ECW is back from the dead again. TNA jumped on the nostalgic bandwagon and brought back the hardcore heroes. These hardcore icons should have been dead by now but wrestling fans won’t allow it.
T-N-A! T-N-A! Does that sound familiar? Well it should. There are three other letters that used to be shouted by wrestling fans in the same fashion a little over a decade ago. That’s right, E…C…W.
Its official TNA is attempting to bring back ECW. It’s clear after the signing of Tommy Dreamer TNA is looking to ride the ECW horse all the way to the promise land. Who can blame them? ECW is so beloved by wrestling fans that it simply won’t die. The three letter chants bellowing from the Impact Zone are a tribute to the ECW of past years. TNA is banking on this current invasion angle to boost ratings. Will it work? Well let’s check the record books.
The first invasion angle of the modern era (that was at the very least memorable) was the NWO invasion of WCW. Wrestling fans know how well that worked for WCW but have we forgotten the ECW invasion of Monday Night Raw?
In 1997 the first ECW invasion was born. Vince McMahon saw the steam and the talent ECW possessed and brought the small company in for a ratings boost. The invasion worked but only for a short period of time. There were rumors that Vince McMahon was a financial partner to Paul Heyman/ECW and a talent swap began. These rumors never really proved to be true but the talent swap was obvious between the two companies.
For some reason the WWE decided ECW wasn’t dead yet and put on not only one, but two ECW ppv’s. Ironically the first one was called “One Night Only.” The buy rates were huge and the WWE knew it was on to something. In fact the buy rates were so big that the WWE just had to try and ride the ECW bandwagon one more time. The WWE decided to bring back ECW as a brand to tv. I don’t really have to tell you how much of a failure this turned out to be. In the beginning the WWE’s version of ECW was a nice attempt but it lacked a lot in the “extreme” department. The only thing remotely ECW was Tommy Dreamer in the end.
After all the smoke is cleared and the dust settled, it will be time to say goodbye to ECW for good. This should be the last hurra. It’s time to let the wrestlers who built the characters (we loved so much) to move on and perform without the anchor of ECW attached to them. We won’t forget ECW we will just have to say goodbye one last time.
Bloodsport : ECW’s Most Violent Matches featuring Tommy Dreamer and Raven
Buy the ECW (Extreme Championship Wrestling) – Deep Impact Uncensored DVD.
Order the Ricky Steamboat: The Life of the Dragon DVD.
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