The issue with ECW at the end was A. The deal with TNN was a horrible deal in hindsight. ECW in 1999 was thinking they were on the rise as they managed to get a national TV deal with TNN, they managed to get a video game deal with Acclaim, and they managed to get a toy figure deal as well. So they couldn’t of been any happier in 1999, then Taz, Mike Awesome, Lance Storm, Shane Douglas, and The Dudley’s all leave ECW within months of each other. Then their deal with TNN was showing it’s reality with ECW with them being on at very late night. Which leads to B, the product was too violent for sponsors, advertisers and a prime time slot on national TV. Heyman didn’t realise that once they got on national TV that they had to change the product a little more to what WWF or what WCW was doing in 1999, which was influenced by ECW anyway by 1999. Heyman thought well the Extreme stuff got us to the dance and let’s stick with it, but that style just couldn’t last and couldn’t attract sponsors, advertisers and a prime time tv slot. So ECW couldn’t try to get bigger as their product was too violent, their stars were leaving to other promotions, and WWF and WCW were stealing ECW’s gimmick by 1999. And as I say that I just realised that ROH fucking mirrored ECW to a t, except for the violence.
They had a B+ Roster heading into 1999 but by 2000, it was dropping to like B- And none of the angles after 1998 were anything special, honestly. 1994 - 1998 destroys anything later.
Yeah great point too about ROH. A lot of Indies modeled after ECW, some even moreso. Like CZW, XPW, 3PW, early MLW, PWU etc . . . The booking when Gabe had it was very similar to a Heyman style and that's where it really lies. They should have never gotten rid of the Code of Honor, it was really special in my opinion and gave Heels a better path to getting heat in the Post Attitude Era.
I wish Gordon and Heyman could have swung a Television Deal with a Network that had greater regard for ECW and it had occurred a few years earlier. I still remember the fact that ECW drew the largest audience for any program on TNN, despite the fact that TNN did very little marketing and promotion for it, but yet insisted on Production Values equal to what USA Network was doing for The WWF and Time Warner was doing for WCW.
ECW didn’t have a chance to make the thing work. They were in a position where if they wanted a national deal they had to take whatever they could get even if the deal was structured so poorly for ECW that they couldn’t have done anything to have actually been able to make the deal work and have the company survive. That TV deal could only have benefitted a company that had strong financial support with the backers committed to investing and accepting that for a few years you were going to lose money and being committed to seeing it through for the length of the deal with the aim that the show will grow an audience to a level, while sustaining losses, that will hit a level where the current network will now be ready to renegotiate and provide a more advantageous deal with other revenue areas like your PPV buys and merchandising and the like ideally seeing growth from the national exposure from your tv deal that then allows for the company to be able to land and grow revenues - a relatable example would be TNA when they obtained television. They started out with a crap desl where they paid the network for the benefit of the network airing their show and the media being a complete loss that doesn’t see any revenues in return but when the company had respectable performance on the one year pay to play deal they were then able to snag their spike deal where they weee how getting a license fee. But obviously that shit is an option when you have an ownership group that has a huge pool of assets at their disposal that they can provide the backing to survive to the better deal on the backside. But ECW obv never had that and thus even if they had substantially toned down their content, which would have tanked them anyways considering it would have disillusioned their entire fan base. And the TNN deal was so one sided there was hardly any revenue to be made with only a limited control to sell some ad revenue, which the network would then get 30% of, all while ECW sees a big rise in the costs of their show since they had to cover the cost to produce the show and the cost to improve the production all while receiving basically nothing back and the network wouldn’t even market the show. The sole compensation on that deal was being paid in expanded exposure to raise awareness of your brand which if it does increase the sales of your product offerings and in theory now provide you a return for your investment to just break even on the thing the increase of your outside business lines would have required a huge increase to cover the costs plus cover the 30% the network gets. I get why Heyman went for it but he just didn’t have anything close to the money needed to pull any of the things off. ECW just never brought in anything close to revenues needed to support any of the operations of a larger wrestling promotion. You can’t keep a roster that pays anything attractive to wrestlers when you’re bringing in $6M total in your best year. You can only slash the cost to an extent to last and if you have like zero revenue it isn’t possible.
So grateful that my older brother turned me on to ECW in late 1996. So grateful for my group of Middle school friends who got in with Fan Cam Guy and we were Frint Row until the promotion died. I cannot tell you how great those shows were !
So grateful my local Blockbuster carried ECW tapes. I got band from said Blockbuster in 1997 because I destroyed their copy of Born to be Wired, by watching it over and over. That barb wire match with Terry Funk & Sabu was just that damn good.
Also the Sound quality is quite bad over all. Still a great video. Volume unmatching and in-a-cave-recording- sound can be improved. Sorry for my English.
Seriously, from 11:14 onward, it sounds like he's trying to record this without being overheard in a quiet theatre or in the same room as a light sleeper, then at 29:00 he goes into the bathroom, puts the mic on the floor and records the next section from the far corner. Then we get blasted by a cut to some old TV clip at 200% volume. Normalize your levels, kids
I can only imagine. I saw a live JCW event in 2000 which had a somewhat similar vibe and it was amazing. The matches weren't, mostly, but absolutely everyone there was into the show. I guess ECW was something like that. Probably a whole lot better.
That building has been completely renovated since then and runs Professional Wrestling, Professional Boxing, Mixed Martial Arts and does events every month. I'm going to s New Japan Pro Wrestling Show there in a few weeks.
Same here. Grew up in Philly and me and 2 of my buddies used to go every month. Yeah the building was a dump back then but the atmosphere was unmatched. Worth every penny.
Paul Heyman will always be known as one of the best bookers, promoters, managers, and hype men to ever live. Just not the best book keeper ever. His downfall has always been that he will put everything on the line to bring the best show to the audience. Investors just don't care about quality, only profit margins.
Great video . A lot of history there. I was at the first tv taping of ECW on TNN in Toledo Ohio .It wasn't there best effort the show was already watered down before it could get in the can. Most of the matches got shifted to the hardcore show and they did documentary of ECW for the first show. Only the backstage interviews were shown from the taping.
What's really interesting to me, is just how much effort was being put into events, matches and the work of all involved.... Yet, for me at least, so much of ECW seemed to be drowned out by the commercial footprint of WWE.
Well… if you don’t count costing them a TON of money and then screwing them over by negotiating with WWE to come on to TNN and throwing off ECW. Then yeah 😅
@@ligomi I see your point. But maybe it was a double edge sword, because yes, TNN gave ECW national exposure beyond their few PPVs a year. But, the TNN deal ALSO is a huge reason ECW went under
What upset the fans at One Night Stand 06 was the Mysterio v Sabu match ending when the medical team said its over that never happened in the original ECW
I miss those days, trading video tapes and channel surfing late at night cause the ECW couldn't keep a tv station, so you just had to start flipping channels after 10 at night on the weekends 😂❤, I absolutely loved it though
I really enjoy your videos, they're very well written and easy to listen too. One bit of critisism though, the constructing of the different parts could be a lot better as it feels like your narrative is a bit jumpy. Example, one minute you're talking about Paul Heyman jumping ship to WWE and the next you're talking about the Sandman drink driving. Its like watching a TV series but instead of watching the episodes 1 through 10 its like watching the episodes in a random order. Aside from that its a very good video!
Got recommended this video...why am I listening to what sounds like a 16 year old whisper old articles at 2 in the morning at his parents house hoping he won't wake anyone?
I personally never considered and still don't consider WWECW to be part of the same lineage as the original. Others might feel different but to me it's like the Bill Watts UWF and the Herb Abrams UWF. Similar in name only despite the fact that both companies had Steve Williams as champion before.
A few times I had to rewind back to hear what you were saying, not bc I couldn't follow you but just bc of the captivating cuts from some of the old ECW matches hey really were wild and awe inspiring as are your videos.
Another thought. The ECW talent had to really promote themselves. ECW didn't have a budget to promote their stars. Look at The Undertaker. The WWF had him as a full time talent for almost 30 years. I can imagine it was very expensive to have The Undertaker for all those years. I don't just mean Mark's salary either. The entire promotion of 30 years of The Undertaker.
Your videos are great but parts of this one's voiceover sound like you were recording it in the wee hours of the morning trying not to disturb anybody.
Yeah, it was kinda like Vince never really understood what made ECW great. ECW rose in popularity because it was nothing like WWE. It's stars looked just like the people in the audience, and that is what made the fans love it. When Vince took over, he brought in guys like Test, Big Show, Lashley, and Cena. Though there is nothing wrong with any of those guys, it made the new ECW virtually indistinguishable from WWE. It failed to provide anything different. If Vince had used more of the originals and had kept the oversized WWE guys out of ECW, it might have had a chance to be successful. It could have functioned in a similar manner to NXT, and allowed Vince to cater to another segment of the audience while providing a place for guys that didn't fit in WWE. He just missed the mark.
I miss og wcw: Sandman/Sabu/New Jack/All the Dudleyz/RVD/Dreamer/Mike Awesome/Justin Credible/Eddie/Tajari/Melinko/Saturn/Public Enemy/Foley/Terry Funk/ect
ECW was just like the rest of them. World Class, AWA and Jim Crockett promotions which was The NWA. They all had terrific stars. They had terrific talkers. They had storylines. All these promotions had it all except for one important thing. Business people. I don't like McMahon. However you need to tip your hat to him. Vince has always had terrific business people to run the business. This is why the WWF is really the only game in town. AEW had some steam when it started. I think it's fizzling now. McMahon wins again.
If you think about it remember the attitude era? When WWE was doing controversial things that came from ECW. ECW was in a division all by itself. People don’t want to see great wrestlers with great skill. They like the train wrecks ECW had. They liked the fact that every match was gonna be good. Wasn’t gonna be a top star in a squash match against someone you’ve never heard of. Vince McMahon saw that in ECW and thought he could put clowns like John Cena in a match against Sabu. Sabu is a great Wrestler and John Cena is shit. He’s absolutely fucking terrible. Now you put Sabu against sandman now the people will get the satisfaction they came to see. The worst thing Vince did was think you can make an entity like ECW a family program with shit wrestlers, no blood, no limits being pushed and think people will like it. If ECW had the money and backing they would still be in business today. Paul Heyman knew what fans liked in that kind of wrestling environment. Vince knew nothing about it and he wasn’t taking advice from Paul because he wants credit for everything he did. It’s never been about a promoter. Nobody’s ever came to see a promoter. They pay their money to see action not two douchebags rolling around on the floor. Vince always fucks shit up.
I love the presentation, but just some constructive criticism: could you please not whisper everything. I'm not saying yell. Just speak like you're talking to us face to face. At the least, increase the volume. Just saying.
I just noticed in the paper article about new jack and Dudley Dudley?? States his name as Jackie wilson Jelks? I thought his name was Jerome Young? Weird
Paul Heyman allowed his inner slimeball to assist in systematically destroying what he loved, but decided to end... ECW. There was a time when Paul would have given his life for ECW, then he inspired a locker room to do it for him
Awesome research. Enjoyed the information. Gotta get you a better mic. From min 29-36 audio went to shit. Still, you are better than a lot of other youtubers out there
Nah. ECW had it's times but it's done dude. Considering the amount of shocking things we see on the internet every day, ECW is pretty much tame now. It wouldn't be the same.
Is your mom sleeping in the next room for her nightshift at the hospital? Why are you whispering? Awesome doc btw. ECW was a watershed moment in so many of our lives
Just an FYI, Pa. stands for Pennsylvania. NOT Philadelphia. Philadelphia isn't a state. It's a city. Jim Thorpe is in PENNSYLVANIA. Allentown is in PENNSYLVANIA.
This is very hard to follow. The format is out of structure going from 1997 to 2001 back to 1997 then to 2001. This feels like this video was created from old dirt sheets and WWE network. I doubt this guy was alive when the original content was created. This needs to be proofed before posting. I don’t know how the invasion angle has anything to do with ECW’s demise.
Paul Heyman was just running his own backyard wrestling like the used to show on satelitte tv back in the 90s lol if he only could have gotten away without having to pay his talent he might have made it but that say alot about the talent that did work in ecw not getting paid but still putting on a hell of a show and actually doing extreme spots like they were.
The two things that made ECW popular are the same two things that killed it. The first was the content, and the second was the tv deal. The content of the show made it impossible for ECW to secure advertising on a major scale, and made it impossible for ECW to ever be financially secure. Due to this lack of financial security, the tv deal was the coup de grace. When ECW got a national tv deal, all of the performers in the company got a great deal of exposure and became national names. Due to the lack of financial security, Heyman was working on handshake deals with many of them. Once the guys got national exposure, WWE and WCW were able and willing to pay them substantially more money. Much like Defiant Wrestling in recent years, they were a victim of their own success. WWE and WCW simply bought all of ECW's stars right out from under Heyman, and there was no way for him to recover from it.
This is kinda true but not necessarily. Their program content obviously severely hindered any chances they could’ve had long term to ever grow a sizable amount of revenues. The deal jumping exposure of top ECW names and leading to the WWE now being ready to sign them on really isn’t the case. Shane Douglas was out a month before they ever aired on TNN. The Dudley’s last day was the day before the first episode on TNN. Taz signed with the WWF about a month after the debut on TNN. The national deal didn’t pay a major impact in landing any of those guys. As for surviving this deal the only way it could’ve happened is if Heyman had somehow landed a committed investor ready to provide a substantial sum that they know they’ll be losing money on for the next three years in hopes that positive results on this deal may land a deal that pays a rights fee later on. But the TNN deal that ECW covered the costs on including improving production value while having some we revenue to sell on their one hour show. So any change in the content wasn’t gonna weather the deal because the minute amount of ad revenue the company could have brought in was always going to be below the costs of operation and the only way they could’ve done that is if they had pool to cash in place to cover for that from jump because the hope of getting the revenues on the TV deal to accommodate its cost was never gonna happen.
🤔 chairs.....and ladders.....and tables.....weapons : say what you will about the sport, but t h e s e wrestlers placed their well-being in the ring and the skills of their fellow athletes. Crazy, maybe, but I think you have to be sporting an additional testicle to even consider the variables at play and dive in anyway 🤘
I'm just saying that Paul hated Eric and fans knew this, so Steph owning ECW and partnering with WCW makes sense for Steph and Shane, but even with no Eric Bischoff I'm sure that was a tough pull for Paul to swallow. That and Raven should've been the Sara stalker and given a good heel push (elevating both Raven and the importance of the ECW brand in the invasion) while Page got a face vs face feud with either Rock, Jericho, or Big Show. And something I just thought about as typing this, I always hated how Taker came back as the dead man gimmick. It felt like steps backwards in story development. But with Raven being notorious for mind games, I think it would've made more sense if done right to have the dead man return. But I still liked biker bad ass Taker more.
UPDATE (7.30.23): That was not Jerry Lynn. That was "Kid Cash" who performed the said maneuver. Apologies. ruclips.net/video/l-2D9sQJSUI/видео.html 2:23 One of THE ABSOLUTE Best Top 5 reversals. Jerry Lynn was that dude.
Got to see them in Lansing Michigan it was awesome. ECW was epic and really changed the wrestling worldwide. And for the better. Sucks so many wrestlers got screwed over but shows u how loyal they were and that's so rare now. Sucks that wwe dropped the ball, again, and didn't let it continue on in its original form. It would still be awesome today. Just like wcw leave it up to see to ruin the good classic stuff. Exactly why I don't watch WWE anymore.
The narrator sounds as if he's trying not to wake his parents, or reading elves a bedtime story. Or the Current 93 singer 🤷🏻 whatever is happening behind the scenes, I don't want to deal with it lol
Hey man no disrespect just some constructive criticism. I have tried watching several of you videos and i cannot make it far without wanting to turn them off. You aren't aggregiously annoying or anything or even bad at the job but here some stuff you should look in to. New mic you over write your monologues a bit you go far too long between each clip speaking ALOT more than is needed. With such a soft spoken demeanor this results in the viewer zoning out and not really hearing you. Keep things shorter and sweeter to jump to more content with audio related to the topic it will keep the viewer more focused. This type of video is real good for watching while you are doing something else. you gotta find a way to keep the audience engaged and not missing the things you are saying.
Thanks for the feedback. I recorded in a different room due to uncontrollable circumstances, will be back in the studio for the next one with the proper mic. I can’t put audio clips relating to the subject as it will get a copyright.
It was horrific watching ECW on scyfi the booking was so off and not even close to the original. Had they incorporated WWE into ECW slowly maybe but they didn't and ruined it for many of us who had grown to live what ECW originally was. Sad. And it was disgusting who was passed the ECW Title over ECW originals or any ECW alumni for that matter. Of course vinces ego ruined it not just ECW but WCW as well. Be great to see one last ECW originals show in some capacity even if AEW could get it right.
ECW will never die, it lives in us all, that company was so revolutionary just about everything came from ECW.... and yes even the lights go out and wrestler appear in the ring like magic, I love AEW but 😂it’s excessively used to death there. No hate ima AEW Guy all the wayyyy
I'm 100 percent convinced that John Cena was gonna win that match with RVD but they had to change the outcome after seeing just how against Cena the crowd was.
While I love ECW it was never ment to make it to 1999. That slimy bastard Paul Heyman needed ECW to get just big enough to be a blimp on WWE's radar, so he could get his fat foot in the door, and secure his spot atop Vince McMahon's croch.
Bruh Paul made mistakes but he made way for alot of greats and has been constantly given great moments him,trip,shawn,and regal saved WWE more than they get credit for and I prefer AEW more now but those 4 rarely have missed on delivering
You've done some excellent videos before, but this one has some serious issues. First, you don't cover the early Eastern Championship Wrestling days of the company. That leaves out an important part of their history. Second, as others have stated, the sequencing is an issue because some segments are out of order. The audio is another problem. Facts are not an issue here, you have your stuff down and did a decent job relaying it. But you spend much more time covering the WWE version of ECW than the original version.
anything independent and pushed censorship boundaries is getting these hit pieces these days because youtubers don't care if they rewrite history as long as it gets that ad $$$$. ECW represents hard work. RUclips represents nepotism.
The issue with ECW at the end was A. The deal with TNN was a horrible deal in hindsight. ECW in 1999 was thinking they were on the rise as they managed to get a national TV deal with TNN, they managed to get a video game deal with Acclaim, and they managed to get a toy figure deal as well.
So they couldn’t of been any happier in 1999, then Taz, Mike Awesome, Lance Storm, Shane Douglas, and The Dudley’s all leave ECW within months of each other.
Then their deal with TNN was showing it’s reality with ECW with them being on at very late night.
Which leads to B, the product was too violent for sponsors, advertisers and a prime time slot on national TV.
Heyman didn’t realise that once they got on national TV that they had to change the product a little more to what WWF or what WCW was doing in 1999, which was influenced by ECW anyway by 1999.
Heyman thought well the Extreme stuff got us to the dance and let’s stick with it, but that style just couldn’t last and couldn’t attract sponsors, advertisers and a prime time tv slot.
So ECW couldn’t try to get bigger as their product was too violent, their stars were leaving to other promotions, and WWF and WCW were stealing ECW’s gimmick by 1999.
And as I say that I just realised that ROH fucking mirrored ECW to a t, except for the violence.
They had a B+ Roster heading into 1999 but by 2000, it was dropping to like B-
And none of the angles after 1998 were anything special, honestly. 1994 - 1998 destroys anything later.
Yeah great point too about ROH. A lot of Indies modeled after ECW, some even moreso. Like CZW, XPW, 3PW, early MLW, PWU etc . . .
The booking when Gabe had it was very similar to a Heyman style and that's where it really lies. They should have never gotten rid of the Code of Honor, it was really special in my opinion and gave Heels a better path to getting heat in the Post Attitude Era.
I wish Gordon and Heyman could have swung a Television Deal with a Network that had greater regard for ECW and it had occurred a few years earlier. I still remember the fact that ECW drew the largest audience for any program on TNN, despite the fact that TNN did very little marketing and promotion for it, but yet insisted on Production Values equal to what USA Network was doing for The WWF and Time Warner was doing for WCW.
@@JuliusC1973 oh yeah the world really deserved to see 95-97
ECW didn’t have a chance to make the thing work. They were in a position where if they wanted a national deal they had to take whatever they could get even if the deal was structured so poorly for ECW that they couldn’t have done anything to have actually been able to make the deal work and have the company survive. That TV deal could only have benefitted a company that had strong financial support with the backers committed to investing and accepting that for a few years you were going to lose money and being committed to seeing it through for the length of the deal with the aim that the show will grow an audience to a level, while sustaining losses, that will hit a level where the current network will now be ready to renegotiate and provide a more advantageous deal with other revenue areas like your PPV buys and merchandising and the like ideally seeing growth from the national exposure from your tv deal that then allows for the company to be able to land and grow revenues - a relatable example would be TNA when they obtained television.
They started out with a crap desl where they paid the network for the benefit of the network airing their show and the media being a complete loss that doesn’t see any revenues in return but when the company had respectable performance on the one year pay to play deal they were then able to snag their spike deal where they weee how getting a license fee. But obviously that shit is an option when you have an ownership group that has a huge pool of assets at their disposal that they can provide the backing to survive to the better deal on the backside. But ECW obv never had that and thus even if they had substantially toned down their content, which would have tanked them anyways considering it would have disillusioned their entire fan base. And the TNN deal was so one sided there was hardly any revenue to be made with only a limited control to sell some ad revenue, which the network would then get 30% of, all while ECW sees a big rise in the costs of their show since they had to cover the cost to produce the show and the cost to improve the production all while receiving basically nothing back and the network wouldn’t even market the show. The sole compensation on that deal was being paid in expanded exposure to raise awareness of your brand which if it does increase the sales of your product offerings and in theory now provide you a return for your investment to just break even on the thing the increase of your outside business lines would have required a huge increase to cover the costs plus cover the 30% the network gets. I get why Heyman went for it but he just didn’t have anything close to the money needed to pull any of the things off. ECW just never brought in anything close to revenues needed to support any of the operations of a larger wrestling promotion. You can’t keep a roster that pays anything attractive to wrestlers when you’re bringing in $6M total in your best year. You can only slash the cost to an extent to last and if you have like zero revenue it isn’t possible.
So grateful that my older brother turned me on to ECW in late 1996.
So grateful for my group of Middle school friends who got in with Fan Cam Guy and we were Frint Row until the promotion died.
I cannot tell you how great those shows were !
So grateful my local Blockbuster carried ECW tapes. I got band from said Blockbuster in 1997 because I destroyed their copy of Born to be Wired, by watching it over and over. That barb wire match with Terry Funk & Sabu was just that damn good.
That was very extreme of you.@@logancaine9616
I am a huge ECW fan. I still watch re-runs of the original ECW Hardcore TV and house shows at home to this day. Thanks for your work rate mate ;)
Working hard is just part of the job! So happy you found my content and are enjoying it
The whisper narrative is really hard to follow. Try increasing the audio volume on your voice over.
Also the Sound quality is quite bad over all. Still a great video. Volume unmatching and in-a-cave-recording- sound can be improved. Sorry for my English.
Seriously, from 11:14 onward, it sounds like he's trying to record this without being overheard in a quiet theatre or in the same room as a light sleeper, then at 29:00 he goes into the bathroom, puts the mic on the floor and records the next section from the far corner. Then we get blasted by a cut to some old TV clip at 200% volume. Normalize your levels, kids
He's probably a high schooler hiding from his parents lol but either way it's a great video imo
I was a wrestler years ago , loved the show and most of the talent I encountered. ECW was a much needed breth of fresh air at the time
The feeling being in the arena. I'll never forget it.
I can only imagine. I saw a live JCW event in 2000 which had a somewhat similar vibe and it was amazing. The matches weren't, mostly, but absolutely everyone there was into the show.
I guess ECW was something like that. Probably a whole lot better.
Triple Threat!
That building has been completely renovated since then and runs Professional Wrestling, Professional Boxing, Mixed Martial Arts and does events every month. I'm going to s New Japan Pro Wrestling Show there in a few weeks.
Same here. Grew up in Philly and me and 2 of my buddies used to go every month. Yeah the building was a dump back then but the atmosphere was unmatched. Worth every penny.
same here, got to be there for Sandman's return in late 99'
good times
Paul Heyman will always be known as one of the best bookers, promoters, managers, and hype men to ever live. Just not the best book keeper ever. His downfall has always been that he will put everything on the line to bring the best show to the audience. Investors just don't care about quality, only profit margins.
Great video . A lot of history there. I was at the first tv taping of ECW on TNN in Toledo Ohio .It wasn't there best effort the show was already watered down before it could get in the can. Most of the matches got shifted to the hardcore show and they did documentary of ECW for the first show. Only the backstage interviews were shown from the taping.
What's really interesting to me, is just how much effort was being put into events, matches and the work of all involved....
Yet, for me at least, so much of ECW seemed to be drowned out by the commercial footprint of WWE.
TNN didn't do anything really for ecw . But ecw did a lot for ten to get then to be not just a country station. It made ten more edgy and entertaining
Yep, I refused to watch TNN or Spike after they screwed ECW, that was the start of unplugging from cable for me.
Well… if you don’t count costing them a TON of money and then screwing them over by negotiating with WWE to come on to TNN and throwing off ECW. Then yeah 😅
I had only heard of ECW until they went to TNN and I've been a lifetime fan since. It's silly to suggest TNN didn't help ECW plenty.
@@ligomi I see your point. But maybe it was a double edge sword, because yes, TNN gave ECW national exposure beyond their few PPVs a year. But, the TNN deal ALSO is a huge reason ECW went under
@@dhappz9337 yeah I don't disagree but I also personally feel ECW was almost certainly going under one way or the other sadly.
What upset the fans at One Night Stand 06 was the Mysterio v Sabu match ending when the medical team said its over that never happened in the original ECW
Awesome vid dude. I enjoyed the hell out of this. Definitely watch it again.
I miss those days, trading video tapes and channel surfing late at night cause the ECW couldn't keep a tv station, so you just had to start flipping channels after 10 at night on the weekends 😂❤, I absolutely loved it though
I really enjoy your videos, they're very well written and easy to listen too.
One bit of critisism though, the constructing of the different parts could be a lot better as it feels like your narrative is a bit jumpy. Example, one minute you're talking about Paul Heyman jumping ship to WWE and the next you're talking about the Sandman drink driving. Its like watching a TV series but instead of watching the episodes 1 through 10 its like watching the episodes in a random order.
Aside from that its a very good video!
Tbh FTW title didn't mean nothing it basically to stroke Taz Ego
I'd just like to give ECW a hand for not spelling Extreme with an X
Poor literacy is kewl!
They spelt it Ekstreme then?
I was at both Heat Wave 1998 and 1999 at Hara Arena in Dayton,Ohio. Heat Wave '98 was the best ppv of the Heat Wave's ppv.
your videos are really well made. you need more subs
Got recommended this video...why am I listening to what sounds like a 16 year old whisper old articles at 2 in the morning at his parents house hoping he won't wake anyone?
I personally never considered and still don't consider WWECW to be part of the same lineage as the original. Others might feel different but to me it's like the Bill Watts UWF and the Herb Abrams UWF. Similar in name only despite the fact that both companies had Steve Williams as champion before.
Nothing happened, vince mcmahon bought it and buried it
Great video once again, Can't wait for another video.
A few times I had to rewind back to hear what you were saying, not bc I couldn't follow you but just bc of the captivating cuts from some of the old ECW matches hey really were wild and awe inspiring as are your videos.
Another thought. The ECW talent had to really promote themselves. ECW didn't have a budget to promote their stars. Look at The Undertaker. The WWF had him as a full time talent for almost 30 years. I can imagine it was very expensive to have The Undertaker for all those years. I don't just mean Mark's salary either. The entire promotion of 30 years of The Undertaker.
15:56 😮 $9.99 seafood buffet - Red Lobster took zero notice 🤤
Michigan State Fairgrounds...! The crowd was going crazy the whole time.
52:21 bucky beaver mf
Great video, but if you could speak a little louder that would be awesome.
2:27 Wow the Russian Bear commercial! This used to air during ECW every week! Haven't seen this in ages.
Your videos are great but parts of this one's voiceover sound like you were recording it in the wee hours of the morning trying not to disturb anybody.
Yeah, it was kinda like Vince never really understood what made ECW great. ECW rose in popularity because it was nothing like WWE. It's stars looked just like the people in the audience, and that is what made the fans love it. When Vince took over, he brought in guys like Test, Big Show, Lashley, and Cena. Though there is nothing wrong with any of those guys, it made the new ECW virtually indistinguishable from WWE. It failed to provide anything different. If Vince had used more of the originals and had kept the oversized WWE guys out of ECW, it might have had a chance to be successful. It could have functioned in a similar manner to NXT, and allowed Vince to cater to another segment of the audience while providing a place for guys that didn't fit in WWE. He just missed the mark.
Man, without ECW & WCW, the wrestling world got boring. Competition between the brands gave fans more variety and produced more wrestlers.
27:46 did you record this section on speakerphone... In a bathroom... On a submarine....in 1979?
trying to remember where the first version of this video died off early so i can get back to that point and finish watching.
I miss og wcw: Sandman/Sabu/New Jack/All the Dudleyz/RVD/Dreamer/Mike Awesome/Justin Credible/Eddie/Tajari/Melinko/Saturn/Public Enemy/Foley/Terry Funk/ect
Pretty incredible roster
You mean ECW
ECW was just like the rest of them. World Class, AWA and Jim Crockett promotions which was The NWA. They all had terrific stars. They had terrific talkers. They had storylines. All these promotions had it all except for one important thing. Business people. I don't like McMahon. However you need to tip your hat to him. Vince has always had terrific business people to run the business. This is why the WWF is really the only game in town. AEW had some steam when it started. I think it's fizzling now. McMahon wins again.
I swear I remember watching this like 3-4 days ago
It’s part 2
If you think about it remember the attitude era? When WWE was doing controversial things that came from ECW. ECW was in a division all by itself. People don’t want to see great wrestlers with great skill. They like the train wrecks ECW had. They liked the fact that every match was gonna be good. Wasn’t gonna be a top star in a squash match against someone you’ve never heard of. Vince McMahon saw that in ECW and thought he could put clowns like John Cena in a match against Sabu. Sabu is a great Wrestler and John Cena is shit. He’s absolutely fucking terrible. Now you put Sabu against sandman now the people will get the satisfaction they came to see. The worst thing Vince did was think you can make an entity like ECW a family program with shit wrestlers, no blood, no limits being pushed and think people will like it. If ECW had the money and backing they would still be in business today. Paul Heyman knew what fans liked in that kind of wrestling environment. Vince knew nothing about it and he wasn’t taking advice from Paul because he wants credit for everything he did. It’s never been about a promoter. Nobody’s ever came to see a promoter. They pay their money to see action not two douchebags rolling around on the floor. Vince always fucks shit up.
I love the presentation, but just some constructive criticism: could you please not whisper everything. I'm not saying yell. Just speak like you're talking to us face to face. At the least, increase the volume. Just saying.
I just noticed in the paper article about new jack and Dudley Dudley?? States his name as Jackie wilson Jelks? I thought his name was Jerome Young? Weird
Fake news has always been fake news
Great video. Just a bit of criticism. please adjust your vocal levels and raise the vocal in the mix. Other than that, excellent job.
Thanks for the tip!
Killer! JUST KILLER video- well done!
Rest In Peace Terry Funk
15:29 did anyone see the now infamous Sid softball games story?
Paul Heyman allowed his inner slimeball to assist in systematically destroying what he loved, but decided to end... ECW. There was a time when Paul would have given his life for ECW, then he inspired a locker room to do it for him
I woke up from a nap and seen this..=❤❤❤❤
Awesome research. Enjoyed the information. Gotta get you a better mic. From min 29-36 audio went to shit. Still, you are better than a lot of other youtubers out there
Bring back ECW🙌
Nooooooo that happened before no bro
Nah. ECW had it's times but it's done dude. Considering the amount of shocking things we see on the internet every day, ECW is pretty much tame now. It wouldn't be the same.
They tried and it was a hollowed out shell of something that once was great.
It's a nice documentary, but I can barely hear you.
Is your mom sleeping in the next room for her nightshift at the hospital? Why are you whispering?
Awesome doc btw. ECW was a watershed moment in so many of our lives
Just an FYI, Pa. stands for Pennsylvania. NOT Philadelphia.
Philadelphia isn't a state. It's a city.
Jim Thorpe is in PENNSYLVANIA.
Allentown is in PENNSYLVANIA.
Thank you. I didn't want to be that guy, but it's hard to take someone that thinks philadelphia is a state too seriously.
Thanks for this correction. It’s an obvious mistake I will try not to make again
I know Philadelphia isn’t a state. I thought Jim Thorpe and Allentown we’re districts within Philadelphia
@@WrestlePodAllentown is hours away from Philadelphia
Allentown is less than an hour away from the city.
This is very hard to follow. The format is out of structure going from 1997 to 2001 back to 1997 then to 2001. This feels like this video was created from old dirt sheets and WWE network. I doubt this guy was alive when the original content was created. This needs to be proofed before posting. I don’t know how the invasion angle has anything to do with ECW’s demise.
Sandman looks like that dude that comes to your house to put up drywall, takes a dump in your toilet, leaves the job unfinished and never comes back.
You can smell him through the TV
Paul Heyman was just running his own backyard wrestling like the used to show on satelitte tv back in the 90s lol if he only could have gotten away without having to pay his talent he might have made it but that say alot about the talent that did work in ecw not getting paid but still putting on a hell of a show and actually doing extreme spots like they were.
Why Are You Whispering
The two things that made ECW popular are the same two things that killed it. The first was the content, and the second was the tv deal. The content of the show made it impossible for ECW to secure advertising on a major scale, and made it impossible for ECW to ever be financially secure. Due to this lack of financial security, the tv deal was the coup de grace. When ECW got a national tv deal, all of the performers in the company got a great deal of exposure and became national names. Due to the lack of financial security, Heyman was working on handshake deals with many of them. Once the guys got national exposure, WWE and WCW were able and willing to pay them substantially more money. Much like Defiant Wrestling in recent years, they were a victim of their own success. WWE and WCW simply bought all of ECW's stars right out from under Heyman, and there was no way for him to recover from it.
This is kinda true but not necessarily. Their program content obviously severely hindered any chances they could’ve had long term to ever grow a sizable amount of revenues. The deal jumping exposure of top ECW names and leading to the WWE now being ready to sign them on really isn’t the case. Shane Douglas was out a month before they ever aired on TNN. The Dudley’s last day was the day before the first episode on TNN. Taz signed with the WWF about a month after the debut on TNN. The national deal didn’t pay a major impact in landing any of those guys. As for surviving this deal the only way it could’ve happened is if Heyman had somehow landed a committed investor ready to provide a substantial sum that they know they’ll be losing money on for the next three years in hopes that positive results on this deal may land a deal that pays a rights fee later on. But the TNN deal that ECW covered the costs on including improving production value while having some we revenue to sell on their one hour show. So any change in the content wasn’t gonna weather the deal because the minute amount of ad revenue the company could have brought in was always going to be below the costs of operation and the only way they could’ve done that is if they had pool to cash in place to cover for that from jump because the hope of getting the revenues on the TV deal to accommodate its cost was never gonna happen.
🤔 chairs.....and ladders.....and tables.....weapons : say what you will about the sport, but t h e s e wrestlers placed their well-being in the ring and the skills of their fellow athletes.
Crazy, maybe, but I think you have to be sporting an additional testicle to even consider the variables at play and dive in anyway 🤘
Just be able to find it on what channel a time slot was a win.
Are your parents sleeping.. Stop whispering wtf
29:04 room audio bro
New Jack New Jack is how I remember ECW
Vince hated the ecw chants bought out spite so the ecw chants would die down.
Oof, that ECW four way that's all WWE guys that ends with "who's ready to rumble?"
At times it sounded like you were reading the scripture to a sleeping child.
After minute 30 and on I couldn't hear it bro it just echoes like it's done in a bathroom
You need better production and an editor.
I like the channel but something is off here.
RVD only lost both belts because he and Sabu were caught with weed during a traffic stop
What else did he have to lose?
I'm just saying that Paul hated Eric and fans knew this, so Steph owning ECW and partnering with WCW makes sense for Steph and Shane, but even with no Eric Bischoff I'm sure that was a tough pull for Paul to swallow.
That and Raven should've been the Sara stalker and given a good heel push (elevating both Raven and the importance of the ECW brand in the invasion) while Page got a face vs face feud with either Rock, Jericho, or Big Show.
And something I just thought about as typing this, I always hated how Taker came back as the dead man gimmick. It felt like steps backwards in story development. But with Raven being notorious for mind games, I think it would've made more sense if done right to have the dead man return. But I still liked biker bad ass Taker more.
UPDATE (7.30.23):
That was not Jerry Lynn. That was "Kid Cash" who performed the said maneuver. Apologies.
ruclips.net/video/l-2D9sQJSUI/видео.html
2:23
One of THE ABSOLUTE Best Top 5 reversals. Jerry Lynn was that dude.
Will you do an episode about ECW Vs XPW anytime?
I’ve already done it! Coming next week, the legacy of ECW and XPW
@@WrestlePod can't wait to see it
I do the blue meenie dance to this day still. Hahaha.
Got to see them in Lansing Michigan it was awesome. ECW was epic and really changed the wrestling worldwide. And for the better. Sucks so many wrestlers got screwed over but shows u how loyal they were and that's so rare now.
Sucks that wwe dropped the ball, again, and didn't let it continue on in its original form. It would still be awesome today. Just like wcw leave it up to see to ruin the good classic stuff. Exactly why I don't watch WWE anymore.
29:00 onwards, did you record this in the shower?
It’s just the section about bankruptcy, the rest should be decent
The true beginning of the attitude era: Shane Douglas trashing the NWA title.
I like most of your stuff but with all due respect, you reuse content way too much my guy.
Vince wanted the tape library, and to say he bought out his 2 biggest competitors
I love the documentary but the voice sound like I’ll listening in on a secret
How much money did Wwe made off of ECW and WCW? Millions of dollars.
Who would have known that wrestling and the ECW would have died at the same time
The narrator sounds as if he's trying not to wake his parents, or reading elves a bedtime story. Or the Current 93 singer 🤷🏻 whatever is happening behind the scenes, I don't want to deal with it lol
E-C- DUB! E-C- DUB! E-C- DUB!
@@gslips9956 yes. I understand that. Thank you not correcting my memory.
Vince McMahon ruined it just like he does with everything
Hey man no disrespect just some constructive criticism. I have tried watching several of you videos and i cannot make it far without wanting to turn them off. You aren't aggregiously annoying or anything or even bad at the job but here some stuff you should look in to.
New mic
you over write your monologues a bit you go far too long between each clip speaking ALOT more than is needed. With such a soft spoken demeanor this results in the viewer zoning out and not really hearing you.
Keep things shorter and sweeter to jump to more content with audio related to the topic it will keep the viewer more focused. This type of video is real good for watching while you are doing something else. you gotta find a way to keep the audience engaged and not missing the things you are saying.
Thanks for the feedback. I recorded in a different room due to uncontrollable circumstances, will be back in the studio for the next one with the proper mic.
I can’t put audio clips relating to the subject as it will get a copyright.
@@WrestlePod hey man non copyright music works just fine over visuals or photos too.
Why are you whispering? Makes for a terrible listen
It was horrific watching ECW on scyfi the booking was so off and not even close to the original. Had they incorporated WWE into ECW slowly maybe but they didn't and ruined it for many of us who had grown to live what ECW originally was. Sad. And it was disgusting who was passed the ECW Title over ECW originals or any ECW alumni for that matter.
Of course vinces ego ruined it not just ECW but WCW as well.
Be great to see one last ECW originals show in some capacity even if AEW could get it right.
You dont hardly ever hear a real crowd pop like that in wwe they have to pipe in the hair dryer lol 😂😂😂
ECW will never die, it lives in us all, that company was so revolutionary just about everything came from ECW.... and yes even the lights go out and wrestler appear in the ring like magic, I love AEW but 😂it’s excessively used to death there. No hate ima AEW Guy all the wayyyy
It's because RVD won't job to Jerry Lynn.
WWE was behind the scenes
Lololol Europeans sure love the wrestling the WRASSSstling
ECW was an earthquake
ECW IS PRO WRESTLING 🔥 🔥
Ngl, the first time I saw the thumbnail, I thought it said "live sex and failure"
What am I supposed to do for 4 days lol
Sorry! I’d love to post it right now, but I’m trying to deal with copyright issues before it goes live
The wait Is finally over lol
We all made it through the wait fella! :D
You could play with your magic nosegoblin collection! Whoop Whoop
@@ProphetJayWyattI’ve been out of cocaine since ‘98 bub
Dreamer screw tazz not vince .
He ruin. Company yes
4:29 They really kicked him hard 😂 they didn't go easy on him LOL dude was just an announcer ffs 😂
I wanna show my girl some awesome ECW highlights. What's your guys favourite PPV?
Heatwave 98
Anarchy Rulz 99
For the absolute pinnacle of ECW PPV action
Jesus an hour?? I lost interest after the first 10 mins. 🤣🤣
I'm 100 percent convinced that John Cena was gonna win that match with RVD but they had to change the outcome after seeing just how against Cena the crowd was.
Remember that fan's sign, "if Cena wins we riot"? The crowd was brutal.
Well then, you were wrong. RVD was always gonna win.
While I love ECW it was never ment to make it to 1999. That slimy bastard Paul Heyman needed ECW to get just big enough to be a blimp on WWE's radar, so he could get his fat foot in the door, and secure his spot atop Vince McMahon's croch.
Bruh Paul made mistakes but he made way for alot of greats and has been constantly given great moments him,trip,shawn,and regal saved WWE more than they get credit for and I prefer AEW more now but those 4 rarely have missed on delivering
You've done some excellent videos before, but this one has some serious issues. First, you don't cover the early Eastern Championship Wrestling days of the company. That leaves out an important part of their history. Second, as others have stated, the sequencing is an issue because some segments are out of order. The audio is another problem. Facts are not an issue here, you have your stuff down and did a decent job relaying it. But you spend much more time covering the WWE version of ECW than the original version.
Yo! Check out part one of this series Rise Of ECW for some history on Eastern Championship and the original ECW before WWE
@@WrestlePod My apologies. Didn't know you did one. Will check it out. Thanks!
This is horrible crap. As an old ECW fan, I think the video is not accurate and piss poor attempt at trying to be cool.
anything independent and pushed censorship boundaries is getting these hit pieces these days because youtubers don't care if they rewrite history as long as it gets that ad $$$$. ECW represents hard work. RUclips represents nepotism.