So was this ECW Vince's plan all along?

[willywonka666]

The two ONS's were exciting as hell IMO, it really did bring back the spirit of the old ECW for at least two nights, then they announce they're reviving the whole promotion, bring back several of the original wrestlers and then push them aside for Lashley, Angle etc. Do you think this was the intention all along, cause the originals seemed like they were legit swerved(as were the fans)

They proved with the 2 ppv's that they could do it the way they used to, and then stopped

[JMA]

It's hard to say. I'm not sure if it was Vince, but someone definitely sabotaged it. Any fan worth their salt could tell that right from the first show.

[thegame415]

i think it was a plan all along to push some new guys...hell, they called it "a new breed unleashed"before the whole new breed stable started

[01010010 01101001 01100011]

I thought the plan all along was for a national developmental promotion under the ECW name and everyone else expected the second (or would it be third?) coming of ECW ala Heyman. I remember Heyman and Dreamer doing interviews where they said it wasn't going to be like the original ECW but, something different.

[mysterydriver]

I think the plan was to have a third TV show. One to use old stars from the former ECW to gain notice and to build new stars for the future.

[robnoxious]

mysterydriver said:

I think the plan was to have a third TV show. One to use old stars from the former ECW to gain notice and to build new stars for the future.

Which isn't as big a crime as everyone is making it out to be.

[acressl]

mysterydriver said:

I think the plan was to have a third TV show. One to use old stars from the former ECW to gain notice and to build new stars for the future.

I'm with this. Still, Vince is the type of guy to throw some malice in there. Steal a few nostalgia bucks and put his own product over. I can see it.

[I Like Your Poetry]

Let's face facts...the ECW originals were going to be phased out in one way or another. There's no way that the ECW brand was going to feature Tommy Dreamer, Sandman, and Sabu for the next couple of years. Their purpose was to put over new talent, and to make the new brand of WWE wrestling work.

Whether or not we can sit here and complain about ECW not living up to the standards of the previous incarnation, the main point is that Vince and company didn't have to do a One Night Stand. But they did in 2005, and it was absolutely true to the spirit of the original ECW, and pleased the fans.

Then, they didn't have to do another one, but they did. Sure, this one was more infused with WWE stars, but with a limited amount of negotiating due to TNA and active storylines such as the MITB, WWE still pulled off a decent job and a hot crowd for ECW ONS II.

Sure, the ECW brand hasn't been exactly loyal to the original, but it does pay tribute to it in several ways and if not for this brand, we wouldn't get the venue for a lot of people to shine like CM Punk, Elijah Burke (Smackdown! wasn't the best place for him), and Marcus Cor Von.

In short, bash ECW all you want, but I can only read so many "WWECW" and "this show sucks" comments before you have to realize that at least it's still better than TNA.

[Zane]

Well they really cannot do what they used to on cable TV. Vince probably wouldn't mind that if they did because it would be more money but the waxing FCC won't allow it. So here is the solution to the problem that is ECW: have Khali brain chop every member of the FCC.

[willywonka666]

Problem is that the new talent isn't being booked as an ECW should be booked. they're being booked like a WWE wrestler. That'd been like Jimi Hendrix going on Hee Haw-yes he was a musician, but his style didn't fit on Hee Haw-that's my biggest complaint(or one of them)

[Butchie]

Vince has managed to wax up everything that should have been huge. The Invasion, the nWo, and now ECW. I don't care if they announced at first it was going to be different. The fact is they're using the ECW name for something that is completely different from the actual promotion. So yes, I believe this was Vince's plan all along.

[willywonka666]

Well Vince doesn't like what he didn't create to begin with, so it does make sense

[Joekishi]

Kurt Angle bailing, RVD and SABU get caught smoking pot right after the institution of Wellness, Big Show being champ without any real threats in ECW being thrown at him, then putting over Bobby Lashley out of nowhere.

I don't think so.

IF Kurt would have stayed on I think he'd be ECW champion right now, IF RVD and Sabu wouldn't have been caught with the pot they would be in higher positions.

IF Paul Heyman didn't go crazy and actually did things he wanted...who knows..

seriously

When Kurt and RVD were gone for the first crucial months it made ECW come off as weaker than it should.

[Hiroshi Hase]

I call it WWECW, because it's owned by WWE, but I still watch it, it's not that bad and a lot better then it was last summer.

[JMA]

Actually, the biggest problem with the new ECW is that it's NOT different. It's just another WWE show. It doesn't have to be like the old ECW, but it should be completely different from Raw and Smackdown. The show needs to feature stuff that you wouldn't or couldn't see on normal WWE television. Furthermore, it has to be creative, not mediocre.

[willywonka666]

Vince should have gotten over the pot thing a LOONG time ago, Randy Orton is still main eventing and has f***ed up worse than that

[Nice Guy Cody]

basicboogeynomix said:

When Kurt and RVD were gone for the first crucial months it made ECW come off as weaker than it should.

Early ECW being a circus sideshow for those crucial first months, complete with zombies, inept strippers and random shots of vampires brooding outside the arena with maybe one or two wrestling matches (if there's time) didn't help, surely.

[JMA]

If Angle and Big Show had stayed and RVD and Sabu didn't get caught toking...there would still be complaints. The complaints would probably be valid too. As we all know, the show had serious problems ever since it debuted. It didn't start off good and then fail due to someone's actions.

I don't think that it should be a carbon copy of the old ECW. After all, that would be asking mediocre (at best) WWE writers to recapture that old magic. Frankly, I think fans would've been reasonably satisfied with a much edgier product than Raw and Smackdown that didn't feature homegrown talent running through all of the ECW originals. It should've been like a more violent and controversial version of OVW. Instead, ECW got the wrestlers WWE didn't want to push and then had to put them over their established roster. They didn't even let Heyman change their terrible and/or bland gimmicks into something more suitable for ECW.

Overall, the biggest problem with the brand is that it doesn't stand out and doesn't have many wrestlers fans see as stars. RVD is really the only wrestler that fans see as a credible main eventer, and he's about to leave. Lashley is being pushed but I don't think he ranks very high in the eyes of the fans. The lack of main event heels is also disturbing. How do you establish a top babyface if he doesn't have credible opponents?

[Deleted]

I knew from the beginning that there's no way it would be anything like the orginal ECW. But I at least thought they'd try to do something different and make it the "alternative" "underground" brand.

I didn't expect them to just make Velocity have it's own roster.

[willywonka666]

brentreznor said:

I knew from the beginning that there's no way it would be anything like the orginal ECW. But I at least thought they'd try to do something different and make it the "alternative" "underground" brand.

I didn't expect them to just make Velocity have it's own roster.

Thing is they were very close with the first One Night Stand-so they proved it could be done. the brighter lights and bigger arenas turned me off right from the start