|
Post by turkeysandwich on Apr 19, 2014 3:06:58 GMT -5
I was clicking through Youtube trying to find clips of old ECW Hardcore TV commercial breaks (which I can't find many or really any at all) because I know I'll never see them complete with Rob Zombie or LL Cool J songs playing over the t-shirt and live event ads on WWE Network.
But thinking about it, ECW has such a specific place and time feel for me. I first heard about ECW in 1996, I was 13, and it was in one of the wrestling magazines. What caught my attention was that I saw a picture of Beulah on the cover of the magazine and I thought she was so hot, and it said something about her being a lesbian, which as a 13 year boy doubly intrigued me. About a week or two later I was perusing the on screen guide on the satellite and saw that ECW Wrestling was coming on later that night on MSG Network at like 1 AM. Since it was Friday night was allowed to stay up late, but I was afraid that my parents wouldn't like me watching it, so I turned to sound down really low to where I could barely hear it and sat really close to the TV, and I kept my finger on the "Prev Ch" button just in case my parents woke up and saw me watching it. It seemed so forbidden with the violence and language and stuff.
The only thing is that I lived in Tennessee and even though tons of people I knew watched wrestling, most of them had never even heard of ECW at that time and so I never could talk about it with anyone. In fact, I think a lot of people overestimate these days how popular ECW ever was, even when they were on TNN.
That time brings back so many good memories. In fact, now that I think of it, I believe the first episode I ever watched was Chris Jericho's debut on there.
I'd like to hear other people's memories of how they first heard about and watched ECW.
|
|
|
Post by celticjobber on Apr 19, 2014 5:44:03 GMT -5
I think I first read about ECW in one of the Apter mags around 1994 or so, when Cactus Jack was teaming with Mikey Whipwreck.
But I never actually saw ECW until 1998 when one of my friends ordered Wrestlepalooza on PPV. I was a big fan, and watched all of their ppvs after that.
But none of my channels carried Hardcore TV, so I wasn't able to watch ECW much until they started airing on TNN (at that point it was starting to go downhill).
|
|
|
Post by DoubleDare on Apr 19, 2014 5:57:08 GMT -5
I don't recall how I found out about ecw, I live in philly. I remember going to king of the ring 95 as a 9 year old and everyone chanting ECW! ECW! As a kid I thought of it as the fed for adults, so it was cool watchin it when it would be on.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Apr 19, 2014 6:36:37 GMT -5
I remember a story in PWI where Tommy Dreamer was pissed his feud with Raven didn't win Feud of the Year. In the same magazine, they had a full-page ad for ECW tapes. So, I see one with names I somewhat knew and bought it.
Shane Douglas vs. Sabu was interesting, but the Funks vs. Public Enemy in a barbed wire match? Color me sold!
(I could only buy ECW tapes to see them. Hardcore TV didn't air in Chicagoland until I moved away.)
|
|
|
Post by "Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay on Apr 19, 2014 7:12:26 GMT -5
I used to record it late night on Bravo, which weirdly would also show Nitro. This was in the TNN era, so it wasn't exactly ECW at its best, but I have always been ECW/WCW deep down rather than WWE because of those days waking up on a weekend morning and watching three or four hours of up-to-date wrestling, uncensored - a nice change from the poor edited and often pre-empted Saturday morning version of Smackdown and the flat out bizarre WCW Worldwide.
|
|
|
Post by The Legendary Ring Troll {BLM} on Apr 19, 2014 8:24:41 GMT -5
When they showed up on Raw for their first "invasion." Good stuff. I believe I order Hardcore Heaven 97 some time after this, which is ironically where I became a fan of ICP as well.
|
|
|
Post by The 1Watcher Experience on Apr 19, 2014 8:33:57 GMT -5
I found out about ECW when it was still Eastern Championship Wrestling back in '92. There were articles in PWI showing Snuka and Muraco holding their title. Being a fan of '80s WWF I thought that was pretty cool. I'd read results of their shows whenever I saw them and I'd be impressed by the talent they had even then. I got the NWA World title tournament on VHS from RF Video at an indy show which had all the ECW television shows that covered it. I was hooked right there. That's also when they became Extreme Championship Wrestling. Shortly after I found out that a network called CTN was showing wrestling and they started airing ECW at 2 PM every Saturday afternoon. I started recording everything. It would be another year before MSG got it at midnight. I got to two smaller ECW live shows in Bristol and Jim Thorpe before I made it to the ECW Arena. My first Arena show was what ended up being called Gangsta's Paradise. It was amazing and I tried to go back as often as I could. I followed ECW right to the end. I even attended the two One Night Stand shows which were a lot of fun. I'm done with that whole reunion concept these days. Haha.
|
|
AtomSmasher
Trap-Jaw
"Measue it twice...cut it once"
Posts: 409
|
Post by AtomSmasher on Apr 19, 2014 8:41:58 GMT -5
I first heard about it during my 'non-wrestling' years in the late 90s - I think it was on Bravo and one of my mates hilariously thought it was a shoot. When I got back into wrestling in 1999, I would read various PPV reviews and articles on ECW in PowerSlam, and although the product was going downhill by then, it sounded interesting. The first time I actually watched it was when I bought Guilty A Charged 2001 on VHS. I was excited and horrified in equal measures: Crappy production values, poor promos and a terrible main event. But even with all of that, it was still different enough to pique my interest. Since then I've eaten up anything ECW - but I'm still excited and horrified in equal measures over everything I watch!
|
|
BlackoutCreature
Grimlock
The Ultimate Popcorntunist!
Posts: 14,484
Member is Online
|
Post by BlackoutCreature on Apr 19, 2014 8:48:32 GMT -5
Sometime in 1995, don't remember the exact date. Was up late one night and just kinda stumbled across it on MSG while channel surfing. It had a Battle Royal featuring Marty Jannetty in it which got me interested. I gotta be honest I wasn't terribly impressed by that first show. I started watching on and off until mid-96 when I started really getting into it and started watching it regularly.
|
|
|
Post by James Fabiano on Apr 19, 2014 9:06:50 GMT -5
First ep. I saw was on the MSG Network, early '95. They were building up to Double Tables and was showing matches taped in Florida. My first show had a Benoit vs. Scorpio match (with a total play on the Superbrawl finish, except Benoit outsmarts him this time), as well as Douglas vs. Simmons with Tully run-in.
|
|
|
Post by onetruemisfit on Apr 19, 2014 9:15:14 GMT -5
Saw ECW in TV guide. Extreme wrestling hell yeah! Went to skateland set VCR to timed record. Came back saw tazz suplexing people through tables I loved it.
|
|
Gummydavidson
Dennis Stamp
Johnny Davidson for Prime Minister!
Posts: 3,933
|
Post by Gummydavidson on Apr 19, 2014 9:23:14 GMT -5
Playing ECW Hardcore Revolution, after that me, my brother and my cousin would watch it on Bravo every Friday. One of the first shows I watched may of been a show that had a RVD vs Jerry Lynn match.
|
|
comahan
Bill S. Preston, Esq.
Posts: 17,899
|
Post by comahan on Apr 19, 2014 9:26:17 GMT -5
My first real memory of ECW is watching their show on TNN as a kid and thinking that while WWF and WCW were 'fake', ECW was TOTALLY real.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Apr 19, 2014 9:35:30 GMT -5
Honestly a commercial for Rise and Fall of ECW after that I bought a Best of the bloodiest matches and after Mike Awesome vs Spike Dudley, Tommy Dreamer vs CW Anderson as well as Shane Douglas vs Taz I was sold and ended up falling in love with it and wishing it would come back. Then I saw it on Syfy and was extremely(no pun intended) disappointed.
|
|
ibdude
Don Corleone
Posts: 1,706
|
Post by ibdude on Apr 19, 2014 9:56:20 GMT -5
I remember one of my friends in 4th grade in 1998-1999 telling me about it and how "real" it was. It was a while until I saw it because St. Louis didn't get it until it was on TNN.
So I turn it on TNN and it looked like somebody filmed it on a cheap camcorder. So because I was used to WWE's and WCW's production values I turned the channel never to watch it again until I saw The Rise and Fall of ECW years later.
|
|
|
Post by ________ has left the building on Apr 19, 2014 10:00:17 GMT -5
I stumbled upon ECW when reading a hype piece on Sabu in one of the Apter mags. I seen the ECW tapes being offered for sell along with ones for Sabu. I kept up with them during the mags but never actually seen an actual show at that point. When Sabu debutted in WCW, I finally got to see the hype surrounding him and was blown away. A couple months later, they finally aired Hardcore TV in my area. The problem was it was 1am Sunday morning, on a staticy UHF station, and I rarely got a chance to watch it. But when I did it was kinda awe inspiring with the blood, violence, and action. Sadly after I got back from boot camp in 97, they stopped showing it.
|
|
The Sam
El Dandy
The Brainiest Sam of all
Posts: 8,423
|
Post by The Sam on Apr 19, 2014 10:03:04 GMT -5
Around the time I first started watching wrestling (1999), I would see pictures of Sabu and Rob Van Dam in various wrestling magazines and was always intrigued.
|
|
No Longer a Produceman
Dennis Stamp
Will Make You an Offer You Can't Refuse
Evolving into Geckoman
Posts: 4,371
|
Post by No Longer a Produceman on Apr 19, 2014 10:06:52 GMT -5
Was at a friend's house that had an illegal cable hookup in 1998. Happened to notice ECW Heatwave 98 was on so we all watched it. I was instantly hooked. The main event of The Dudleyz vs Sandman/Spike Dudley/Tommy Dreamer was awesome.
|
|
|
Post by Citizen Snips Has Left on Apr 19, 2014 10:35:33 GMT -5
First caught the show around The Night The Line Was Crossed in 1993. Was surprised that there was wrestling on Sportschannel Philadelphia, let alone a promotion based exclusively in Philly. Was hooked from that first episode, seeing Sabu back then was mind-blowing.
|
|
Malcolm
Grimlock
Wanted something done about the color of his ring.
Eternally Confused
Posts: 13,481
|
Post by Malcolm on Apr 19, 2014 10:39:37 GMT -5
I only caught it once in late light syndication with my brother. I didn't have much of an interest in wrestling at the time outside Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage Slim Jim commercials so I didn't follow.
|
|