Anyone else think ECW is so overrated within the IWC?

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!!!!

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.

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 .

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!

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.

Yea I think the Undertaker vs Sting match is overrated. A real dream match would have been HBK vs Sting when they both were in there prime. Like if it was to happen in 97.

Not hardly. While Verne Gagne was so stuck in the past his AWA withered and died, Vince was running his Saturday morning cartoon show called the WWF, and WCW was doing it's decidedly "southern rasslin" type of shows, Paul Heyman's boundless creativity was laying the groundwork for a fundamental change in the wrestling business so profound that the Big Boys (WCW and WWF) copied it and turned THEIR shows into "ECW" style shows which led eventually to the Monday Night Wars.

ECW, for those who didn't follow it the first time around, was NOT just blood and barbed-wire, tables and cheese graters. Heyman and ECW changed EVERYTHING. From the more realistic gimmicks and storylines fans could actually relate to, to finally acknowledging that the fans knew "wrestling is fake"; from the "semi-shoot" promos to Heyman himself talking to the fans as HUMANS and not just as dollar signs, ECW forced the wrestling business to grow up and stop treating the fans as "dumb marks".

Paul Heyman not only opened the door for wrestling styles not normally seen in the U.S., he stood on the porch and waved them in. Luchadors from Mexico and puro wrestlers from Japan, especially. Heyman and ECW brought them in to the U.S. and found a market for them here. Or rather, Heyman gave them the platform and they got THEMSELVES over.

ECW didn't invent "hardcore"; Heyman just made that a part of ECW at a time when WCW and the WWF wouldn't allow it. Too many people focus on the blood and barbed-wire aspect of ECW that they don't see that ECW had by far the most diversified roster (wrestling styles) in the business. About the only style you COULDN'T find in ECW was Sumo.

Heyman and ECW were so ground-breaking, so inventive, so creative, that their effect on the wrestling business is still felt today. Without Heyman and ECW breaking the rules, breaking the mold, and giving the fans something completely new we never would have had an "Attitude Era", an nWo, a Monday Night War or any of that stuff. Heyman and ECW created that. And what they didn't create, they inspired.

ROH tries to give us the same hard-hitting "no limits" style and spirit of ECW. TNA tries to give us the same "feel" as ECW. The WWF and WCW just flat copied ECW. Vince has tried to make the fans forget about ECW (he even bought the damn company and pissed all over what ECW was all about), the nWo-era WCW, and the "Attitude Era" WWF. And we see the results of his current programming. Fans EVERYWHERE complaining that it's nowhere near as good as it WAS (during the 90's).

Paul Heyman and ECW took the established and traditional ways of producing wrestling shows and tossed them in the garbage. They gave us the blueprint and the prototype of what "modern" pro wrestling IS. And that's realistic gimmicks and storylines fans can relate to, and not talking down to the fans and treating them as "dumb marks" (you listening, Vince?).

ECW wasn't about blood and barbed-wire, tables and cheese graters; that was just part of the overall show. ECW was all about creativity and inventiveness, and giving performers opportunities (any performer, not just those who fit a certain "mold") to express themselves without having a team of hacks scribbling out some load of nonsense for them to memorize and recite in front of a TV camera to fit some ludicrous comic book melodramatic storyline. ECW was about wrestlers getting in the ring and entertaining the fans the way THEY wanted, instead of having some overbearing dictator TELL them what to do.

ECW changed the wrestling business at the fundamental level. The Big Boys (WCW and the WWF) copied them, and every promotion that's come after ECW is influenced in some way or another by what ECW started.

ECW's influence on the wrestling business can not be understated. There WAS a revolution in the wrestling business in the early 90's that affected, influenced, and changed every promotion to various degrees. Paul Heyman and ECW started and led that revolution.

How can it be overrated when ECW is the birthplace of the indy scene? Nearly every money grabbing 2-bit hack wanted to claim to be the next Extreme wrestling company. Be it Jersey All Pro, XPW, 3PW, Combat Zone, IWA-MS, when we all know the rightful air is Ring of Honor....

People left ECW for one reason -- they didn't want their paycheck to bounce.

Go watch RVD vs Jerry Lynn and then tell me that its like backyard wrestling.

Same thoughts dude.I never liked ECW.