PWInsider - WWE News, Wrestling News, WWE

PWINSIDER Q&A: ORIGINAL ECW PPV EVENTS, ERIC EMBRY, INTERCONTINENTAL TITLE AND MORE

Answered on 9/28

Any thoughts on your favorite (original) ECW pay per view shows?

The two shows that immediately spring to mind are Barely Legal and Heatwave '98.  Of the 16 PPV events that ECW did, those have the biggest sentimental value (Barely Legal) and quality matches (Heatwave '98).  I also think November To Remember 2000 and Anarchy Rulz 1999 are great shows, due in part to the fantastic crowds that ECW drew in Chicago (the biggest in company history). 

Whatever happened to Eric Embry? His run with Tom Pritchard in Memphis and Texas was a highlight of his career and the dying World Class territory. I understand he had an auto accident while driving to a wrestling house show in Texas and had to retire. What was the extent of his injuries?

Embry suffered a bruised liver and severe knee damage in the car accident that ended his career.  The accident took place in Kentucky, on October 30, 1992.

I remember as a kid in either the late 70s-early 80s going to the Westchester County Center in White Plains, New York to see the WWE. If I recall correctly, one of the matches was Ivan Putski defeating Swede Hanson. I can't find the results of this card on the internet and was wondering whether you would have the results of the full card.

I don't know about Swede Hanson, but Ivan Putski defeated Stan Hansen via disqualification in the main event at the Westchester County Center on November 24, 1976.  The card also featured Tor Kamata defeating Pete Austin.

The I-C title used to have a LOT of meaning. There is a list of Hall of Famers/ Probable future Hall of Famers that never won the belt (DiBiase, Duggan, Beefcake, J. Roberts, Big Boss Man, Bam Bam Bigelow, Rick Martel, Bad News Brown, Bob Orton, Orndorff, etc.) in the 80's that never held the belt, but could have been very believable as champs. Now, with recent champs as Albert, Test, Johnny Nitro, the belt does not seem important. Why did Vince let the prestige of the belt go down to the point where it hasn't been defended at Wrestlemania in years? Why didn't some of those legends ever get an 80's run with the belt?

The prestige of the Intercontinental Title was hurt, in my opinion, but two instances.  One was the proliferation of titles in the late 90's.  When there was a European, Light Heavyweight, Hardcore, etc. belt, it made the IC belt seem a lot less important. The other problem was the decision to have separate World and WWE Titles for Raw and Smackdown.  Obviously, the IC belt couldn't be the "number two" belt anymore.  Also, let's not forget that WWE actually ditched the belt entirely for a time.  

As for the 80's stars, you have to remember the era.  Title switches didn't happen nearly as frequently as they do now.  There were plenty of huge stars in the 80's, like Paul Orndorff and Junkyard Dog, that main evented shows and drew huge money, but never held any championships in the company.

I was looking at the ratings for ECW and then I looked at the ratings for Smackdown from last week. The rating I saw for this weeks ECW shows they did a 2.3 while last weeks Smackdown did a 2.1 First of all is this right? Secondly, if ECW is doing just as good as Smackdown so early on, what is that really saying about Smackdown in your opinion?

You have to remember that Smackdown's number is a broadcast rating, while ECW is a cable rating.  So the numbers might seem the same, but Smackdown's is based on a much larger available audience than ECW's is. 

You can send us questions for the PWInsider.com Q&A by clicking here.

We also have a new Q and A up today on PWInsiderXtra.com.

If you are an Elite member of the new site, you can read it by clicking here.

If you are not an Elite member, you can read it by clicking here.

If you are an PWInsider.com Elite member and you want to find out how to join the new site (which is bargain priced at a dollar amonth or less, depending on the subscription you choose), click here.

If you would like to become an Elite member to one or both of the sites, you can do so by clicking here.

For PWInsider.com Elite members who are not members of PWInsiderXtra.com, the questions from PWInsiderXtra.com will be archived in our weekly Elite newsletter.

If you enjoy PWInsider.com you can check out the AD-FREE PWInsider Elite section, which features exclusive audio updates, news, our critically acclaimed podcasts, interviews and more by clicking here!

• Tweet