It doesn't take much figuring to come to the conclusion that in some things, WWE has a major case of what my former boss likes to call Cranial/Rectal Inversion.
But never let it be said that they won't admit their mistake years later. Here's a recent story from WWE.com in which Paul Heyman, Mick Foley, Tommy Dreamer, Matt Striker, Joey Styles and Stevie Richards are interviewed about the major causes of the failure of WWE's ECW brand.
"Y'know, it has been a year since the last [Royal Rumble], I'm very sketchy on this, so bear with me here. If I Brogue Kick that small little head of yours over the top rope, and your body stays in the ring, tell me, fella, does that count as an elimination?" --Sheamus, to Randy Orton, SmackDown 1/4/13
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Co-Winner of Time's Person of the Year Award, 2006
After the controversy at December to Dismember, Paul Heyman left to focus on other opportunities outside sports-entertainment. It was nearly six years before he would be seen in a WWE ring again, at the side of his chosen one, CM Punk.
Does Brock Lesnar not exist in the WWE Universe anymore?
That is basically how I figured everything went down more or less. I think the best memory I have from that show is the RVD VS Sandman VS Dreamer VS Sabu Extreme Rules Match.
The new ECW had a great series of weekly matches with Champ Big Show even if the RVD feud got old. Punk and Morrison emerged, Goldust put over Sheamus, Henry proved he could carry a world belt, Hardcore Holly's injury showed he was all man, and Lashley really shoulda stuck around. They even gave us MIKE KNOX and Kelly Kelly Kelly.
"To be the man, you gotta beat demands." -- The Lovely Mrs. Tracker
Originally posted by JustinShapiroI like that there's a macro that replaces "Vince" with "Mr. McMahon." Like that Kevin Nash interview that replaces "marks" with "know-it-all fans."
The Chris Benoit macro is "And More!"
Wrestlemania 20 advertises "an incredible World Heavyweight title match between "The Game" Triple H, "The Heartbreak Kid" Shawn Michaels, And More!"
Still awaiting the re-release of "Hard Knocks: The And More! Story"
The E's ECW did pave the way for NXT as we know it today, so it can't be considered all that bad. That show's been a lot of fun, even if the booking team's been a bit hampered by the week-to-week call-ups and plan changes. It's like every time they find a #1 babyface, they get called up to Raw the next week as a big time heel.
I liked ECW at the beginning and at the end where I carried more about Christian's run as champ than anyone else at the time and probably til Punk's run last year. ECW in the middle even with Vince running around as champ was terrible. Paul's idea to have Big Show go out early in the Elimination Chamber was a genius move, but it was the last straw for him. Big Show as champ is as about as interesting as watching paint dry.
The Wee Baby Sheamus.Twitter: @realjoecarfley its a bit more toned down there. A bit.
Originally posted by lotjxI liked ECW at the beginning and at the end where I carried more about Christian's run as champ than anyone else at the time and probably til Punk's run last year. ECW in the middle even with Vince running around as champ was terrible. Paul's idea to have Big Show go out early in the Elimination Chamber was a genius move, but it was the last straw for him. Big Show as champ is as about as interesting as watching paint dry.
He was good as champ. He had some Perfectly Acceptable TV matches for weeks on end. RVD couldn't bring anything to his feud with Show.
I don't think the belt did anything for Christian nor Chavo. And I wish they had a better resolution for the Test run than him walking out of a PPV match. The effort was there all around, but the writing has weak.
"To be the man, you gotta beat demands." -- The Lovely Mrs. Tracker
Originally posted by lotjxI liked ECW at the beginning and at the end where I carried more about Christian's run as champ than anyone else at the time and probably til Punk's run last year. ECW in the middle even with Vince running around as champ was terrible. Paul's idea to have Big Show go out early in the Elimination Chamber was a genius move, but it was the last straw for him. Big Show as champ is as about as interesting as watching paint dry.
He was good as champ. He had some Perfectly Acceptable TV matches for weeks on end. RVD couldn't bring anything to his feud with Show.
I don't think the belt did anything for Christian nor Chavo. And I wish they had a better resolution for the Test run than him walking out of a PPV match. The effort was there all around, but the writing has weak.
Big Show et al was fine, but it gets back to the original point that it wasn't ECW.
It would have been interesting to see where this show would have went with Benoit at the top which was rumored before he did the deed.
Once Big Show won, you saw the hand writing on the wall that Vince doesn't care about the ECW brand as much as he cares about putting his stamp on the brand. I also disagree with the weak ECW champs, I think the belt helped those guys especially Christian, because they were able to work with talent instead being jobbers for the Cena train that rolled everyone from 2005 til 2011. If viewed ECW as a development group that had a lot of niche things going for it.
Changing it to NXT was stupid. They could have easily had Wade, Bryan and the others come in one at a time while working with talent. Bryan would have been huge over with the indy crowd that was the backbone of old school ECW. Instead they job him out to test his mettle while giving the world to Wade who really hasn't done anything in this company other being a glorified jobber to the stars with talent. I still think they should have kept it ECW and just made it a show on the internet at one location like they are doing OVW now if Syfy was getting bitchy about rating.
(edited by lotjx on 13.1.13 2001) The Wee Baby Sheamus.Twitter: @realjoecarfley its a bit more toned down there. A bit.
I thought Christian and Matt Hardy were excellent "ECW appropriate" champions and the reigns were good for their careers. Big Show and Mark Henry worked because they knew how to play monsters and they would've worked in the actual ECW as the "wrong guy champion" standing in the way of the top babyfaces and eventually putting them over. Lashley was the one who really sucked, a complete zero who killed the "revival" version of the brand until it was reconfigured as a proto-NXT built around Punk, Morrison, and Miz.
Originally posted by lotjxwhile giving the world to Wade
Actually, they wanted to give the world to Otunga, but Barrett took it away from him with his speaking ability.
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