention to WWF and WCW. The latter got me interested again when they debuted Nitro, in late 1995, and brought in stolen talent from ECW. I kept watching WWF, as well, until Bret Hart lost the WWF Title at Wrestlemania XII.

March 1996 is when I really stopped caring and hoped to see the company go out of business. After that point, I only really watched Raw during Nitro commercial breaks, if at all. I had been dying for "The Hitman" to regain the WWF Title, for a year, and his reign was treated poorly. It was so obvious that Michaels was going to get the belt. I figured that, if they were going to push him, they needed to do so before he got too stale. However, the way that they did it left a bad taste in my mouth. The match ended with a draw, yet Hart was called back to the ring for overtime, in which he lost the title. He was made to look weak and as a 15 year old kid, I was disgusted.

Fast forward to 2000. WWF had Cactus Jack, Chris Jericho, Taz, Chris Benoit, Saturn, Eddy Guerrero, Dean Malenko and Al Snow. They even picked up Raven, later in the year. ECW had lost most of its worthwhile talent and was really stale, so I had to pay a little more attention to other promotions to get my wrestling fix. Despite the horrible booking, WCW still had decent matches when the right people were in the ring, such as Lance Storm and Mike Awesome. I hated WWF, but they had several of my favorite wrestlers under contract, so I had no choice. If I wanted to continue to follow their careers, I had to tune in.

2000 featured several decent matches, especially the epic Benoit-Jericho feud over the IC Title. In 2001, after the demise of ECW and WCW, WWF brought in even more talent. Now, on top of the people I'd been watching for, there was also Lance Storm, Mike Awesome, Rob Van Dam, Tommy Dreamer, etc. They really had a hell of a roster for a while there. Unfortunately, they didn't do much with it. I got to see decent matches between people like Jericho and Storm, but they were always short and felt to be lacking something. I was disappointed since I knew the matches would have been better in ECW or Japan. Little did I know that this was as good as it got.

By year's end, Chris Jericho won the Undisputed World Title and appeared to be feuding with RVD. I had high expectations for this, until seeing where they'd be going with this. RVD got bumped from the Royal Rumble main event, in favor of The Rock. Jericho was made to look weak during his whole title reign. Then, at Wrestlemania, he jobbed the belt off to HHH. This was so pointless, since HHH jobbed the belt to Hogan a short time later, who then jobbed it to the Undertaker. Of course, he dropped it to The Rock, who barely had time to get his name put on the belt before losing to Brock Lesnar.

Jericho was treated like hell and tossed back into the midcard, RVD's massive popularity went largely ignored, and the promotion as a whole seemed to get REALLY stale. So, 2002 was when I stopped caring. And, really, I can't say I was ever a WWF fan. As a kid, sure. But, in later years, I simply put up with an annoying product to see wrestlers that I'd been following for years. As many of my favorites have moved on, retired or died, I've managed to watch much less. The only reason I tune in to their programming now is to see Chris Jericho and CM Punk. Once those two are gone, I can forget about it once more.

Still, it's sad how things went. For example, 2002 had too many title changes and most of the champs were stale and lame. That's obvious, since the belt kept getting passed around. In my opinion, it would have been better for HHH to put over Jericho at Wrestlemania, to make him look strong. Jericho could have then gone on to beat the Undertaker, Benoit, Flair, etc. before dropping the belt to RVD at Summerslam, who was definitely popular enough at the time. Then, RVD could have worked a program with Brock, dropping the belt to him at Survivor Series. Of course, the Undisputed Title shouldn't have been split up, either.

Well, that's just my two cents.

Louie Spicolli

Today marks the 10 year anniversary of Louie Spicolli’s death. His passing was ignored by the WWF and virtually mocked by WCW (particularly by Larry Zbyszko). Spicolli never became a huge star and most wrestling fans will never celebrate him the way they do Owen Hart, Brian Pillman, Rick Rude, or Curt Hennig, but let’s spend some time today remembering Louie Spicolli.

Louie Spicolli was born Louis Mucciolo on 2/10/71 in Los Angelos, CA. As a child, he idolized Roddy Piper for his mic work and Bret Hart for his in-ring ability. While attending a card at the L.A. Sports Arena, he met wrestler Bill Anderson, who had trained the Ultimate Warrior and Sting, and convinced Anderson to train him as well. He took the name Louie Spicolli (after Sean Penn’s character in Fast Times at Ridgemont High). Within 3 months of beginning his training, Anderson got him booked as a jobber in the WWF when he was only 18. In his first match ever, Spicolli lost to Ron Bass at a WWF TV taping in Duluth, MN. Spicolli would reamin in the WWF as a jobber from 1988-1993.

Anderson took him to Tijuana with him in 1989 and they formed Los Mercenarios Americanos with Tim Patterson (the original Leatherface). On 4/29/89, they captured the WWA Trios titles by beating Zandokan, Sicodelico, and Khaos I. They dropped the straps to Chavo, Mando, and Eddy Guerrero before quickly winning them back a second time.

Spicolli wrestled 2 matches for the AWA in 1990. He then joined Herb Abrams’ UWF using the nickname “Cutie Pie” and he got his first opportunity to cut promos. Spicolli began to wrestle in the Arizona indies and won his first singles on 3/8/91 by beating Steve Gatorwolf for the AWF Heavyweight belt. He lost the title back to Gatorwolf only 4 days later. Spicolli, Anderson, and Patterson finally lost the WWA Trios titles to Ultraman 2000 (Damian 666), Kiss, and Aguila de Americano on 12/20/91, ending their 2 and a half year reign.

In ‘92, Spicolli wrestled Eiji Ezaki (Hayabusa) on a joint AAA-FMW card. FMW head Atsushi Onita was impressed and hired him. Spicolli was brought to Japan and wrestled Onita in several barbed wire matches. That FMW stint didn’t last long as several months later he was fired after Sabu told Onita that Spicolli had urinated in a bottle on a bus after the driver refused to stop for him.

Spicolli returned to the Arizona indies and was awarded the IWF Heavyweight title on 12/15/92, losing it 3 months later to Steve O. On 2/8/93, he made his only Monday Night Raw appearance under that name when he teamed with 2 other jobbers in a loss to Yokozuna in a handicap match. Spicolli made a few SMW appearances, feuding with Chris Candido.

He lost to the 1-2-3 Kid during the Kid’s WWF tryout match. The Kid was hired as a result but Spicolli wasn’t offered a full-time job. Konnan, who Spicolli had befriended while he was wrestling in Tijuana, offered him a spot in AAA and Spicolli, upset that the WWF hadn’t signed him to a contract after 6 years of jobbing for them, left the WWF entirely. He wrestled as both Spicolli and Killer Blonde in Mexico. On 3/12/94, he teamed with Tim Patterson and Super Rabbit to upset the Chavo, Hector, and Mando Guerrero at AAA in L.A., one of AAA’s big shows in America.

Spicolli changed his name to Madonna’s Boyfriend and got his first serious push. He and Vandal Drummond defeated Super Boy and Captain Oro at La Lucha del Honor. He also occasionally teamed with “Diamond” Dallas Page. He got the biggest break of his career when he joined Los Gringos Locos, a pro-America/anti-Mexico group, headed by Eddy Guerrero, Art Barr, and Konnan. He made his pay-per-view debut on AAA’s only PPV, When Worlds Collide, on 11/6/94, teameing with Fuerza Guerrera and Psicosis to defeat Rey Misterio, Jr., Heavy Metal, and Latin Lover. He was involved in 3 of the 5 matches on the card, wrestling in one, being a second in another, and interfering in a third. This was by far the greatest night in Spicolli’s career and ironically enough the card was held at the L.A. Sports Arena.

The WWF decided they made a mistake by letting him go, so 9 days later he was offered a full-time WWF job. Spicolli took it because he didn’t like living in Mexico. He became Rad Radford, adopted a grunge rocker gimmick, and claimed that he was Courtney Love’s boyfriend, a take-off on the Madonna’s Boyfriend gimmick. On Raw on 9/11/95, teamed with the Brooklyn Brawler in a loss to the Smokin’ Gunns. He became a member of the Bodydonnas with Skip (Chris Candido), Zip (Tom Prichard), and manager Sunny (Tammy Sytch). In his only WWF PPV appearance at the ‘95 Survivor Series, he teamed with Skip, Zip, and the 1-2-3 Kid to beat Hakushi, Marty Jannetty, Bob Holly, and Barry Horowitz. Soon after, he was kicked out of The Bodydonnas for not being in good enough shape. He lost to Chris Benoit (who was in WCW at the time) on a special card in Canada honoring Stu Hart’s 60th anniversary in wrestling. Radford had many matches with Ahmed Johnson at house shows around the country, plus one on the 11/27/95 Raw, which turned out to be his last Raw appearance. He had a seizure and collapsed on the street as a result of bleeding in the brain, believed to be caused by Johnson dropping him on his head too many times. The WWF let him go because they felt he was a health risk.

Spicolli woked indy shows in California and Canada and tried to get an acting career off the ground, appearing as an extra in Beverly Hills 90210, Jerry Maguire, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. He also appeared on MTV’s Singled Out.

He got an opportunity with ECW, making his debut with the company at Heatwave on 7/13/96 and beating El Puerto Ricano. Sabu then ran in and defeated Spicolli in an impromptu match, but Spicolli proved that he could wrestle a hardcore style during the match and even had his arm split open after Sabu sent him through a table. He resumed his feud with Candido, who had also moved on to ECW. Spicolli lost to ECW TV champ Shane Douglas on 9/14/96. At November to Remember, 2 Cold Scorpio, who was leaving for the WWF, said that he wanted to take other ECW wrestlers out with him. He challenged anyone to a loser-leaves-town match. Devon Storm, J.T. Smith, and Hack Myers all accepted the challenge and were defeated. Spicolli then answered the challenge and beat Scorpio in only 2 minutes. He lost to Candido at House Party, but upset future ECW World champion Mike Awesome at Crossing the Line Again.

He began making the NWO sign with his fingers as a way of communicating with his real-life friend Scott Hall. This infuriated Tommy Dreamer, who broke Spicolli’s fingers. Spicolli later used the Death Valley Driver on Dreamer’s valet, Beulah McGillicutty. He sided with WWF in ECW-WWF feud and helped Jerry Lawler, Sabu, and Rob Van Dam attack ECW wrestlers. Spicolli lost to Dreamer several times over the next few months. He lost to Chris Candido in a 2/3 falls match at Hostile City Showdown. He beat Balls Mahoney in a dark match on ECW’s first PPV, Barely Legal. However, Spicolli was very unhappy that he was left off the actual PPV. He began jobbing more often and lost to Mahoney and Mikey Whipwreck several times. When he was also left off of ECW’s second PPV, Hardcore Heaven, Spicolli quit ECW.

He signed with WCW and immediately appeared on a WCW PPV as one of the 60 men involved in the World War III 2-ring battle royal. He wrestled mainly on WCW Saturday Night and wore a T-shirt proclaiming himself “The Real Innovator” as a shot at “The Innovator of Violence” Tommy Dreamer. Spicolli became an NWO prospect, frequently accompanying Scott Hall to ringside. He helped Hall attack Larry Zbyszko after Zbyszko tried to convince him not to associate with the NWO. He also helped Hall and Dusty Rhodes attack Zbyszko at Souled Out. In his first Monday Nitro match on 1/26/98, he beat Juventud Guerrera.

Spicolli began getting tons of mic time and was even used as a color commentator for several matches and was hilarious. In what turned out to be his his last match ever, he lost to Chris Adams by DQ on Nitro on 2/9/98 when he hit Adams with a suitcase he had stolen from Zbyszko. He was chased back to the dressing room by Zbyszko after the match. Spicolli was almost fired 3 days later when, on Thursday Thunder from Oklahoma City, play-by-play man Tony Schiavone said he had a bombshell announcement and Spicolli, as color commentator, responded by saying that he shouldn’t say “bombshell” in this city (refering to the Oklahoma City bombing). WCW received several complaints and WCW Vice President Eric Bischoff was furious.

Only 3 days later, on 2/15/98, Spicolli was found dead in his L.A. home just one week before he was supposed to wrestle Zbyszko at Superbrawl VIII (in what would have been his first singles match on PPV) and in the middle of his biggest push ever in a major promotion. He reportedly died by overdosing on the prescription muscle relaxant soma and mixing it with alcohol. He was only 27. ECW renamed the Death Valley Driver the Spicolli Driver in his honor.

R.I.P. Louis Mucciolo 2/10/71 – 2/15/98

Paul E. in IWCCW

Paul E... You better lock your windows! by Ray Odyssey

While working with the Savoldi's ICW in the late 80's, early 90's, I was introduced to Paul Heyman, AKA Paul E Dangerously. Paul came in to book for the ICW around 1990 and things were looking up. Paul had some great ideas and he ran a TV show like no one else.

Before Paul E came in, ICW TV was kind of stale. This was a guy who was working for the AWA and had one of the best minds in the business before coming Northeast. He immediately turned the TV around. He made it fun to watch again. The word genius is thrown around too liberally nowadays. But believe me, Paul E was a genius in putting together great TV and storylines. He really had/has a knack for it.

If you were a big follower of ECW, you should go back and look at ICW/IWCCW in the late 80's early 90's when Paul E was in charge. All of his ECW characters were developed 5 years earlier in ICW. 911 was the Rochester Roadblock. The Dudley Boys were the Undertakers. Mikey Whipwreck was the Wrestling School Dropout. Tommy Dreamer and Taz were........well, Tommy Dreamer and Taz. The champ with the great 5 minute promos, Shane Douglas was Tony Atlas. And the giant killer Spike Dudley was yours truly, Surfer Ray Odyssey.

Like I said, things were going good. We had good TV and were getting booked in a lot of towns throughout the Northeast and drawing some nice houses. One Saturday night, we worked Gleason's Gym in Brooklyn NY. If you have never been to Gleason's Gym and are a wrestling fan or a boxing fan (Gleason's Gym is a BIG boxing place) you must go to Brooklyn to experience it. It sits right underneath the Brooklyn Bridge. You can see it out the window in the dressing rooms.

Gleason's is so great because its like you just stepped out of a time machine and transported yourself back to 1910. I could imagine sitting in the crowd and seeing Jack Johnson boxing 25 rounds or maybe Karl Gotch wrestling for 2 hours in this building. It is an old and charming place and one of my favorite places I've ever worked in. It's dark. Kind of dirty. The showers are cold. The dressing rooms are small. But the crowds are rabid and packed into a small arena. And Mr. Gleason is one of those guys that you will remember for the rest of your life after meeting him. It's like he owned that part of the city. Everyone knew him. And more importantly, everyone respected him. He would pull these tough, uncontrollable animals off the street and make them good disciplined boxers and respectable citizens. He's a quiet, but tough old man. And no one to mess with.

Anyway, we were having a good show here when all of a sudden during one of Paul E's promos, the mic went dead in the ring. Like I said, this was an old building so when the mic went out, people understood. It was part of the charm in the building. Maybe the mic would go out, maybe the heat would stop working in the middle of winter and when you were in the ring, you could see the breath coming out of your mouth. Maybe the lights would flicker. It didn't matter. People came to see good wrestling. They didn't care that the building wasn't the Taj Mahal. As long as two people were beating the hell out of each other in the ring, the fans were happy.

Well when the mic cut out during Paul E's promo, he wasn't happy. In fact, he started cussing. Using a lot of ECW acceptable words that weren't acceptable in ICW. Mr. Gleason came to the ring to calm him down and he started cussing him out and insulting his crappy building. Not smart Paul. Mr Gleason wasn't one to go along with the "work". Paul was disrespecting him in his town. He was disrespecting him in his own building. Mr. Gleason was not happy. He was not going to play fool to Paul who was trying to get himself over after his promo was cut short.

Paul came back to the locker room still cussing about the mic and why we had to be in a shithole like this. I was getting undressed (My day was done, I worked earlier in the show) and getting ready for a shower. Paul was still screaming about how his promo was ruined when Mr. Gleason busted into the room. Along with Mr. Gleason were 3 or 4 of the toughest looking guys I've ever seen. They were some of his boxers that were working security for the wrestling show.
Mr. Gleason pointed at me and said "get out of here right now". Now I was just getting into the shower so I was naked except for being wrapped in a towel. I acted like I didn't hear him and walked towards the showers. Now he yelled, "I said get out of this room now!!" His boys were looking as mad as he was and I just kind of stood there wondering if I should leave Paul alone with them. Don't get me wrong, I couldn't have fought even one of these bad asses off myself but Paul E was pushing me and if I left, it wouldn't have helped my career in ICW. So I stayed.

Mr. Gleason yelled to his boys "someone open that window, I'm going to hang him out of it". The locker room was on the second floor and it was a good 40 foot drop to the sidewalk. Paul E looked petrified. I was scared myself and I didn't even do anything. One of the guys started towards Paul E and Paul started apologizing and yelling that he was sorry. Didn't matter. Another one of the guys was opening the window. Mr. Gleason yelled at me again. "I told you to get out of this room NOW!!" I froze.

I didn't leave the room but didn't block the guy who grabbed Paul E. All of the sudden, the Rochester Roadblock busts into the room and starts cleaning house. Roadblock was a huge tough guy that was working in ICW at this time. (Lucky for Paul E.) Now these guys are pro boxers and Joe (Roadblock) is pushing them all away like flies. Roadblock is 6'10 and about 370 lbs. Roadblock actually broke into the business while at a WWF house show in Rochester. He was sitting ringside and decided to get into the ring to kick Hulk Hogan's ass after the match was over. Earlier that day, Roadblock approached Hogan about getting into the business at a gym they were both working out at and Hogan disrespected Roadblock and he was pissed. Security headed him off before he got to Hogan (Lucky for Hogan).

Anyway, Roadblock grabs Paul E and wraps his arms around him when Mario Savoldi runs into the room. Mario pleads with Mr. Gleason not to hang Paul E out the window. Roadblock is holding Paul E in one arm and fighting boxers off with the other. I am standing there in my towel. Mario finally gets through to Mr. Gleason and he calls his boxers off Paul. Mario makes Paul E apologize to Mr. Gleason who lets Paul E off the hook. Paul E looks like he has seen a ghost. Roadblock releases Paul E from the safety of his arms. The boxers are pissed, but they leave the room. Paul E leaves the room (probably to change his drawers).

And I close the window because its winter and the room is getting cold. And I'm only in a towel. Then I get in the shower and thank God that Roadblock is such a bad ass and it wasn't me going out the window. The shower was cold but it would have been a whole lot colder for Paul if he were to get hung out that window.

What made ECW so special? (2006)

Honestly, I could write a book on this subject, so this will probably seem sloppy as all Hell.

What made ECW great? WRESTLING. The athletes, not "sports entertainers", busted their smurfing asses every time. The fans, wrestlers, and staff actually cared about the product and offered an alternative to the crap that was on WWF and WCW. If you didn't watch it back then, you'll never truly understand. To feel the full impact, you had to live it. To see that only alternative...to watch WWF and WCW before they began ripping off ECW. You had to see the dumb, cartoon bullcrap on Monday night, then watch ECW. It was the real deal for anyone that wanted WRESTLING, not entertainment bullcrap. In ECW, wrestling wasn't the theme of some smurfed up soap opera, it was the meat and potatoes of the whole thing. Don't get me wrong, there were some great, powerful storylines. But WRESTLING is what it came down to. The storylines enhanced the wrestling; it wasn't the whole show.

They brought in talent from Japan (though they weren't Japanese) like Benoit, Guerrero, Scorpio, Malenko, etc. and gave them a chance in the U.S. when no one else would. There was also a great deal of diversity. You had your comedy with the likes of Stevie Richards and the FBI, then the drama surrounding the Raven/Dreamer feud, then the great athleticism such as the Sabu/RVD series (also with the classic Malenko/Guerrero bouts), then the raw brutality of men like Cactus Jack, Axl Rotten, Raven, etc. Tag team wrestling was of great importance, unlike WWF and WCW, who phased it out long ago. You had teams like Furnas and Kroffat, The Eliminators, T.P.E., The Pit Bulls, Sabu and RVD, Sabu and Taz, Candido and Storm, The Steiners, Benoit and Malenko, etc. ECW was the first to showcase the Lucha Libre stars such as Konnan, Misterio, Psicosis, Damien 666, etc. Also, Gladiator Mike Awesome and the Head Hunters...I liked that they cooperated with FMW and were open and talked about the other promotions in an age where WWF tried to pretend that it existed alone in the world...And simply, lots of stuff that I don't have time to get into. But certain people made it very special, Raven being my top pick. And of course, I talk about the classic ECW era, 1994-1996. But my first memory, what initially drew me to ECW was a show review in a PWI magazine. I believe it was the first ECW show. Tony Stetson got an upset win over Ivan Koloff, after which the "Russian Bear" took a steel chain and annihilated the poor bastard and the ref. This was what first interested me. Then of course, Cactus, Raven, Taz, Sabu, and the Eliminators totally hooked me.

Enough cannot be said for the diversity. Some idiots would have you believe that ECW was simply a garbage promotion. Not true. There existed more diversity in that little promotion than in any of the others. Strong style, mat wrestling, brawling, barbed wire, high flyers, et cetera. The product was tailored to the wrestlers, not the other way around. No one was neutered, like in WWE.

There was an aura...something magical and special that CANNOT be duplicated. Vince already tried to replicate it with the "Attitude" bullcrap and failed miserably. See, he missed the point then, and he certainly didn't grow to understand it when they resurrected the name.

Even if they could have gotten all of the right guys (including those who are dead, crippled, retired, etc.) it wouldn't be the same. Even if WWE had nothing to do with it, it wouldn't be the same. It was a special moment in time. It's not coming back...Another thing to consider is the dedication of the wrestlers. Back in the day, the wrestlers would give their all and break their bodies because they believed in ECW and what it stood for. How many were willing to sacrifice their bodies for McMahon? ECW was the perfect stage for these men to come in and prove themselves and showcase their talent...

Chris Benoit - Purgatory (2007)

Does it seem to anyone else that when people go to WWF/E that time stands still, in a way?

If you followed Benoit's career from the early days, you see there are many defining moments. He was in WWE for a little over seven years, yet all that he had accomplished there could have been condensed down to about two and a half years, and that's being generous.

If you look at the seven years before he went there, there's a ton to speak of. Let's see, that would mean going back to 1993. Between 93 and 00, he wrestled all over the world, won several prestigious tournaments, etc. He continued to establish himself as one of the best in the world, and really began to develop a character in ECW. He was a member of the Triple Threat, held the ECW World Tag Team Title with Dean Malenko, had great matches every time... He competed at the World Peace Festival in South Korea, in front of hundreds of thousands of people. He entered WCW and joined the Four Horsemen, a short time later. Though he was held down, he eventually held every title in WCW (except the cruiserweight title) and had some memorable feuds. There are clearly defined "eras" of his career.

Then, he goes to WWF. From this point on, things just kind of run together. His feud with Jericho, over the IC Title, was memorable as was his World Tag Team Title reign (with Jericho). He even had some decent matches with Angle. Then, he was gone for a year, with the neck injury. After that, it seemed that he'd lost his momentum. They put him in a tag team with Guerrero, which I had high hopes for. It took no time for that to get dropped. The World Title win was spectacular, but the title reign itself was pretty forgettable. I do recall that he was booked weak, in a way. They never really treated him like the champ, and he wasn't even allowed to main event Raw at the time. He never became the focal point of the show. Then they jobbed him clean to a heel, and it was all over. They tossed him the US Title, several times, but the feuds and matches were not memorable, for the most part.

If only they could have given him the World Title at Wrestlemania, in 2001, and let him have his run back then. By the time he left with his injury, he could have already done what he needed to do there. It seemed his career went into a holding pattern in WWE. My train of thought has been derailed by the prospect of eating a warm meal, so I'll have to follow up on this another time.

I just wish he'd have won his titles and had a few decent feuds within the first year and a half, then he could have left for Japan or something. This is from a fan's standpoint and doesn't really regard the money he was making, no matter how poorly he was utilized at times...

Could an ECW brand have succeeded in 2001?

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x21u5n_wwewwf-raw-ecw-returns_extreme

This was a big moment. When everyone turned around, I marked like hell...something I hadn't done in about five years, at that point. They had a decent amount of guys in the ring, and several more on the roster that were ECW alumni; Saturn, Snow, Lynn, Tajiri, etc. Also, this was a year or so before things got super stale.

I am aware that they didn't get the rights to the ECW name and such until 2003. For the sake of this question, let's just pretend that they considered it a top priority and sped the process up and that wasn't an issue.

If they had taken Heat, for example, and turned it into a weekly ECW show, with a roster full of ECW guys, and given Heyman the book, could it have been a success?

My thinking is that it could have. ECW had been in decline for a couple years anyway, so a watered-down show that actually featured recognizable ECW talent, as opposed to what ECW had degenerated to by the time it closed, wouldn't have been as big of a deal. Then, anytime decent wrestlers came in, they could get put on ECW. Basically, the few guys that made Smackdown worth watching for that brief time could have been on ECW, instead.

Of course, certain things would have had to have been different. Definitely no Austin berating Taz. I remember that, despite wishing to forget it. All I kept thinking was how Taz would never take such crap from anyone. Oddly enough, the night he choked out Heyman on Smackdown, I walked in the room and saw Taz choking out someone with a big bald head, and got excited for a moment because I assumed it was Austin.

I think this moment was one of the last times I actually got excited about wrestling. Yet, by the end of the program, they were saddled with "WCW" and Steph and I was just scratching my head in disbelief. Anyone that followed ECW should have been aware of Heyman's dislike for WCW, so this pairing made even less sense.

The more I think of it, the more I believe this would have been a total success..if handled right. RVD was so over... I mean, within months of making his debut, he got victories over Austin, Angle, The Rock, Undertaker, Kane, the Hardys, and the mighty Chris Jericho. Too bad I can't have a discussion with Vince and get his reasoning for missing the boat on so many things...