When ECW Folded......

Nortpoy wrote:

OK, forgive me if I' m behind the times, but I thought the world had figured this out in the mid-to-late eighties....

wrestling = shit

....is when I bowed out of watching. Yes, wrestling became entertainment long before the beginning of 2001, when ECW Wrestling ended. But Paul Heyman' s creation was strictly of old-school style. No lengthy interviews, no drama settings, no glitz or glamour, basically wrestling with its share of trash-talking. You want entertainment, flip over to USA Network, etc. If you want 20 minute non-stop matches of wrestling instead of 5 minute punch & kick matches(with an occasional suplex), tune in to Sunshine, MSN, or Empire. Heyman couldn' t afford any of the fireworks, massive lighting rigs, and concert stages. But who needed that? One ring with some gutsy, skilled, hardcore wrestlers, and that was ECW at it' s finest.

I don' t know if I' d call ECW old school. If you want old school, check out the NWA (a fed that ECW really killed almost 10 years ago).

ECW was a HUGE influence on the Attitude era in the WWF. That' s pretty much where it spawned from. And, in order to not be the subject of a lot of criticism from ECW, they had a unique talent-sharing program.

I always thought there was a lot of crap in ECW. Let' s face it, Dreamer, Rotten, New Jack, and all those guys weren' t good workers, but then you had the occasional awesome Cactus Jack, Guerrero, Malenko ,etc. classic in there in the middle. And I think the Sandman is the worst wrestler ever (except maybe Erik Watts) to get a push in one of the Big 3.

I used to go the ECW events in south Philly quite often. My faves were RVD, Al Snow, Big Stevie Cool, Sabu, and Da Blue Guy. Once ECW merged with the WWF, it became pathetic. I pretty much lost interest in wrestling after that.

If you want old school, check out the NWA (a fed that ECW really killed almost 10 years ago).

And I wouldn' t even call -that- the NWA. The federation that Douglas pretty much ended when he trashed the belt after winning it was a small northern regional promotion. If you want -real- NWA action go back to the 70' s and the 80' s in the south and WCW when it was simply a television program for Crockett' s NWA on Saturday nights. The Four Horsemen, Magnum TA, The Road Warrions (When they were actually good), and some of those legendary matches with Flair and Terry Funk or Ricky Steamboat, -that- was wrestling. And boy do I ever miss it. What we get today is some shitty theatre for people with ADD.

edi: spelling

Yeah, maybe I mistitled the ECW as old-school, compared to NWA. But my intention was to compare Extreme Championship Wrestling as the closest to the finer days of wrestling(' 70s & early ' 80s). It maintained moments of old-school style.

ORIGINAL: Bigglesworth

I used to go the ECW events in south Philly quite often. My faves were RVD, Al Snow, Big Stevie Cool, Sabu, and Da Blue Guy. Once ECW merged with the WWF, it became pathetic. I pretty much lost interest in wrestling after that.

I flew up there to catch an event over the Thanksgiving ' 99 holidays at the birthplace of the Extreme, ECW Arena. What an atmosphere! The tension and excitement was hot. And don' t forget other ECW greats...Little Guido, Danny Doring, Roadkill, Mike Awesome, the Dudley Boyz, Taz, the Pitbulls, Mikey Whipwreck, Shane Douglas, the Gangstas, the Eliminators, Balls Mahoney, etc. Lots of these guys moved up to the bigger two when they got recognized for their talents. WWF & WCW could pay much better than Paul.