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GARDNER'S KEY MOMENT OF THE WEEK: ECW brand's star power, identity, purpose extinguished by The Trade Jul 5, 2009 - 11:05:42 AM
After the aborted Donald Trump angle, Vince McMahon decided to shake the roster up by moving fifteen superstars between brands. ECW was the loser.
ECW lost Evan Bourne, Jack Swagger, Mark Henry, Fit Finlay, and The Hart Dynasty, who have all been key members of the roster since the last draft. In their place were Shelton Benjamin, Goldust, William Regal, and the Bella Twins. The whole trade is an indictment of how poorly WWE management regards the brand.
I remember ignoring ECW when it first became popular. The reputation of Paul Heyman's company preceded it, and from reading magazines I thought that it was just garbage wrestling, which I had no interest in. When I finally saw ECW TV, I was pleasantly surprised. Much in the same way that - beneath the bad language and crudity - South Park is an intelligent satire, beneath the blood and violence ECW, was a wrestling product that was way ahead of its time. Heyman's vision for how wrestling should be was revolutionary and is still being emulated today.
There is nothing revolutionary about today's ECW product. Granted, the show often benefits from being third on the list of Vince McMahon priorities. However, instead of providing a viable alternative to the other brands, ECW feels like Raw-lite. Storylines are no more innovative than those on other WWE shows, and the idea of having every match as No DQ was abandoned years ago.
Tuesday's show provided the opportunity to debut some fresh characters, who should be given time before judgment is passed. Yet there is no doubt that this week's episode was one of the worst since ECW was resurrected. It featured Shelton Benjamin making xenophobic comments to another wrestler, and a horrible talk show segment with new character Abraham Washington. This surely wasn't what Vince McMahon had in mind when he brought ECW back.
After two successful "One Night Stand" Pay Per Views, it seemed as though there was a place for ECW as an alternative for older WWE fans. Three years on, and ECW is almost a developmental brand, where young stars are debuted in preparation for moving to one of the other brands. But after losing several of its most popular stars, it is difficult to see how the show can maintain its already disappointing ratings.
It is sad that the brand is in such a desperate state. The ECW name was once synonymous with ground-breaking television and its fans were treated to some of the most memorable feuds of the nineties. Today's version bears not resemblance to the original incarnation. Rather than being counterculture, it conforms to the standards of other WWE programming, despite being a project that Vince McMahon largely ignores. The latest roster changes extinguished any star power that was left.
Nobody is chanting "ECW" anymore.
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