ECW, predict its success/failure...Take 2

Vince135792003

Like I said, I think it will fail and at the very most will last 12 months. Given the fact that it will be shot before Smackdown is a big problem.

gimmick

Like I have said in the other thread, the fact that this is being recordred before Smackdown means this is doomed to failure before it even begins.

Heyman and Dreamer are being set up for a fall with this. Which is a pity, as the market is there, but ECW needs smaller, more intimate arenas.

Boo.

Mr.Nice Guy

I think it will start off well, then do average and then eventually pick up steam.

I agree that elements within WWE will want this to fail (Stephanie McMahon being one) but I think having Heyman and Dreamer involved will do it the world of good.

If they can build it around certain individuals, I'm thinking RVD, CM Punk, Super Crazy, then I think it could take off very well.

gimmick

The booking will be great, the action will be top notch, and they will have the talent for it to succeed, but as I said in another thread as well, is that it needs to be a seperate entity to WWE. Perhaps this will happen after a few weeks, or not at all. But pre SD is the nail in its coffin before it even starts.

Look at any ECW PPV, or TV taping, and its always in small, almost dingy, halls. In fact the Hammerstein Ballroom where ONS was held is about the classiest arena ECW ever stepped into.

One other question I have about this is, if ECW is recorded before SD, and if and that a very big IF the crowd are into the ECW action, they will then hate the pace of a SD TV taping with all its promos etc.

Maybe Im wrong, maybe this will kill Smackdown. But the point remains, ECW needs to be in a smaller venue, and no one will convince me that it will work otherwise.

Stalfos

I think it's too hard too predict personally. It is a very risky thing for WWE imo. I'd like it to success but i think like so many other things WWE try like BBF, XFL etc... It's doomed to fail. A year if i had to choose.

Mr.Nice Guy

ECW was in smaller venues because of necessity. If the organisation had survived and increased in popularity then they would have taken ECW out of the bingo halls and into bigger arenas.

The way I understand it, this isn't an attempt at reviving the old ECW. Not even ECW ONS was an attempt to do that. I see this as nu-ECW and an attempt at creating a cutting edge, risque brand that plays off of the history of ECW with guys like Sabu, Dreamer, Sandman but which will also try and build for the future with guys like CM Punk.

RVD in an interview said recently that ECW needed new blood so people need to forget the past and look ahead to the future.

F*ck the dingy bingo halls. Heyman I'm sure knows himself that from a WWE perspective, this has to make money. They need big arenas for that to happen.

gimmick

MNG, I dont know how many ECW PPVs you have seen, but one of the big things about the promotion was the small arena, the intimacy with the crowd etc.

And even if what you say is right, that bigger venues are needed, that should only happen as a progression, not as a starting point.

Mr.Nice Guy

gimmick wrote:

MNG, I dont know how many ECW PPVs you have seen, but one of the big things about the promotion was the small arena, the intimacy with the crowd etc.

I've seen numerous shows and I'm aware that the small halls made for emotional events but common sense tells you that can't be duplicated. It doesn't seem like they're trying to duplicate that and I think they're right. The interview on WWE.com with Vince McMahon backs up what I'm saying:

WWE Chairman Vince McMahon has big plans for ECW. In fact, in a Friday afternoon interview with WWE.com, McMahon revealed, “We are taking the ECW brand global.”

Going worldwide with the likes of Paul Heyman, Tommy Dreamer and Sabu, however, is miles away from where ECW was prior to its closing in 2001. In fact, stationed out of Philadelphia, many looked at ECW as just a northeastern wrestling promotion. But the recently re-launched ECW will not have much of a struggle making an impact both here in the United States and overseas. In fact, according to Mr. McMahon, ECW already has plans for its own Merchandising and Licensing, International Sales, consistent Live Event schedule, as well as its own set of pay-per-views.

But with so much of WWE’s global enterprise behind it, can ECW be expected to be the same ECW it was when it developed its cult-like following in the late 1990s and early 2000s?

“We will bring forward many of the more legendary characters of ECW’s past,” said McMahon regarding today’s ECW. “But it can’t be the same. That’s pretty much impossible. It’s now five years later. A lot of the performers now have five more years under their belt, and the ECW style has taken a great deal out of them. This is something that the ECW audience already realizes. They know that if ECW was still in business today, they would be very different from what they were five years ago.”

While the re-launched ECW will undoubtedly be different from the original ECW, McMahon is adamant that the brand will not stop pushing the envelope, nor will it be like the already successful WWE brands SmackDown and RAW.

“It will be an alternative, there’s no doubt about that,” claimed the WWE Chairman. “It won’t be shot the same way we shoot SmackDown or RAW. It’ll have a different feel. It will be more gritty. There will also be more imagination put into concepts and characters. But at the same time, there will need to be a delicate balance because there are three masters to serve. There’s the small, vocal ECW audience. Then there’s the SCI FI audience that is accustomed to things more SCI FI. And obviously, you have to also be true to our broader audience in terms of what sports-entertainment is today.”

http://www.wwe.com/shows/ecw/news/ecwglobal

From a business standpoint this makes sense.

jongore

If Dreamer and Heyman are given full leeway with the booking the size of the crowd won't make that much difference but it would be better if they could get completly away from SD. If the ECW show is taped before SD either ECW will overshadow SD or vive-versa.

ECW needs to stand on it's own feet from day one but if it does well it could kill SD.

Fozzy

I think it'll do fine. The wrestlers will want it to work, Heyman and Dreamer certainly know how to please the fans, and WWE will do well in the marketing of it. The only thing that's really worrying me at this stage is the way the Sci-Fi channel keeps getting brought up..it sounds like they're going to have some involvement in ECW

J.R.HARTLEY

Fozzy wrote:

The only thing that's really worrying me at this stage is the way the Sci-Fi channel keeps getting brought up..it sounds like they're going to have some involvement in ECW

ah no, to be fair, brand association has always been a big thing in the states, watch anyone actor plug a show in the states and they'll mention the network repeatedly. they are probably just trying ot get accross that it's on sci-fi as most wrestling fans will probably be expecting it on TNN or USA or UPN

Vince135792003

Their tv deal is only for 3 months on the Sci Fi channel. Its basically for the duration of the summer.

Fozzy

Well, everyone's concerns about ECW being taped before SD are not needed, because it's now being shown live, after SD. Paul Heyman said that in an interview here

So, has anyone's opinion on ECW's success/failure changed?

Vince135792003

My mind changes everyday.

But making wrestlers work 4 days a week particuliarly guys like Sabu, Sandman and even RVD an "ECW" style, with a wellness policy in place is another issue.

Theres just so many factors to consider. But if Heyman is given the chance to book it the way he wants, it'll have a chance.

Bounty Hunter

its not going to be nostalgia tho at the start that will make it even better its going to be the new and old merging RVD, Dreamer, Angle, Big Show new boys from OVW ect and those that are finding the roster too big at the WWE for them to be pushed.

but at ECW they will be pushed not only pushed but pushed to the EXTREME!
so in other words get ready for this a lot more ECW! ECW! ECW!

Foley could work part-time for both brands but what im most worried about is will the Sci-fi channel show it here(EU) cos it aint in their listings and you think they would advertise a big start for it after one night stand.

also rumour has it the 3month contract with the sci-fi channel is to test the waters see what response it gets before possibly moving to a different channel as it aint really sci-fi tho there are discussions on vampire groups ect being formed.

Fozzy

Sky Sports 3 are showing ECW instead of Velocity starting from next Sunday. Wrestling isn't really sports, so I don't see the problem with it being on Sci-Fi when it's on Sky Sports over here!

Fozzy

The news from the SD/ECW tapings is that ECW is now being taped before SD. The first reason rumoured was that they want to make sure everything goes ok production-wise on their first show. The second reason, and supposedly the real reason, is that the Sci-Fi channel freaked out at the chants that went on during ONS, and don't want any of that on their channel. Joey Styles came out before anyone else and told the crowd to keep the offensive chants to a minimum, because there are families with young kids there to see SD. So the second reason seems to be the truth. Bit stupid of Sci-Fi, they mustn't have checked out what ECW was about at all. We're being punished because of how much some fans love ECW..

Mossy Monk

reminds me of WWE on Channel 4

gimmick

Fozzy wrote:

Joey Styles came out before anyone else and told the crowd to keep the offensive chants to a minimum, because there are families with young kids there to see SD.

Jesus H, thats like telling someone to not surse while at a football match. If this is to continue, ECW is dead.