ECW broadcast it’s last show tonight, and while I was saddened at the end of an era for extreme wrestling, I was glad to see it end. ECW was the antithesis of WWE and WCW. ECW gave us some very memorable and historic moments - such as invading WWF the first time, Shane Douglas tossing the NWA belt in the trash, The Mass Transit incident and many others. ECW also introduced many of the iconic and legendary superstars of today. Superstars like Rey Mysterio, Chris Jericho, Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, Dean Malenko, Tazz, Mike Awesome, Raven, Sandman, Sabu and of course The “Whole Fuckin’ Show” Rob Van Dam. But after ECW went under, many of these superstars went to the remaining 2 promotions. Some flourished and others didn’t get far enough to make significant impact. However, their matches and memories lived on as the various promotions heard that iconic chant “E-C-Dub, E-C-Dub,E-C-Dub” in every arena- keeping ECW alive amongst fans.
The summer of 2005 saw a resurgence of ECW, thanks in part to WWE creating the One Night Stand PPV, which besides bringing nostalgia to fans showed WWE that ECW was still alive but with a faint pulse. WWE saw dollar signs and in June of 2006 decided to hold another One Night Stand, but this time, it would lead to the rebirth of ECW on the SciFi channel. Former ECW owner Paul Heyman was put in charge of this new/old upstart brand and with that WWE’s version of ECW was born. Coming off the his victory over John Cena at One Night Stand 2, it was a no brainer that The “Whole Dam Show” Rob Van Dam would be the re-launched brands’ Champion. Alas, the magic of One Night Stand slowly faded and WWECW became more and more prevalent with each passing week. Slowly but surely ECW Originals quit or were released, and the memories and superstars of old were replaced with young WWE newcomers that needed a place to hone their craft. This was by many considered the end, but to me this paved the way for a new generation of wrestlers such as Monty Brown, Elijah Burke, Evan Bourne, CM Punk, Zack Ryder and Ezekiel Jackson that would carry the flag of ECW in it’s final days with Tommy Dreamer still there as the last soldier fighting the good fight. Tommy Dreamer recently left the WWE and while he did say his goodbyes, the fans knew that Tommy couldn’t carry this torch any further.
To me, ECW should have ended with Tommy Dreamer winning the belt one last time and retiring with the belt to put a happy ending on this legendary brand. But sadly that was wishful thinking. ECW ended with it’s last champion Christian being defeated by Ezekiel Jackson in an “extreme rules” match leaving Ezekiel as your last ECW champion. I believe ECW died the day Tommy Dreamer left the WWE and what ended tonight was just another WWE brand.
Shed no tears for ECW wrestling fans, because the memories we have can never be taken away. You can change the logo, the style and the wrestlers, but at the end of the day there was and will always be one ECW. The ECW that was owned by Paul Heyman and had wrestlers like Dreamer, Sandman, Funk, Cactus Jack, New Jack, Raven, Sabu and many others bleeding and wrestling for our entertainment.
Rest In Peace ECW.
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