Columnists : Palace 3.0
The Palace: The State and Future of ECW
By MIKE SICILIANO - MOP Squad Sports Staff Writer
Jan 23, 2008 - 5:05:25 AM

I kind of hoped when I heard the main event for tonight's ECW card was going to result in Punk finding some way to keep the belt, if only to keep Edge and his cronies from crowing a little more than they have all the power on Smackdown and ECW. Such is life, I guess, as Chavo Guerrero is now the ECW World Champion. If the originals aren't spinnin' in their graves, I don't know what else can be done to tarnish the lustre of the old ECW. Whether or not this brand does succeed LONG TERM right now is irrelevant, the facts are simple. Vinnie Mac may own the naming rights to Extreme Championship Wrestling, so be it. This is not ECW as it was back in the day, which I am sure, is what the blood thirsty fans want. If I were Vince, I would change this brand name to WWE Lite, or something else entirely, because it doesn't have the identity that should correlate with ECW.

Don't get me wrong, I have ZERO against Chavo Guerrero by any stretch of the word. However, when you try and compare, which I know is silly, but when you try and compare the former ECW to this version, it's really a tough sell. However, with CM Punk as champion, it was possible. Now I know Punk couldn't hold the belt forever, and that's just the way it is, but to give it to Chavo just further states how badly the ECW roster needs talent, and talent that can take it "hardcore" ala Punk, ala Richards, ala Balls, and ala Dreamer. Maybe not on a day in day out basis, but definitely once in a blue moon. These guys like Chavo, like this new kid Kofi Kingston, like Striker, etc., don't have the hardcore aspect to really indel a mark in ECW lore.

I say that because we all know the fans of ECW have a rabid memory, and they'll remember guys like Balls Mahoney, Tommy Dreamer, and Stevie Richards doing insane, out of control, over the top spots on a regular basis. They'll remember guys like RVD and the Sandman, and Sabu, and the Dudleys who bled ECW through their veins like it was the nectar of the gods. However, the chances of them remembering champions like Chavo or John Morrison is just plain ludicrous. ECW fans are very particular, I think, and this has to be driving them nuts.

But its just one man's opinion. And by the way, if you're interested, I don't consider myself a fan of the original ECW because I was never exposed to it back during its heyday. However, through the Bloodsport and Extreme Rules DVDs, I can tell you that I am enjoying the footage I have, and am becoming an enthusiast of it. With that being said, I don't personally even try to compare what that was to what today's is. But, I have to believe, and I think WWE is wrong if they don't believe this, that some fans, a lot of the fans, still do compare the two, and this decision tonight was a serious step backwards in the ongoing blossoming or rottening as the choice may be, of the ECW product.

I thought WWE did get it right with its talent in the past when Big Show held the belt, especially when RVD held the belt, and also with Punk because they were either originals themselves, or had the vibe and the reputation to go to the level of an ECW extremist on a regular basis. Morrison was beginning to grow in to the role, slowly, and I think CAN be a potential ECW star in the making, but his time is not here yet, and Punk I think could be a major star in the brand in the near future, if not presently already. Chavo, with the name recognition set aside briefly, is not known for going to the extreme inside the ring, although with his rulebreaking, perhaps, and with that, it makes ECW significantly less 'spicy'. Not to mention the fact that we're going to now have to deal with two different shows ending in nearly similar results since they're both basically forming the group that's going to run this side of the company.

This little diatribe leads in to my new focus topic for the next few columns, WHAT TO DO WITH PRO WRESTLING IN 2008, through the mind of a fan with a twisted sense of opinions.

Me.

When it comes to ECW, I would like to see more of the extreme come out. Yes, I know that it takes the previous opinions I have said, and probably contradicts them to death, but that's what I would want. This brand the way it is now is just another wrestling show similar to Raw and SmackDown! , and just much more rushed and much less polished due to its one hour time slot.

Now when I say extreme, I'm not saying using the cheese graters and ghetto forks, but take it up a notch from where it is now. Where it is now is just basic TV wrestling, and while that's not bad, it doesn't single out this show from the others, and the others have significantly more time on the air making them more comfortable to keep going than this show.

ECW HAS to bring up exclusive roster talent. While originally the SmackDown! talent exchange had potential, it's just diluted the worth of the ECW stars even further, especially with the win tonight.

Some names I know down below that have been there considerably who could flourish if given the opportunity include Ace Steel, Mike Kruel, Chet the Jett, Shawn Spears, Paul Birchall, Colt Cabana, Matt Sydal, Kassidy James, KC James, Ox & Hammer, Seamus O'Shaunessy, Nicky, Mikey, and Johnny of the former Spirit Squad, and others that slip my mind at the moment.

ECW may get the returning Big Show which would be enormous in every sense of the word. Show, like Punk has the aura of an ECW original, and has the capacity to go to another level when the lights shine bright. Show being back on ECW does wonders for the brand, end of statement. Oh, and by the way, I have no proof that this will happen, it's just something that popped in to my head.

ECW should invent or re-vitalize another championship, either singles or tag team. If the roster does expand in some way, shape, or form, there's going to be a need for a second title, and even if the roster doesn't expand and the talent exchange continues, a second title is near vital for the show, because it's kind of ridiculous to think a brand's champion isn't even listed on its roster of stars. With that being the case at this moment, ECW lacks a tangible identity that can be damaging in the long term. Preferably, I would revitalize a singles title, because there has never been a focus in the entire WWE of tag team wrestling, and to mish mash a pair together in ECW would be next to impossible.

While I know its paramount to promote the other bands of WWE, ECW has to drop some significant amount of it. Most of the time is spent promoting Raw and SmackDown!, and not enough time working on their own roster. If they're going to continue down this road, they might as well change the name of the show back to Velocity, and call it as it is, a tangent show of Raw and SmackDown!.

Now for some outlandish yet fiendishly nice ideas in my head that I'd like to see come down the pike in ECW sometime in the calendar year.

Colt Cabana gets called up, and pairs with CM Punk to form the Second City Saints, with an immediate push to the WWE Tag Team Championships. Paul Birchall comes up as "the Ripper", and begins tearing a path through ECW in a way that is reminisicent of how Takeshi Morishima did in ROH as World Champion for nearly 8 months. It's rumoured Birchall is coming up with Katie Lea to one of the brands in an "incest" angle, which is just pathetic. Let the Ripper be the Ripper, and let that gimmick go. I think it would sell like hotcakes on ECW.

ECW re-vitalizes the world television championship, and uses it as a jewel for its TV tapings, causing the title to change hands relatively often. We see some names we haven't seen in months resurface like Stevie Richards, Balls Mahoney, Mike Knox, (why is he still employed?), and others compete and possibly win the belt.

And finally, like I said before, Big Show returns to ECW in some way, shape, or form, and continues on his path of destruction the way he did before he lost the title to Bobby Lashley. Whether or not he returns to the ECW title is anybody's guess, but if he does come back, I wouildn't be surprised if he has another run as champion sooner rather than later.

Coming attractions for the Palace include columns similar to this, predictions for the upcoming year on SmackDown!, Raw, TNA, and Ring of Honor. I'll split them all up in to a column for each brand, so people can focus on what they want to and find out what's going on inside my already demented mind about these brands. I may not be following them as religiously as I should be, but I will again. I'm down, but I'm not out.

By the way, I want to thank the person most closest to me in the entire world for this topic. It never dawned on me to go this route, and this individual gave me the fuse that lit this candle. I'm grateful to her, because it has been tough to come up with some topics for the column, I've been down with some nasty writer's block.

I invite anyone and everyone to debate some of these opinions over at the Palace Project. I host a blog there with content and who knows what else. There is also forums to have your own voices be heard, and space has been allotted for anyone who is interested in trying to become a columnist about wrestling, or for that matter, any type of topic.

In closing, link time.