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ECW History
In 1994, Jim Crockett's non-compete agreement
with Ted Turner, who purchased World Championship Wrestling (WCW) from Crockett in 1988, was up and he decided to start promoting
with the NWA again. Crockett went to Tod Gordon and asked him to hold a tournament for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship
at the ECW Arena on August 27, 1994. NWA President Dennis Coralluzzo thought that Crockett and Gordon were going to try to
monopolize the title (much like Crockett did in the 1980s) and told them they didn't have the NWA board's approval so he took
control over the tournament. Gordon was upset at Coralluzzo for his power plays so Gordon and Shane Douglas, who was booked
to win the title against 2 Cold Scorpio, planned to have Douglas throw the title down after he won it and break ECW from the
NWA. In a now classic post-match speech, Shane Douglas said that he didn't want to be a part of an organization that "died"
seven years earlier (presumably when Jim Crockett sold his NWA super territory to Turner Broadcasting in 1988). After ECW withdrew from the NWA and officially
changed its name from Eastern Championship Wrestling to Extreme Championship Wrestling, it became an underground sensation.
The group would showcase many different styles of professional wrestling, popularizing bloody hardcore wrestling matches and
the 3-Way Dance. ECW was always intended to be counter-culture and a grittier alternative to multi-million dollar organizations
such as World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and WCW. In addition to their hardcore match types, they provided an alternative
to North American wrestling with technical wrestling that was common overseas. International stars such as Eddie Guerrero,
Chris Benoit and Dean Malenko anchored a solid technical wrestling core in ECW. Rey Misterio, Jr., Psicosis, Konnan and Juventud
Guerrera brought a lucha libre style rarely seen in the national wrestling promotions. Wrestlers such as Shane Douglas, Tommy Dreamer,
Raven, The Sandman, Cactus Jack, Terry Funk, Sabu, Public Enemy and The Tazmaniac were seen as being too dangerous for the
multi-million dollar companies and were given a chance in ECW. They also helped launch the new ECW at this time. One of the
promotion's marquee feuds was the long-standing feud between Tommy Dreamer and Raven, which involved many ECW wrestlers over
a period of two and a half years. Another was between Raven and the Sandman, which included the crucifixion angle, one of
the most controversial angles in wrestling history. The bulk of ECW's shows remained at the ECW Arena,
a rundown bingo hall secluded under a section of Interstate 95. Seating comprised simple folding chairs and four sets of portable
bleachers, and the whole sort of unconventional set up reflected the gritty style of the wrestling itself. Shows were actually
broadcast on a After noticing ECW's growing popularity, the "Big
Two" (World Championship Wrestling and the World Wrestling Federation) started adopting their ideas and hiring away their
talent. Paul Heyman believes that ECW was the first victim of the "Monday Night Wars" between WCW Monday Nitro and Monday
Night RAW. While the WWF had somewhat of a working relationship with ECW (going as far as allowing cross-promotional angles,
and providing financial aid to Heyman for a considerable period of time), WCW refused to even mention ECW by name (the sole
exception being a passing remark by Raven in late 1996), referring to it as "barbed wire city" and "a major independent promotion"
that wrestled in bingo halls during a segment directed at Diamond Dallas Page. Vince McMahon claimed that he put Paul Heyman
on the WWF's payroll as compensation for the talent (namely Tazz, Steve Austin, Mick Foley, and The Dudley Boyz) leaving ECW
for the WWF. On the other hand, Heyman believed that Eric Bischoff never compensated him for ECW bred talent such as Mikey
Whipwreck, Raven, The Sandman, Chris Benoit, Dean Malenko, Eddie Guerrero, Perry Saturn, Steven Richards, Public Enemy (Johnny
Grunge and Rocco Rock) and Chris Jericho leaving to go to WCW. Cross-promotion Storyline-wise, Vince McMahon first became "aware"
of ECW while at the 1995 King of the Ring event in ECW's home base of On February 24, 1997, ECW "invaded" Monday Night
RAW from the The After a series of struggles, on April 13, 1997,
ECW broadcasted its first pay-per-view wrestling card, Barely Legal, highlighted by Terry Funk winning the ECW World Heavyweight
Title. At the 1997 Wrestlepalooza event, Jerry Lawler,
a noted critic of ECW made a surprise appearance at the ECW Arena. Wrestlepalooza '97 featured Raven's final ECW match before
leaving for WCW. In this match, Tommy Dreamer finally beat his long time nemesis Raven. Dreamer's celebration was short-lived,
though, as Jerry Lawler, along with Sabu and Rob Van Dam showed up to attack Dreamer. This set up a match between Tommy Dreamer
and Jerry Lawler at the 1997 Hardcore Heaven PPV on August 17, which was won by Dreamer. In March 2000, Mike Awesome suddenly left ECW
to join WCW even though he was still the reigning ECW World Heavyweight Champion. There were rumors that Eric Bischoff wanted
to drop the ECW belt in the trash can on television, as he did with the WWF Women's title with Alundra Blayze. This led to
threats of legal action from ECW, so Awesome agreed to return to ECW to drop the title to anyone - which turned out to be
Tazz, who was working for the WWF at that time. This would mark the only time that a WCW contracted wrestler would wrestle
against a WWF contracted wrestler in an ECW sanctioned event. In August 1999, ECW began to broadcast nationally
on TNN (for what was initially a three year contract). Despite no advertising and a low budget, ECW became TNN's highest rated
show. ECW on TNN was canceled in October 2000 (with the final episode airing on October 6, 2000) in favor of WWE RAW moving
to the network. To this day, Paul Heyman strongly believes that
the lack of a national television deal (especially after the TNN ordeal) was the main cause of ECW's demise. Bankruptcy ECW struggled for months after the cancellation,
trying to secure a new national TV deal. On December 30, 2000, ECW Hardcore TV aired for the last time and Guilty as Charged
2001 was the last PPV aired on January 7, 2001. Living Dangerously was going to air on March 11, 2001, but because of financial
trouble it was cancelled before March 11. Despite help from the WWF, Heyman could not get out of financial trouble and filed
for bankruptcy on April 4, 2001. The company was listed as having assets totaling
$1,385,500. Included in that number was $860,000 in accounts receivable owed the company by iN DEMAND Network (PPV), Acclaim
(video games), and Original San Francisco Toy Company (action figures). The balance of the assets were the video tape library
($500,000), a 1998 Ford Truck ($19,500) and the remaining inventory of merchandise ($4,000). The liabilities of the company totaled $8,881,435.17.
The bankruptcy filing included hundreds of claims, including production companies, buildings ECW ran in, TV stations ECW was
televised on, travel agencies, phone companies, attorney's fees, wrestlers, and other talent. Wrestlers and talent were listed,
with amounts owed ranging from $0 for Sabu and Steve Corino to hundreds, and in some cases, thousands of dollars. The highest
amounts owed to talents were Rob Van Dam ($150,000), Tommy Dreamer ($100,000), Joey Styles ($50,480), Shane Douglas ($48,000),
and Francine ($47,275). Revivals A few months after the promotion's 2001 demise,
ECW resurfaced as a stable as part of the World Wrestling Federation Invasion storyline. As a participant in the inter-promotional
feud between Shane McMahon's WCW and Vince McMahon's WWF, ECW was initially "owned" by Paul Heyman and harbored no loyalty
to either promotion. Soon after, it was revealed Stephanie McMahon was ECW's new "owner", and she would soon conspire with
her brother Shane to oust their father from his leadership position in the World Wrestling Federation. With the creation of
The Alliance, the inter-promotional feud shifted into an internal power struggle among the McMahon family. The defection of
WWF superstars to The Alliance continued the shift as less focus was placed on WCW and ECW performers. The feud lasted six
months and concluded with WWF defeating The Alliance at the 2001 Survivor Series. The WWF's victory also marked the end of
the Invasion storyline, and WCW and ECW wrestlers were reintegrated into the WWF. Documentaries In the summer of 2003, WWE purchased ECW's assets
in bankruptcy court, acquiring the rights to ECW's video library. They used this video library to put together a two-disc
DVD entitled The Rise and Fall of ECW. The set was released in November 2004. The main feature of the DVD was a three-hour
documentary on the company's history, with the other disc featuring matches from the promotion. The DVD sold well, and is
currently ranked as WWE's second highest-selling DVD of all time, behind WrestleMania 21. An unauthorized DVD called Forever Hardcore was
produced by former WCW crew member Jeremy Borash in response to The Rise and Fall of ECW. The DVD had stories of wrestlers
who were not employed by WWE telling their side of ECW's history. The strong sales of both The Rise and Fall of
ECW and Forever Hardcore prompted both World Wrestling Entertainment and Shane Douglas to run ECW reunion shows in 2005. Lawsuits Mass Transit On November 23, 1996, aspiring wrestler Eric Kulas
teamed with D-Von Dudley to wrestle The Gangstas. Substituting for Axl Rotten, Kulas was beaten with various weapons and suffered
a deep cut as a result of blading incident by his opponent New Jack. Kulas sued ECW and New Jack for physical and psychological
damage claiming they were unaware the match was going to be a hardcore match. Furthermore, criminal charges were filed by
the State of Tod Gordon In December 2005, Eastern Championship Wrestling
founder Tod Gordon challenged WWE's ownership of the Eastern Championship Wrestling section of the ECW video library, claiming
that the state didn't have the right to sell that section of the video library to Vince McMahon and World Wrestling Entertainment.
He also claims that Eastern Championship Wrestling, Inc. was separate from Extreme Championship Wrestling. On May 8, 2006
the case was thrown out and Gordon plans to appeal the decision. Tod Gordon is now one of the owners of Pro Wrestling Unplugged,
running out of the New Alhambra Arena. Tradition There were several distinctive fans that were
always in the front row at ECW shows. Among them were Sign Guy,Tye Dye Guy, Hat Guy(also known in the Crowds at ECW events were well known for their
rowdiness and distinctive chants that either supported or demeaned what was transpiring in the ring. ECW Chants such as "You
fucked up" and "Holy shit" became infamous during those shows, and are still used by fans of other promotions. In ECW, there were virtually no rules. Weapons
were abundant, with much blood spilled. There were referees, but their role was normally limited to counting pinfalls and
acknowledging submissions, occasionally performing tag team maneuvers with a wrestler during the match, several times becoming
the winner of the match themselves though not officially a part of the bout. ECW was known for making popular several types
of matches: Barbed Wire Match Flaming Tables Match Stairway to Hell Match Three-Way Dance ECW was also infamous for regularly holding Bring
Your Own Weapon Nights at the ECW Arena in the early days of the promotion. Fans were encouraged to bring their own weapons
to give to wrestlers, as fighting in the crowd was a staple of ECW matches. A dollar store located next to the ECW Arena often
supplied the bulk of the weapons, with fans purchasing them while they waited in line for each show. Memorable weapons included
crutches, a large piece of cardboard with the words "Use Me!" handwritten on it but actually concealing a full-sized Stop
sign, a two-man kayak, a Leonard Cohen vinyl record, a VCR (with remote), and a Nintendo Entertainment System. An accident
actually helped put an end to Bring Your Own Weapon Night when wrestler Cactus Jack, believing the weapon he was holding to
be an inexpensive aluminum pan, swung the object full force into The Sandman's head. When he heard the resulting "clang" noise,
he realized the object was in fact a cast-iron skillet, and The Sandman's resulting injury put him out of action for two weeks.
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