Eris

By the time you read this, Extreme Championship Wrestling’s new weekly television program will have aired for a month on The Nashville Network. Finally, ECW will be on North American cable television, with 70 million homes in the United States and another 20 million in Canada. This is, without question, the biggest step in the history of ECW. What was once an overachieving wrestling company with assets of only hard work and staunch support of the most loyal fans anywhere is now poised to share the national spotlight with the World Wrestling Federation and World Championship Wrestling.

I am being deluged at ECWwrestling.com with e-mails from both ECW fans of six years and new fans alike celebrating this once seemingly-unattainable breakthrough. However, as has always been the case, there are still those ECW bashers who have smugly raised valid points. I will address in this column:

ECW has lost too much talent like The Sandman (Hak), Shane Douglas, Chris Benoit, Dean Malenko, Eddy Guerrero, Raven and Bam Bam Bigelow.

We have also developed new talent like Lance Storm, Justin Credible, Sabu, Rob Van Dam, Jerry Lynn, Tommy Dreamer, Taz and many more. In addition, American wrestling fans and promoters had no idea who The Sandman, Benoit, Malenko and Guerrero were before they appeared on ECW TV. Furthermore, as ECW grows as a result of being on TNN and generates more revenue, we can pay salaries more competitive with ECW and the WWF. Do not be surprised if some of the above names, frustrated with how they are being marketed, rush back as their contracts expire.

ECW has no big name stars like The Rock, HHH, Hollywood Hogan and Randy Savage.

The Rock and HHH are only 27 years old and are stars because they were given weekly national cable television as a stage to showcase their tremendous talents both in the ring and on the microphone. Now that ECW’s roster has access to that same stage, it stands to reason that Chris Chetti, Danny Doring, Nova and Roadkill may become household names after 150 consecutive weeks on primetime cable television. As for Hogan and Savage, far be it from me to say anything negative about two of the biggest names in the history of the business, but they really are not what we are looking for.

ECW used all of its most creative storylines in 1994 and 1995 and Paul Heyman is out of ideas.

This one really drives me nuts. I am not one to kiss up to the boss, and only he and I know about the wars we have had in private, but people who sell Paul’s creativity short are begging to have their opinions shoved right back down their throats. If I were him, I would just repeat all of the classic storylines of the past with our current roster knowing that 90 percent of our viewers have never seen them before. ECW managing Director Steve Karel (who tied Taz as the most miserable man on the planet and who cheered the hunter who shot Bambi’s mother), ECW Financial Director Gene Ciarkowski and ECW’s high-powered entertainment attorney Stepehen Stern have been negotiating a national cable deal for more than six months. Do you really think that Paul has not been hoarding some magic in that ominous black bag of his waiting for this opportunity, including the use of this team to finally cut the right deal? I shudder at the thought of what Paul will have me doing … and I am only the play-by-play guy!