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MORNING THOUGHTS: WHAT 100 EPISODES OF THE NEW ECW HAS TAUGHT ME AND MORE

100 ECWs....WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED?

Last night, World Wrestling Entertainment announced that we'll all celebrate 100 weeks of ECW's rebirth on the Sci Fi network.  In honor of this milestone, I'll help WWE point out a few things that can help as they plan their celebration next week.  Indeed, let's look at a few things we've learned from ECW's return to broadcast television:

*Fans wanted to see some form of the original ECW back.  When they didn't see it, they left, hence the 1.3 WWE now gets compared to the mid 2s they started with, even when you load up the show with the likes of the "Superstars" like the Undertaker.

*The wrestlers wanted to see some form of the original ECW back.  One by one, everyone who was excited internally for the project, from Rob Van Dam on down, realized it wasn't worth their emotional investment.  Some opted to get out while some just shut up and took the checks.  All knew the mythos of the name was being diluted, if not eradicated.  All of them were scoffed at as marks by people working for the company who failed to realize those marks and the ECW letters took what, in any other environment, would have been a B-level PPV and made it one of the most unforgettable nights in a long, long time.

*If you worked for the original ECW, you mean nothing in the new company.  No matter how you made your name, that ECW connection only taints your career in the big-time, except for Tommy Dreamer, who WWE sort of needs around to have some connection with the few original fans still hoping without hope for something to happen. 

*No matter how bad Mike Adamle is, he's making a better salary than Joey Styles, so he gets the nod as lead announcer.  See how investments work?  You need to try and get some return on them, no matter how terrible of a choice they are!

*Nothing ever happens on ECW.  When was the last time Raw or Smackdown had an "ECW Rebound?"  When was the last night it was pushed that if you missed ECW, it was a regret you'd never forget?

*There's no need for the old ECW theme music to be purchased for Sandman's entrance.  Not when we can buy Def Leppard and hip hop acts' songs for Extreme Expose!

*Don't get emotionally invested in ECW angles.  Balls romancing Kelly?  Stevie Richards' big return from his neck problems?  Poof, never happened.  Poor Colin Delaney will be lucky to have a job in a year the way ECW undercard performers seem to go among the missing after a few months.

*Sabu should never speak.  Period.

*Handicap matches rule.  That's why we see so many of them on ECW, right?

*WWE Never Gave ECW the Spotlight it Needed to Thrive.  Wrestlemania 23, WWE gives the Originals vs. New Breed a few short minutes and the crowd could care less because it was treated as filler material, sort of like how the WWE Tag division is on Raw.  The following episode of ECW, They put the same match on as a main event with tons of time.  Not only was it a blowaway Extreme Rules match, it was the first, last and only time the crowd bought into the "New Breed" faction, chanting "New Breed Sucks" and actually giving them legitimate heel heat.  It was the first, best and final shining moment for the new ECW as a brand, to this day, because ECW hasn't been treated like something that can be built for the future into a legitimate brand since that episode.

*Vince McMahon was ECW champion.  When it's your ball, you make the rules, kids!

*ECW is where the young talent goes, if you know to watch.  CM Punk, Kofi Kingston, Elijah Burke, Shelton Benjamin have all plied their trade in the new ECW with varying degrees of success.  Whether their hard work ever helps them get, you know, to a larger brand, remains to be seen, but there is some solid wrestling to be found...if you remember ECW is airing.

*ECW was supposed to be Bobby Lashley's brand and instead it became CM Punk's.  That's sort of history repeating itself, like when WWF pushed the hell out of Lex Luger, only to see 99% of the fans reject him for Bret Hart.  Eventually, management acquiesced and agreed.  Sort of like now.

*WWE still doesn't get the concept of ECW.  Despite making more money off the ECW name with PPV and DVDs than Paul Heyman ever did, WWE still failed to recognize that a different style of wrestling presentation could not only freshen up their company but appeal to a niche audience while being successful on a smaller scale.  With ECW, WWE could have had what Linda McMahon always claims to want with her stockholders meetings - a distinct, separate brand - Miramax to WWE's Walt Disney.  Instead, they've given us a souped-up Sunday Night Heat, with pyro....minus the ratings Heat used to do on the USA Network a decade ago.

*Be careful what you wish for - you might just get it.  From 2001 to 2005, fans bemoaned the passing of their Extreme Championship Wrestling, because it was a company that was so close to their heart, wrestling was never the same without it.  Indeed, there were loud ECW chants in markets ECW never ran, even as WWF was pushing their WCW Invasion angle.  Fans missed it so much they came out in droves for a final taste of it with the Rise and Fall of ECW.  They came out in droves for the One Night Stand reunion and did so again for the tease of RVD winning the WWE title.  In June 2006, Paul Heyman told the Hammerstein Ballroom that they were the reason WWE was bringing back ECW.  What he should have said was, "Be careful what you wish for my friends, because now you've got it, and unfortunately, neither you or I call the shots anymore...Vince McMahon and Kevin Dunn do."

100 Episodes of ECW.  Good, bad or indifferent, it's here to stay.  To see the best of the "New Breed", check out WWE's ECW Extreme Rules DVD, the second disc of which does contain a fun collection of bouts from the early ECW on Sci Fi episodes, from our friends at www.highspots.com.  To see the true ECW, track down some of the old Pioneer Home Video DVDs I worked on in the late 1990s.

THE DEFINITIVE FLAIR: PART THREE

Ric Flair vs. Mr. Perfect - Loser Leaves WWF (1/25/93)- On the third episode of Monday Night Raw, Flair vs. Perfect in a Loser Leaves Town match headlined.  It was Flair against his former advisor and marked the end of Flair's first run with the company, although he made some house show appearances before heading back to WCW.  While not the all-time classic these two may have had before Hennig's back issues in 1991, this was still a fun Flair match, with lots of good back and forth wrestling and some good promos that took place the week before that should be included to help explain the exposition of the feud.

Ric Flair vs. Hulk Hogan (1991) - No matter what any die-hard Flair fan feels, Flair vs. Hogan was one for the ages.  It was Lou Thesz vs. Bruno Sammartino, if that bout ever actually happened once they were established as legitimate superstars.  There are a number of bouts to choose from, but I'll go with one none of us have ever seen.  The original Flair vs. Hogan bout held at a WWF event in Dayton, Ohio.  Even if there is no commentary on the bout, just slap it on via raw footage, similar to the recent Rockers vs. Hart Foundation forgotten WWF tag Team title switch that was placed on the most recent Shawn Michaels DVD set.  If that bout is unavailable, then go with their first match at Madison Square Garden, which saw Flair pin Hogan after brass knucks to the head.  Well, technically they reversed the decision, but I choose not to remember that.  I choose to remember the huge pop Flair got for pinning Hogan on his home turf.

Wargames- The Match Beyond (7/4/88) - The Four Horsemen and JJ Dillon vs. The Road Warriors, Dusty Rhodes, Nikita Koloff and Paul Ellering in the greatest gimmick match Dusty Rhodes ever created.  Two rings, encased in steel, with a roof with drama building as the heels take over on the babyfaces period after period, until we hit the final crescendo of violence.  THIS is how you blow off a feud and there is no better example of what set the NWA and the Horsemen apart from WWF and their top heels of the era than this match.

Mike Johnson can be reached at Mike@PWInsider.com.

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