ECW, WWE, or TNA???

[Brad Russ]

Of the three big name wrestling promotions on tv today, which one is your favorite?? It's a tossup for me between the WWE, and ECW. I have a friend in New York who since 1995, taped virtually every ECW tv show for me, as well as many of the the PPV's, so I'm very familiar with it. The biggest question I have is will this new ECW be anything like it was originally, or will it just be the WWE watering it down, and making it some kind of watered down version of the original?? I guess we'll get the answer to that question tonight. If it is like the old ECW though, I believe I'll like it as much as I do the WWE. What about you all?? ECW, TNA, or WWE, which is the best?? You can make multiple choices if there are two you like equally.

In a related question, how many of you are excited about the return of ECW?? I'm kind of excited, but my expectations aren't too high. You just never know what you're going to get with a WWE product these days. Anyway, does anyone else find it weird that it's airing on the Sci Fi network??? I never really thought of pro wrestling as being sci fi.

[Brian Damage]

The jury is still out on ECW. I guess we will start to find out tonight. At least it has Paul Heyman behind the scenes, so that is a plus. I try to get into TNA, but something doesn't click with me.

[Brad Russ]

Yeah, I haven't really been able to get into TNA myself. I was kind of getting into it about a year ago when they were really pushing new stars, but now it just seems like they're relying too much on old washed up WCW wrestlers. I mean, no offense to him as a person, but does anyone really want to see Lex Luger anymore?? I actually felt sorry for him when he came out a couple months back. He doesn't exactly look like he's in good ring condition to say the least.

[Chain Gang Member]

I like watching TNA,but I love WWE more than than the other ones

[Rene]

im not into wrestling but i just found out that my ex-best friends sister is shelly martinez

[Chad22]

WWE has always been my favorite. TNA is just kinda there, and I was never a fan of the whole underground ECW type of thing. I thought ECW on Sci fi last night was terrible. I didn't get the ECW fuss in the 90's and I don't now. WCW had entertaining matches in the mid 90s, then became entertaining in a "Its so horrible its hilarious" kind of way.

[Brian Damage]

Originally Posted by darlene_conner

im not into wrestling but i just found out that my ex-best friends sister is shelly martinez

Oh wow, that is so cool. She is going to play a vampire in ECW. My friend Tim was the "Zombie" last night.

[Chad Michael Murray]

Originally Posted by Brian Damage

Oh wow, that is so cool. She is going to play a vampire in ECW. My friend Tim was the "Zombie" last night.

LMFAO OMG!!!

I know that all of the hardcore ECW fans were pretty pissed about how last night's show was, but that was the first ECW show I've ever seen in my life and while it may have been a little lacking, I can say that I was still entertained in some form throughout the show.

I actually found myself wondering if I was the only person who wanted the Zombie to actually be on the roster now and coming out there every week!

[Brian Damage]

Originally Posted by MATTrish Stratus™

LMFAO OMG!!!

I know that all of the hardcore ECW fans were pretty pissed about how last night's show was, but that was the first ECW show I've ever seen in my life and while it may have been a little lacking, I can say that I was still entertained in some form throughout the show.

I actually found myself wondering if I was the only person who wanted the Zombie to actually be on the roster now and coming out there every week!

The Zombie gimmick was a one shot deal. Unless of course it really caught on last night. (Which I seriously doubt) The gimmick was a homage to a very dear friend of ours, Matt Zombie, who has helped Tim in his career. Tim wrestles almost full time in Puerto Rico as Tim Arson and is a tag team champion down there. He does wrestle this on Heat this coming week on WWE.com and takes on Matt Striker. (But as himself, not the Zombie.)

[Chad Michael Murray]

Yeah, I figured it was a one-shot, from the way they just had Sandman completely demolish him.

I just figured maybe it was sort of a "wink wink nudge nudge" sort of shot at the Sci-Fi Channel. Although that vampire we saw might be a different story.

[Brian Damage]

Originally Posted by MATTrish Stratus™

Yeah, I figured it was a one-shot, from the way they just had Sandman completely demolish him.

I just figured maybe it was sort of a "wink wink nudge nudge" sort of shot at the Sci-Fi Channel. Although that vampire we saw might be a different story.

The vampire was none other than the former WWE's Mordecai. He will be joined by Gangrel, Luna Vachon and Shelly Martinez.

[Rene]

its pretty weird i only met shelly once when i was like 9 before she was famous, i didnt even know she wanted to be a wrestler, i guess i shouldve gotten her autograph

[Brad Russ]

I was pretty disappointed overall with the show last night. It didn't seem like ECW at all, but more like a third rate wwe show like Heat, or Velocity. I think what disappointed me most, was that the Sandman and RVD didn't come out to their old ECW theme music. The Sandman's "Enter Sandman" theme, was one of the greatest entrances ever, and it fit him perfectly. I don't know what that crap he came out to last night was, but I don't think it fit him at all. That Zombie gimmick was pretty much the only part of the show that I actually liked, because it made me laugh, but I thought the rest was pretty lame.

[Brad Russ]

Here's a ton of ECW news that I got from prowrestling.com. I just put up the stuff that I found most interesting so that you wouldn't have to read too much crap.

Heyman Not Happy With ECW Show, Backstage News
Story By: Ryan Clark:
The reason that Tazz and The King’s match at ECW One Night Stand was shown last night was because the show actually ran short and they had to fill time. Cues in the battle royal were also missed, which caused the production team to fix the mistakes in the 90 minute window that they had after the taping ended to before it aired on TV.

The debut ECW return show was written by Paul Heyman and then put through the WWE creative team who then edited it to how they think it should go. Paul Heyman does not have the entire control of the ECW brand as you saw last night. Vince McMahon wants the product how he sees it. Paul Heyman wrote last night’s show in order to to meet McMahon's expectations and visions of ECW.

People who saw Paul Heyman backstage at the ECW show said that it was pretty clear that he thought the show was a train wreck. Everyone in the company also felt the same way. Everyone knew that the show wasn’t how they wanted it to succeed and failed.

Loads More Backstage News From ECW/SCI-FI Debut
Story By: Ryan Clark:
According to sources, Paul Heyman wrote the ECW show last night and then it went to Vince McMahon and Kevin Dunn. There was said to have been a battle over some of the scripting in which McMahon won out in the end because, well, it's his product.

Mike Johnson reports that The Sandman was originally booked to cane an alien last night, but The Sci Fi Network didn't want an alien getting beat up on their network.

You can expect LOTS more fiction/supernatural themed elements on the ECW show in the coming weeks.

Jack Victory was backstage at the ECW/SmackDown! taping.

For you ECW fans that are completely ticked off at what is going on, the only sign of hope that I can give you is that some sources within WWE feel that this whole RAW vs. ECW thing is a way to build the Vengeance PPV and ECW brand and then after that, ECW will be on its own. Vince basically feels he needs to use RAW's ratings to get the product known to the WWE fans in hopes that ECW can survive on its own when there is no hype from RAW or SmackDown. Then again, there is talk of pushing the ECW vs. RAW angle through SummerSlam.

ECW Television Debut Rating - Great News
Story By: Ryan Gray:
Despite all of the criticism from last night’s ECW Television debut, the ratings seemed to prove differently. According to Nielson Media Research, ECW scored a 2.7 cable rating with a 4.0 share and 2.357 million households. Officials with World Wrestling Entertainment seem to be very happy with this rating. Now the challenge is to keep pulling these ratings each week.

Jeff Jarrett Blasts Paul Heyman & ECW On Radio Show
Story By: Tim Brown:
Between The Ropes Radio in Florida had Jeff Jarrett on the show yesterday, and as expected, Paul Heyman’s comments about TNA in the Miami Herald came up in the conversation. Heyman had said TNA was not even a consideration to anyone in the wrestling industry and the company has failed to brand itself as anything but scorned WWE castoffs. Jarrett shot back with:

"Paul's being Paul. I knew Paul when he first came to Tennessee years and years ago. He literally idolized Eddie Gilbert, Tommy Rich, Austin Idol, Jerry Lawler and he's carried that with him since the day he left Tennessee. Paul is a guy that just needs to worry about Paul. He's got a lot on his hands right. Vince McMahon is running ECW. He's gonna run the show up there. Re-quote the first part of the quote because Paul needs to really worry about Paul because I don't think Paul has a clue what he's talking about when he talks about TNA...[after the quote is re-read]...It's not a consideration to anyone in this industry? Go ask Rhino that. Is Rhino not in the industry? And if we're not a consideration, it sort of boggles my mind that every opportunity WWE gets to file off any kind of legal letter, they do. It's truly a David vs. Goliath story. That's their prerogative. That's how Vince McMahon does business and he has all of his guys that work for him with that mentality. Vince is very successful. He's going to make ECW successful in spite of Paul."


ECW News: Axl Rotten Released? Francine Update, Kelly Photos, More
Story By: Ryan Gray:
- Both Axl Rotten and Francine’s pictures and biographies have been removed from the official ECW wrestler page. While we know Axl Rotten was probably released for the no-show that he pulled last week, it is unknown what exactly is going on with Francine. I am under the impression that her bio was removed because she has not debuted with ECW yet.

- ECW.com has added some photos of Kelly on the official website. You can check them out by going to http://www.ecw.com.
Stephanie McMahon/ECW Problems, Sci-Fi Unhappy, Test
Story By: Tim Brown:

-- It’s said that Stephanie McMahon is still not a fan of Heyman or the revival of ECW, and that if she had a choice she would likely try to stop it. Vince and Shane both seem to be pretty excited about bringing back ECW.

-- It now looks like Test will be involved with the new ECW. Right now the plan is to have him come in as a top tier heel.

-- The Sci-Fi Channel doesn’t seem to be happy with the decision to add ECW to their lineup, but they were the only channel on the NBC-Universal network that it would fit in. They didn’t want to put ECW on USA yet, but if the ECW summer series does well on Sci-Fi, then they may be able to move it over to USA. The same person at Universal who got WWE back on USA is also the same person who put ECW on Sci-Fi.

The Zombie/ECW, ECW Talent, Backstage Reaction, & More News
Story By: Ryan Clark:
ECW’s website features an article with Joey Styles, it is apparently a weekly feature on the ECW website now. Styles will be doing the “Most Extreme Player of the Week". He names "The Zombie" the Most Extreme Player of the Week.

There are still no biographies for Justin Credible, Danny Doring, Trinity, Kelly, Roadkill or Big Guido on the site.

A number of people in WWE have realized that the first show was a disappointment, despite the excellent rating. They have realized that rating wasn't drawn off of the show however more to that people wanted to see the debut of the third brand.

Sources close to the ECW situation have said that even Vince McMahon realized the show stunk, however he didn't really sell it to anyone. A lot of pressure is on WWE now to make the second show better. The word is that they will have the audience again who will be giving it a second chance before tuning out for good.

Dreamer's ECW Creative Power, Heyman, & More News
Story By: Ryan Clark:
For those wondering, Tommy Dreamer has no creative control in the new ECW. Dreamer was heavily involved in putting together the first successful ECW One Night Stand PPV, however then slowly started to loose creative power. At the moment Paul Heyman is writing the show with assistance from Dave Lagana, however Vince McMahon is making sure they are scripting it how he would want it.

It was said that Tommy Dreamer was very angry with the overall debut of ECW on Sci Fi backstage after the show was taped.

ECW.com, has a storyline interview up with Paul Heyman.

The final number for the ECW debut was a 2.8 cable rating, with a 4.5 share.

ECW/SCI-FI, Kelly Photos
Story By: Ryan Clark:
Variety ran the following about ECW's debut on Sci Fi: "The premiere of Sci Fi Channel's "ECW" (Extreme Championship Wrestling) averaged a 1.5/4 in 18-49 -- the best for any program on the net this year -- and 3.38 million viewers overall. It was the most-watched cable show of the night."

The Programming Insider reported that "the median viewer age of ECW was 32.3, 16 years younger than the second quarter to-date time period average of 48."

I really hope Vince decides to bring Francine back. She's the hottest woman in wrestling history in my opinion!!!

[Raven-Symone]

I like the WWE. better