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You hear it all the time; TNN screwed ECW, Paul Heyman can't handle money, the product got old and lost it's edge. Well personally, I think that's a bunch of bullsh*t. The single biggest reason that ECW is dead is that Vince McMahon and Eric Bischoff f**ked ECW.
It must be hard for a wrestler to turn down a big money contract, and we all know that they have families to feed. But ECW was thriving, ECW was growing, and Vince and Eric saw this. They saw a product better then theirs, they saw wrestlers who could actually wrestle, they saw a promotion on the indies gaining a cult following, revolutionizing the way fans thought wrestling should be, and they sure as hell heard the 'ECW!' chants at their own events.
So ECW became their whore.
They
offered ECW wrestlers big money. They offered ECW wrestlers mainstream
exposure. The ECW roster took the contracts, they left ECW, some on good
terms, some on bad. and hey, who the hell could blame them? If i had a
wife and two kids, I would of taken the money. With ecw at it's peak, Eric
Bischoff stole ECW. He stole it's main eventer's and tried to get them
over, but no matter how hard he tried, they always came home.
Mikey Whipwreck went to WCW. A former ECW World Heavyweight Champion. A man who played the underdog better then anyone, who ECW had put it's faith in. where did he end up? Back in ECW. The same happened to Raven, The Sandman, Public Enemy and Stevie Richards. ECW was these men's home. They were like a fox, and WCW was a bear trap which had a firm grasp on their foot.
Vince McMahon was not the kinder. The Dudleyz, Tazz, Raven, Justin Credible, Jerry Lynn, Rhino. All gone to the WWF. In a time when ECW was struggling, when ECW needed them, they jumped boat. Again, these men had families to feed, and they weren't getting the checks, but I honestly feed that the big money would have come. The exposure and television and celebrity would have come.
But the stars left, and the promotion died. The attitude died. The greatest wrestling North America had ever seen died.
Do you remember the term 'The Big Three'? This was proof that three federations could exist on a national level. The WWF was doing fine. Then WCW f**ked itself. No matter how many wrestlers they stole, ECW could have used them more.
Vince McMahon is a billionaire. Paul Heyman used to have his stars shoot legendary interviews out of his mother's basement. Any ECW wrestler in his right mind would have left in a second.
Eric
killed ECW. Vince killed ECW. And every Monday night when I turn on RAW
is WAR and see my favorite ECW wrestlers trapped in the mid card, I'm glad
for them. I'm glad they finally got the big money, and finally got the
big exposure. However I can't help but think to myself, if ECW had never
died, how long would it have been before I was watching ECW Monday Night?
