ECW - Where Tha 'C' Should Stand For Canada‏

This article is being written for both AngryMarks.com and ThaOShow.com.

The Star-Spangled Banner and O Canada - these are more than just national anthems for me - they are exultations of affection for two great nations I love. I profess to have a great love for many countries for various reasons - the colorful entertainment and fine cuisine of Japan, the unabashed joy for song and drink in Germany, dancehall and Rastafarianism in Jamaica, the "stiff upper lip" yet surprisingly wry wit of the United Kingdom and so on.

For what it's worth though the United States and Canada are the nations I know best - the one I grew up in and the friendly "neighbor to the North." As a youth I became aware of Canada through baseball and wrestling. My favorite MLB player ever was Andre Dawson, and he spent the better part of his career with the Montreal Expos before coming to the Chicago Cubs.

For anyone like me who fondly remembers the WWF of the 1980's through 1990's to not mention Bret 'The Hitman' Hart let alone his brother Owen (R.I.P.) were the standards of excellence. Even the Hart family legacy only scratches the surface of Canadian contributions to pro wrestling. Abdullah the Butcher was from Windsor, 'Rugged' Ronnie Garvin was from Montreal, and don't let the kilt fool you - Roddy Piper is as Canadian as they come.

If you were a teenager in '92 and '93 and followed either sport everything seemed to become Canadian all at once - Bret Hart was the WWF World Champion and the Blue Jays won the World Series in back to back seasons. Being a baseball and pro wrestling fan greatly exacerbated my fascination with Canada.

As I entered my college years my interest in both sports waned a bit, but living in Eastern Michigan afterwards brought my love of Canada back full blast. Even in the hockey rich environment of Detroit one could still be envious of the ten provinces and three territories to the North. It wasn't hard to notice that even when they played for American teams, it was Canadian born players like Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux who dominated the ice.

Once my love for grappling arts returned, O Canada firmly found a home in my heart and stayed there for good. To this day I can often be found quipping that Canada does three things far better than the U.S. ever could - beer, hockey and wrestling. I know he may be burning in eternal flames these days, but Chris Benoit still remains the only wrestler who left me speechless when I shook his hand, and thinking back to the main event of WrestleMania XX brings an honest tear to my eye. In a house full of rowdy drunken wrestling fans screaming "TAP YOU FUCKING BITCH, TAP" at Triple H, I was probably the loudest. Edge, Jericho, Christian, these men were the center of MY WWE Universe.

Even when I got turned on to TNA, it was hard for me to see Team Canada as the heels. Eventually I got tired of Scott D'Amore interfering in every match, but you didn't have to look hard to see how talented Bobby Roode, Eric Young, Petey Williams and Johnny Devine were. I happily sang O CANADA after each victory.

Now what does any of this have to do with ECW on Sci-Fi? I'll be glad to tell you. Even before Matt Hardy left the show for "SmackDown!", Tuesday nights had been in decline for quite some time. It's not hard for WWE fans to figure out that ECW is where newer talent cut their teeth until they're ready to jump to one of the flagship shows. Bobby Lashley was groomed for "Raw" by first winning the ECW Title, and the same can be said of CM Punk.

Morrison & Miz perfected their unlikely but now inseparable partnership on ECW, but now seem to grace "Raw" and "SmackDown!" more with their presence than their ostensible home. Kofi Kingston got the cup of coffee he needed there until he got big enough to be "drafted" and Evan Bourne seems destined for a similar fate.

By the same token ECW is often where the talent has been sent that they can't figure out what else to do with for a bit, which has led to world title runs on the program by everyone from Chavo Guerrero to Kane to Mark Henry. The problem in either case is that when new talent gets over or old talent gets rehabbed they LEAVE. A roster that is often thinner than Shawn Michaels' hairline is the result.

Now there are still some people even in 2009 holding a grudge that ECW on Sci-Fi is not the REAL ECW. I think I got over that when Balls Mahoney got cut, and nobody could possibly confuse the 2009 version for the gritty anarchistic version. Many arguments have been had over how to better differentiate it though, and at times I have called it WWECW for the sake of argument, though personally I prefer "Tuesday Night Velocity." The show on February 10th has given me new reason for hope. Perhaps we can all agree on a new and much better definition of ECW starting from this day forward, one which will result in greatly improved sports entertainment on Tuesday nights.

ESSENTIALLY CANADIAN WRESTLING

The return of the long-absent Christian to WWE got the routinely boring ECW off to a very hot start on Tuesday. He immediately inserted himself into the top program of the brand by challenging Jack Swagger. Some pundits have complained that this is a huge letdown given Christian was initially penned in for a huge program with Jeff Hardy on "SmackDown!", but let's be reasonable for a moment.

Christian reached the peak of his wrestling career after leaving WWE, when he immediately wound up on top in TNA as their World Champion. If you compare the ratings and the prestige of TNA Impact to ECW on Sci-Fi, it's a completely lateral move and not a step down in any way. In fact given there is frequently more wrestling per hour in WWE's product compared to TNA, it is in many ways a step up. Let's not bemoan the fact he's on the "C" brand of WWE. "C" is no longer a negative. With Christian Cage becoming the ECW Champion any time from now until WrestleMania 25, that C stands for both Canada and Christian - and suddenly I have a reason to care about Tuesday nights.

Things continued to look up when TJ Wilson suddenly walked into Teddy Long's office with Natalya. Teddy proclaimed the newly dubbed Tyson Kidd the hottest prospect he had signed to the brand in a long time, and suddenly we had not just one but THREE extremely talented Canadians on the roster. While arguably Natalya is being misused as a valet when she may be the best female wrestler on ANY of the brands, there's no reason to not import divas from "Raw" or "SmackDown!" for her to have matches with now and then, and if she valets for Tyson the rest of the time we at least get to see her on TV.

Tyson Kidd's squash win over Bao Nguyen establishes him as a player on the brand too, and all that remains to see is how far they'll go with him from here. (Hopefully much farther than Ricky Ortiz or Gavin Spears.)

There's no reason for WWE to stop there. I'll put a twelve pack of Molson on ice every single week if they keep bringing in the most promising talent on the Canadian wrestling scene. If you want brand-exclusive female wrestlers to challenge Natalya, how about someone like Danyah Rivietz or Veronika Vice? If you want more massively built wrestlers to challenge for the top of the card, how about luring Bobby Roode over from TNA - or perhaps signing A-One?

If you want some smaller and faster wrestlers who could match up well with Evan Bourne, bring in Tyson Dux or Johnny Devine! Some may scoff at me for being a dreamer, or say that I'm trying to turn ECW into ECCW (Extreme Canadian Championship Wrestling). Even if I was, so what? Would you really be more entertained by watching Mark Henry have long, slow, boring squash matches every week? Are you enthralled by the possibility of a Boogeyman v. Ricky Ortiz feud? (Actually a wrestling match between the two should scare anyone enough to stop watching ECW forever.)

On the other hand, watching two talents the level of TJ Wilson and Jamie Noble work a program together may cause some "Raw" and "SmackDown!" devotees to scoff NO BUYS, but I guarantee you the in-ring action and match psychology will captivate the live crowd and the TV audience simultaneously. WWE fans, wrestling afficianadoes, all I am saying here, is give C a chance.

Put the best minds of creative in charge, put Christian Cage on top, bring in Canadian cruiserweights, and make this a fantastic CAN'T MISS show every week. I am hopeful that the days of Tuesday Night Velocity and WWECW are now over, and a new era of ESSENTIALLY CANADIAN WRESTLING has begun. O CANADA!

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