What if? So, the other day while I was writing my blog about
Mick Foley I was talking to Tactix about what he thought about ECW. Now our
backgrounds are a little different. I basically have not stopped watching
wrestling since I was 2 or 3 years old, whereas Tactix missed a good part of
the 90’s professional wrestling. This is one of the few topics where he and I
greatly disagree. I believe that ECW, the original ECW, not the Vince McMahon
ECW, was one of the most important eras, if you want to call it that, which has
ever happened to modern professional wrestling.
To start things off, I want of course am going to
acknowledge the yes, the hardcore movement definitely started in Asia. Now that
we have that out of the way, my argument is that it was really ECW that brought
that more hardcore style of wrestling to the United States. If it were not for
guys like Mick Foley, Terry Funk, Tommy Dreamer, Rob Van Dam, Sandman, and so
many more, the business would not be the same today.
During our discussion the other day, the one thing that
Tactix kept bringing up as being the most important contributions to the world
of professional wrestling that ECW ever gave was the talent. Yes, guys like
Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit, and a whole host of others came out of ECW, just
like a whole bunch of the guys wrestling today came out of Ohio Valley
Wrestling or Ring of Honor. These two companies, I believe are also major, game
changing parts of professional wrestling, so it’s not like I am discrediting
them while holding ECW on a pedestal.
Our conversation then morphed into what would the business
look like now had Vince not bought ECW out? Tactix brought up a good point; it
was eventually going to go out of business anyway. Frankly it was almost there
when McMahon had bought it out. Paul Heyman was a terrible businessman who was
in financial trouble. His talent wasn’t getting paid, so they were leaving the
company to find a steady stream of money. All of this I totally agreed with
Tactix about.
I guess my point during this whole conversation is that they
were really the first to bring the hardcore style of wrestling into the
mainstream. I would almost venture to say that without ECW there might not have
been an Attitude Era. I don’t know if maybe we have a different outlook on
things because I was there through the rise and fall of ECW and I was such a
huge fan of the product that they were putting out, or if there is a little bit
of wishful thinking. But I guess there is always this little part of me that
hopes for a new company that give me the excitement that I got when I was
watching the ECW guys push the boundaries of what they could show on
television.
Since I haven’t talked to Tactix in a day or two, I don’t
want you to worry bud, my love for TNA is not fading in the least. I still feel
that TNA is putting out the best product in the business today. I still have a
major distrust in the way WWE is being run and I don’t think they are ever
going to get back to the heights that they once were. I just wish there was a
more gritty, hardcore, passionate style of wrestling out there today. If I
could take the Heymans love for the business, mix it with Dusty Rhoads’
creative mind and Vince McMahon’s business sense into one body. That would be
the guy I would want running the company.
That last sentence was also for you Tactix. I know we
greatly disagree on the creative end of professional wrestling so I really do
hope I can get some kind of feedback from you buddy.
As always, thanks for reading.
-TFC
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