The world is clamoring. ECW is coming back, they say. WWE has even begun to put the wheels in motion on TV. ECW is coming back, and part of me is really excited, even though I know better. I know better than to believe that this ECW revival is really going to mean anything. But, at the same time, I'm not going to say "don't bring back ECW". Even a neutered ECW is better than 99% of the pure sh*t that comes out of nearly every company in professional wrestling today. No, folks, I'm not just ripping the WWE. I'm ripping TNA. I'm ripping RoH (which I pretty much do every week ANYWAY, but for the sake of this column, let's pretend as if this were news to you, okay?). I'm ripping everyone. It's not fair, but then again, nothing is. Not in the wrestling business, anyway…
Before we go on with my insane ranting, let's take a look at what might have been the single best promo of 2006 thus far. Shoot, work, work/shoot, or whatever. It really doesn't matter right now, but I WILL reference this in the column later, so read it and keep it in mind.
"You wanna apologize like nothing happened? Like you didn’t knock me on my ass in front of millions of people worldwide? And I’m gonna come down there and work with you. I’m not coming back and now, thanks to the magic of live television, I’m gonna show the whole world why for seven years in ECW, I was the unscripted, uncensored, loose cannon of commentary. Six months ago, WWE called me! I didn’t call this company because I was looking for a job. I wasn’t looking for a job. WWE called me because they had humiliated and fired – again – Jim Ross! So I get J.R.’s spot and from week one, week after week, I got an ongoing lecture about the differences in professional wrestling and sports entertainment. I’m not allowed to say pro wrestling. I’m not allowed to say wrestler. I have to say "sports entertainment" and refer to the wrestlers as "superstars." I’m told to deliberately ignore the moves and holds during the matches so I can tell stories. Well ignoring the moves and holds is damn insulting to the athletes, the wrestlers – not the entertainers – who leave their families 300 days a year to ply their craft in that ring! Now here’s the best part since I’m not a sports entertainment storyteller, I get pulled from WrestleMania. And the reason I’m given is because I don’t sound like Jim Ross, who’s the guy they fired in the first place. That makes sense, right? So I swallow the bitter pill. I’m the company guy. I get pulled from WrestleMania. Then I get bumped from Backlash? I’m not good enough to call BACKLASH?! In ECW, I called live pay-per-views on my own. Solo. No color commentators dragging me down. Wasn’t done before me and hasn’t been done since! But I’m not good enough to call Backlash because I’m not a sports entertainment storyteller. You know what? I am sick of sports entertainment. I am sick of male cheerleaders. I am sick of boogers and bathroom humor and semen and I am sick of our chairman, who likes to talk about his own semen. He mocks God! He mocks GOD! And he makes out with divas all to feed his insatiable ego. I am sick of sports entertainment. And most of all, I’m sick of you fans that actually buy into that crap. This sports entertainment circus! I never needed this job and I don’t want this job anymore. I quit!" - Joey Styles, Monday Night RAW, April 1, 2006.
ECW wasn't necessarily about the blood or the tables or the violence. It wasn't necessarily about presenting a faster-paced, more physical form of professional wrestling than any other company in the US. It wasn't even necessarily about shoot promos, or breaking the rules, or having more balls than anyone else on the planet. Don't get me wrong, these were major elements of what ECW was, but it wasn't ALL that ECW was. ECW was about respect. Respect for the wrestlers, the fans, and the business. You can read it in Joey's promo. You can see it on any ECW DVD. You hear it every time you hear an ECW chant. ECW was about respect, and this is first thing most people inside the wrestling industry don't understand about ECW and its impact. It wasn't about the violence. It wasn't about breaking tradition. It was about respecting the wrestlers who risked their lives (both physically and emotionally) for wrestling. It was about respecting the intelligence of the wrestling fan. And, it was about paying the proper homage to the business without being stuck in an outdated mentality that you had to kiss its ass.
ECW had more respect for wrestling than any other promotion. Also, keep in mind, that in my eyes, the wrestling business is not something one man, or one organization, controls. ECW had respect for the people who keep the business alive, its fans, and thus, they respected the business by doing what was best for it, even if it meant pissing on the NWA. For those who only know the part of the story told on The Rise & Fall of ECW DVD, Dennis Coralluzzo (President of the NWA) decided to be a bitch and overtake the NWA Title Tournament that was being booked by Tod Gordon (Head of ECW) and Jim Crockett (the main guy promoting the NWA), then go on Mike Tenay's radio show and bury Shane Douglas, the very guy Coralluzzo was going to put the NWA Title Belt on! Sound hypocritical to you? It should! Having Douglas throw down the belt was a receipt for the political bullying of Dennis Coralluzzo and the NWA Board over the use of the NWA Title, which, in 1994, had about as much value as the WCW World Title did in 2000. Some say Shane pissed on the history and the tradition of the NWA. I say that the NWA doesn't own the wrestling business, that Dennis Coralluzzo was a two-faced bitch, and that the business was respected and protected the night Shane Douglas proclaimed himself ECW World Heavyweight Champion.
The sad thing about the ECW Revival is that ECW is now controlled by yet another man who feels that he owns wrestling, Vince McMahon. He can deny my claim all he wants, but his actions over the past 25 years speak louder than his words. If McMahon doesn't claim to own or control wrestling, he's certainly trying to, but unlike the big "f*ck you" ECW gave the NWA in 1994, the "f*ck you" ECW will more than likely give the WWE will be completely scripted. Instead of being a real "f*ck you", it'll be a work/shoot, or, worst case scenario, a complete fabrication. Joey Styles' promo on RAW shows that, for the time being, it's a work/shoot. That can change. If people were to really shoot with the WWE, the words would be very biting. You read my columns, and even I take it easy on the WWE compared to what RVD could say when it comes time for him to cut his shoot promo. It's not like we don't already know the truth. The writers are lousy, the agents insult the talent, the announcers are force-fed lines, the political atmosphere and the backstage bullying, all while the people running the shows either honestly don't know sh*t about what the fans want, or don't care, while pushing McMahon family members and lame workers the fans don't like down our throats, simply because they kissed the right ass! You don't need me to tell you this! You really don't even need the Observer or the Torch. If you're half as smart as you like to believe, you can tell how f*cked up the WWE is by just watching the shows! A fan can smell the difference between a wrestler who earned his way up, and a wrestler who manipulated his way up. Fans also know when they're being insulted and patronized. We're not stupid, and we really don't need the Internet or the dirt sheets to figure it out.
Will I support a WWE-Sponsored ECW? I don't know. I will watch a WWE-Sponsored ECW, at least at first, but there is a difference between watching a show and supporting a brand. I'm willing to see what WWE will do with ECW, but supporting it is a completely different tale. It certainly won't be what it was, that's for sure. I do hope that the new ECW works out, though. Even if it's not as good as the original, it's bound to be light-years ahead of anyone else in the game right now.
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