Anyone else think ECW is so overrated within the IWC?

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CD Max I don't know what happen to you man you use to be a good user where do
you get off asking a question like this? Extreme Championship Wrestling was good
and very underrated. Paul Heyman the promoter took over September 18, 1993 back
in the day it was called Eastern Championship Wrestling. This was a Philadelphia,
based promotion just like Ring of Honor is today. August 1994 they held tournament
to crown a NWA World Heavyweight Champion. 'The Franchise' Shane Douglas did
win the tournament that night and threw down a prestigious NWA World Heavyweight
title and declared the new belt would be the ECW World Heavyweight Championship.
From there the rest the history. Extreme Championship Wrestling was arguably one
of the very best wrestling promotions going in the 90's and everyone who did answered
question knows it. Extreme Championship Wrestling broke every rule in the book and
was the most Hardcore wrestling promotion going at the time, this certainly was not a
Backyard Wrestling promotion. ECW was not all about Tables, Ladders, Chairs and a
Barb Wire match. Sure they were known for their intense Hardcore wrestling style they
did perform some great matches for the fans especially for the World Television Title &
in the Cruiserweight/Lightweight division. All of the greats walked through the curtain in
Extreme Championship Wrestling they had Chris Jericho, Chris Benoit, Dean Malenko,
Eddie Guerrero, Stunning Stone Cold Steve Austin all of these guys left at some point
and they all were major wrestling stars in this industry, future hall of fame inductees.
ECW was the first wrestling promotion to introduce the Mexican Lucha Libre wrestling
style that we never got to see. They brought Rey Mysterio Jr., Juventude Guerrera and
Pyschosis and Eddie Guerreo, they performed many great matches in ECW and what
ended up happening? World Championship Wrestling and Eric Bischoff stole them
from ECW and signed them to WCW thus, creating their own Cruiserweight Division
in WCW. WCW copied a lot of ideas from ECW and they were trying to be 'Hardcore'
both the WWF and WCW had created their own Hardcore Championship for each of
the promotions. Mick Foley (Mankind) who also wrestled in ECW was the WWF's 1st
Hardcore Champion and Norman Smiley was WCW's first Hardcore Championship.
However, the belts created were a joke. That' wasn't hardcore. Those wrestlers who
sacrificed all of their bodies in ECW that was Hardcore people like Tommy Dreamer
broke their backs for the company so, that a 'Comedy Act' like Zach Ryder I'm sure
one of your favorites could of retired him on the WWE's new version of ECW if that's
what you are referring to then you are correct on that one. WCW stole lots of talent
from Ecw they got Raven, Perry Saturn, Sandman, Chris Jericho, Chris Benoit, Dean
Malenko, Eddie Guerrero and Rick Steiner. So, they got their money's worth of talent
and of course WCW was like an atm back when Ted Turner was running the show
that's why everyone wanted to go to 'The Money Pit' ATM over in Atlanta, that's why
everyone left because they were getting paid peanuts compared to a salary in WCW.
Your wrong. You are so wrong. ECW was not all about Hardcore wrestling and Paul
Heyman did the best he could to entertain the fans and he did a great job in my eyes
I was a fan back when the original ECW was around we had many great matches
like the 30 Minute Draw between Eddie Guerrero and Dean Malenko and Rob Van
Dam vs. Jerry Lynn for the ECW World Television Title at Living Dangerously and
Hardcore Heaven 1999. And ECW had many great classic ECW World Heavyweight
Championship matches with Taz, Shane Douglas, Sabu, Sandman, Raven, Tommy
Dreamer, Justin Credible, Jerry Lynn, Rhino and the list goes on and on. The only two
wrestlers who left to the WWF were Taz and The Dudley Boys in 1999 by then ECW
was only around for two more years. That's why ECW was one of the best promotions.
Paul Heyman was a very creative genius and eventhough ECW was small independent
promotion he did what he could to make the promotion be successful in the wrestling
industry he took wrestlers who were being treated like 'Comedy Acts in other wrestling
promotions for instance, Justin Credible (Aldo Montoya WWF) and Jerry Lynn (Mr J.L.)
in WCW and made them Champions and superstars in wrestling. And even though he
did lose some of his Luchadors he went out and found some new ones. Super Crazy,
Yoshiro Tajiri, Guido Nunzio and Lance Storm. Ultimately what led to the downfall
was ECW losing their television slot in TNN (Spike TV). On September 25, 2000 WWE
signed with Spike TV and would remain with them until September 2005. If ECW would
of found another television network to pick up the weekly show who knows? Ecw might
of still been around today. Extreme Championship Wrestling was a great pro wrestling
promotion and will not be forgotten. E-C-W!!!!...Show more

The problem is that you're stating the misconception of ECW. ECW wasn't all about "backyard" or "garbage" wrestling that some say it is. What you're basically explaining is what I would refer to as CZW, but that's irrelevant right now.

There are many people who believe ECW sucked because they bought into the misconception of it only being hardcore wrestling. ECW was about ALL wrestling and showcasing talents and wrestling styles from across the world, including hardcore/extreme wrestling. They had great talents such as Jerry Lynn, Lance Storm, Dean Malenko, Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, Chris Jericho, Rey Mysterio, Rob Van Dam, Taz, Super Crazy, Tajiri and the list goes on and on. These wrestlers didn't need to use any weapons or rely on anything hardcore 24/7 to entertain the fans. However, whenever they were put into situations with weapons, they knew how to use it and not go overboard with it. There are some exceptions such as Mike Awesome, who was great with weapons because he knew how to wrestle, too.

With your response to Candle, the greatest wrestlers would of stayed with ECW if they wanted to. However, ECW wasn't WCW or WWE, two of the main promotions who had enough money to pay for each wrestler. If ECW had the money, the right person to manage the money and was on mainstream television, I'm sure many of the great wrestlers would of stayed with ECW. You have your opinion and I respect it, but I'm just hoping that you respect others opinions, too....Show more

I'm a fan if ECW, but I also do think that ECW was really nothing but a bunch of crazy men throwing each other through fiery tables and hitting their opponents with anything they could find . Those men were crazy, not wrestlers . That's why ECW is so legendary . It's so called ''wrestling'' just in a whole other form ....Show more

ECW Doesn't get much attention these days and has went out of business twice, it truly isn't over-rated, by most, but the Hardcore ECW fans do tend to over-rate the original ECW, but you don't hear much from them these days, so I'm saying no, it isn't over-rated!...Show more

So I assume you believe talents the calibur of Chris Benoit, Chris Jericho, Dean Malenko, Eddie Guerrero, Rey Mysterio, Psychosis, Super Crazy, Rob Van Dam, Jerry Lynn, Masato Tanaka, and Mike Awesome are all "talentless backyard wrestlers?"

ECW is praised for it's creative booking and raw and edgy style of wrestling and storytelling. Without it there'd be no Radicalz, there'd be no highly praised WCW cruiserweight division, there'd be no Attitude Era (and potentially no Stone Cold Steve Austin, considering he honed the character within ECW), no DX, no nWo, no Undertaker in the capacity that he's booked today.

While I agree that the majority remember ECW for the wrong reasons (hardcore bloodbaths), I humbly disagree when anyone argues there wasn't any talent on the roster when Lynn/Van Dam and Tanaka/Awesome put on clinics and rivalries that I rank as high up as Steamboat/Flair.

If you think everything about ECW was hardcore wrestling, you know nothing about ECW....Show more