WWE television program From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
ECW (which at one time stood for Extreme Championship Wrestling) was a professional wrestling brand of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), based on the independent Extreme Championship Wrestling promotion that lasted from 1992 to 2001. It started on June 13, 2006 with a weekly television series. The ECW brand was one of WWE's three brands, the other two being RAW and SmackDown.
ECW | |
---|---|
Created by | |
Starring | ECW roster |
Opening theme | "Bodies" by Drowning Pool (2006-2007)
"Don't Question My Heart" by Saliva & Brent Smith (2008-2010) |
Country of origin | United States |
No. of seasons | 5 |
No. of episodes | 193 |
Production | |
Camera setup | Multicamera setup |
Running time | 46 minutes |
Original release | |
Network | Sci-Fi/Syfy |
Release | June 13, 2006 – February 16, 2010[1] |
WWE got Extreme Championship Wrestling and its video library in 2003 and later began reintroducing ECW through a series of DVDs and books. The big popularity of ECW merchandise prompted WWE to organize ECW One Night Stand, an ECW reunion pay-per-view in 2005. The financial and critical success of the event encourages WWE to start a second One Night Stand the next year. With rejuvenated interest in the ECW product, WWE began exploring the possibility of reviving the promotion full-time. On May 26, 2006, WWE announced the launch of ECW as a stand-alone brand, congruous to Raw and SmackDown!, with its own show on the Sci Fi Channel.[2] Despite initial concerns that professional wrestling would not be accepted by the Sci Fi Channel's demographic, network President Bonnie Hammer said that she believed ECW would fit the channel's theme of "stretching the imagination".[3] Sci Fi Channel is owned by NBC Universal, parent company of USA Network and exclusive cable broadcaster of WWE programming.
The ECW brand initially tried to differentiate itself from WWE's other brands. The hard cameras were placed in a different location and the ring mat had an ECW logo on it. The male performers were also referred to as "Extremists" as opposed to Superstars, and female performers were called "Vixens" instead of Divas. It also had the first ECW talent. Later however, changes were made to differentiate it from the original ECW promotion, including changing the original promotion's rules where weapons were legal in all matches and there were rarely any count outs or disqualifications. WWE classified such matches as having "Extreme Rules", and were only fought when specified. The only pay-per-view event hosted exclusively by the ECW brand since its launch was December to Dismember in December 2006. On March 14, 2007, before another one could be scheduled, WWE announced that all future pay-per-views would feature all three brands.[4]
Former ECW owner Paul Heyman served as the on air "ECW Representative". According to an interview in the UK newspaper The Sun, Heyman wrote the brand's weekly scripts and gave them to writers for possible changes, and then Vince McMahon for final approval. After the December to Dismember 2006 Heyman was relieved from both his on and off air duties with World Wrestling Entertainment.[5] After Heyman left, there was no ECW authority figure until August 14, 2007, when Armando Estrada was announced as the General Manager.
ECW's weekly series was first given a thirteen episode run as a "summer series" on the Sci Fi Channel. The first episode got a 2.79 rating, making it the highest rated show on cable in its time slot.[6] Because of its good ratings it was given an extended run through the end of 2007.[7] On October 23, 2007, the network renewed the series through 2008.[8]
While the show started out a ratings success, it began drawing criticism from fans of the original ECW early on. This was most evident by the negative crowd reaction "old school" fans gave the main event of Batista vs. the Big Show at the show of August 1, 2006 from Hammerstein Ballroom.[9][10]
On October 16, 2007 a "talent exchange" was started between the SmackDown! and ECW brands, allowing their respective talent to appear on either brand.[11][12]
In February 2010, McMahon announced that ECW would be replaced by NXT.
At ECW's launch, WWE.com introduced Hardcore Hangover, a video feature which allowed fans only in the United States to stream or download video footage from the weekly show.[13] On October 16, 2007 it was replaced by a new feature which made full episodes of the show available for streaming on WWE.com the day after they were shown. After making a list of names from fans and conducting an online poll, the feature was named ECW X-Stream on October 31, 2007.[14]
ECW brand shows were held in big arenas as a part of the SmackDown! brand's Tuesday taping schedule. This is in sharp contrast to the first Extreme Championship Wrestling which ran most of its events in smaller venues.[15] The show usually aired live on Tuesdays directly before – when touring the west coast – or after SmackDown! has taped,[16][17] though it has been recorded and placed on a broadcast delay until later in the night depending on what circumstances dictate.[18]
ECW's initial theme song was "Bodies" by Drowning Pool, which had been used by WWE for Extreme Championship Wrestling since before the brand was established. Since then the theme song has changed between a number of different songs before settling on "Don't Question My Heart", sung by Kyle Morrison of the band Shattersphere. A remix of "Don't Question My Heart" by Saliva featuring Brent Smith was the show's last theme song.[19]
Starting with the January 22, 2008 version, ECW began broadcasting in HD, along with a new HD set, which was shared among all three WWE brands.[20]
On February 2, 2010, WWE Chairman Vince McMahon announced that ECW would be going off the air and would be replaced with a new weekly program in its slot in what McMahon announced as "the next evolution of WWE; the next evolution of television history." It was later announced that the show would air its final episode on February 16, 2010.[1] On the February 4, 2010 episode of WWE Superstars, the new show's name was announced as WWE NXT.[21] The ECW brand disbanded, with every ECW wrestler becoming a free agent after the show endee.[22]
Championship | Last champion | Date won |
---|---|---|
ECW Champion | July 26, 2009 |
Authority figures | Position | Date started | Date finished | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
Vince McMahon | Owner, Chairman, and CEO | May 22, 2006 | February 16, 2010 | |
Paul Heyman | Representative | May 22, 2006 | December 5, 2006 | Resigned after Big Show lost the ECW World Championship |
Armando Estrada | General Manager | August 14, 2007 | June 3, 2008 | Lost the position when Theodore Long was announced as his successor |
Theodore Long | General Manager | June 3, 2008 | April 7, 2009 | Appointed as General Manager by the WWE Board of Directors. Tiffany served as "Assistant General Manager" from June 3, 2008 – April 7, 2009 |
Tiffany | General Manager | April 14, 2009 | February 16, 2010 | Served as "Interim General Manager" from April 14, 2009 – June 23, 2009, after Long returned to SmackDown to become General Manager again. Opted to fully take over the position on ECW until the show's ending |
Commentators | Date started | Date finished |
---|---|---|
Joey Styles, Tazz, Jim Ross, and Jerry Lawler | June 7, 2006 | |
Joey Styles and Elijah Burke | November 14, 2006 | |
Joey Styles and Tazz | June 13, 2006 | April 8, 2008 |
Mike Adamle and Tazz | April 15, 2008 | July 22, 2008 |
Todd Grisham and Tazz | July 29, 2008 | |
Todd Grisham and Matt Striker | August 5, 2008 | September 16, 2008 |
September 30, 2008 | March 31, 2009 | |
Jim Ross and Matt Striker | September 23, 2008[25] | |
Josh Mathews and Matt Striker | April 7, 2009 | October 20, 2009 |
Josh Mathews and Byron Saxton | October 27, 2009 | February 16, 2010 |
Ring announcers | Date started | Date finished |
---|---|---|
Lilian Garcia | June 7, 2006 | |
Justin Roberts | June 13, 2006 | September 4, 2007 |
September 29, 2009 | ||
Tony Chimel | September 11, 2007 | September 22, 2009 |
November 24, 2009 | December 8, 2009 | |
Lauren Mayhew | October 6, 2009 | November 17, 2009 |
Savannah | December 15, 2009 | February 16, 2010 |
Segments | Hosts | Year(s) | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Kelly's Exposé | Kelly Kelly | 2006 | Striptease segment. Discontinued and replaced by Extreme Exposé[26] |
Striker's Classroom | Matt Striker | 2006–2007 | In-ring "educational" segment |
Extreme Exposé | Kelly Kelly, Layla, and Brooke Adams | 2007 | In-ring dance segment.[27] Discontinued following Brooke's release from WWE[28][29] |
15 Minutes of Fame | John Morrison | 2007 | Fifteen-minute match challenge for a future ECW Championship match against Morrison. Discontinued following Morrison's defeat by CM Punk[30] |
The Dirt Sheet | John Morrison and The Miz | 2008–2009 | In-ring interview segment. Discontinued after The Miz and Morrison were drafted to Raw and SmackDown respectively |
The Peep Show | Christian | 2009–2010 | In-ring interview segment.[31] Discontinued when the brand closed |
The Abraham Washington Show | Abraham Washington | 2009–2010 | On-stage interview segment. Discontinued when the brand closed |
In addition to being broadcast on Syfy in the United States, ECW was broadcast on a number of channels in many different countries.
Country | Network | Ref |
---|---|---|
Algeria and The Middle East | Showtime | [32] |
Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica and Mexico | FX Latin America | [33][34][35] |
Australia | Fox8 | [36] |
Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan | TEN Sports | [37][38][39] |
Cambodia | MyTV | [40] |
Canada | Global TV | [41] |
France | Action | [42] |
Germany | Sky Deutschland | [43] |
Italy | Sky Italia | [44] |
Malaysia | Astro Super Sport | [45] |
New Zealand | The Box | [46] |
Philippines | Jack TV | [47] |
Portugal | SportTV 3 | [48] |
South Africa | e.tv | [49] |
Taiwan | Videoland Max-TV | [50] |
United Kingdom and Ireland | Sky Sports 3 | [51][52]
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