As you heard from various members of Tha O Show over the last two days, Rob Van Dam was in fact forced to drop his ECW World Heavyweight Championship last night in South Philly. Following his arrest for 18 grams of marijuana, and the WWE's subsequent "investigation", they had to get both belts off of RVD asap. In the past, the WWE would use an opportunity like this to build a new star. Hey, why not catapault CM Punk to the top spot on his first night in the company? Sure, why the hell not? Or a former ECW Champion like Sandman? How about a guy who always WANTED the title and was loyal to the original ECW to a fault - Mr. Tommy Dreamer? There were plenty of options, but they decided to hand the title to The Big Show.
I think the only thing that would have been worse would have been giving it to Test who made his return to broadcast television on Sci Fi.
Paul Wight, (The Giant / Big Show) is the ECW World Heavyweight Champion. Wow.
As far as RVD goes, he has apparently been suspended for 30 days by Paul Heyman. This will explain his absence from TV for the next little while, but doesn't necessarily mean that he will be back. He could very well have his contract terminated within that time frame.
I said it before and I'll say it again... The new ECW sucks. The infrastructure wasn't there from the begining and now the foundation is crumbling.
People have started online petitions to return all booking power to Heyman and Dreamer, and have said that Vince will eventually do the right thing ... but no. Vinne Mac has his hands in everything (well except Smackdown - he seems to have forgotten that little show is still on the air) and is a total control freak.
Do us all a favour, shut this expansion brand down and stop killing the name of ECW.
5 comments: on "The Winner, and New ECW World Heavywei..... "O" NO. Not him!"
*clears throat and sighs*
I could just go on with a long rant right about now on how fucked up this is, but once again, Vince had to choose the lesser of two evils.
Now i'm not trying to compare the Big Show's catapult to being the WWECW champion towards Vince's decision to go ahead with the ppv after Owen Hart had his accident. But that's exactly what he had to do, choose the lesser of two evils.
Being a original ECW (and I do mean ORIGINAL) fan, i'm about as pissed as the people in South Philly are. Yes, I think that the ECW title should've gone to someone like CM Punk, the Sandman, or Tommy Dreamer. Hell, WWE creative could've given the strap to Little Guido and I wouldn't have been as upest as I am over this decision.
But of course I have to play the role of devil's advocate for Vince when I say that it was either let RVD stay champ of both WWE and WWECW and risk making the "wellness policy" look like a joke, or, take both championships off of Van Dam and punish him. I think Vince made the best possible decision he could given the possible reaction for either of them.
Do I see Big Show staying WWECW champion for long? No, and that's just me praying that it doesn't come to that. But knowing WWE's creative capacity (or lack thereof), it will probably be a lengthy run until Kurt Angle comes back.
They're first mistake was naming it ECW. Because now people like you and the guy above me are continuing to compare it to the ECW of old.
It's NOT ECW of old and was NEVER intended to be. Sandman, and Tommy Dreamer are the stars of yesteryear, they aren't stars today. And CM Punk I feel still needs to get a little more nationwide TV exposure before launching him to the top.
Hey at least RVD didn't lose it cleanly, he was screwed, and it was to a big guy as well. If they had just launched Punk in the first night it would have made ECW look even weaker than it does because this nobody came out of left field and just snagged their belt.
They can now build an angle off of this. Big Show and Tommy Dreamer have been going after eachother now. And now Dreamer's partner in the rebirth of ECW has HANDED their belt to a guy who's not even a real ECW star. And he, as one of the alumnis, is not going to stand for it.
Think of how this can help the brand that's taken a MAJOR blow possibly losing three of their main stars at one time rather than saying "What, Big Show is ECW Champion? FUCK THEM!" Big Show is the most logical candidate as everyone else they've built up is LEAVING. They can't give it to Sabu or Angle which would have been the best chioces if they were going to be around.
I'm not saying it's a perfect show. It's not AT ALL. But it's got a lot of good on it as well that you diehard '96 ECW fans just REFUSE to see because you're STILL comparing it to the ECW of old. This is NOT that ECW. It never will be and was NEVER intended to be. So STOP comparing it to ECW and look at it as another WWE show, which it's been since the start. And in that one hour in the past couple weeks they've been putting on a better show wrestling wise and entertainment wise than Raw, Smackdown or TNA.
It might be useful to hear from the more 'casual' wrestling fan on this. Ive never been an old school ECW fan. (Its not that I dont like it, its that I didnt start watching wrestling until more recently) All Ive seen of it is some highlights, maybe one or two matches off of a DVD, and both one-night stands.
With little old-ecw bias I can say the show is still weak. There aren't many wrestlers I see as terribly legitimate headliners, and with the loss of RVD, KURT ANGLE, and SABU the number of them is cut in half.
Also I've never been a fan of a one-hour program. Even with the smaller roster of ECW, one hour doesn't give it time to showcase and highlight what the new brand is all about. We can't see rivalries forming, hear from the stars, or have any long single-bout battles. So we get a sandman entrance longer than most bouts, a battle royal every week, and no new talent developing.
The addition of CM Punk and (im not sure if this is rumor or not) Johnny Fairplay should help. As ECW develops I think it should have followed the model of TNA (before the influx of WWE and WCW castaways) where ECW picks up several of the top indy wrestlers. Sure they arent ECW regulars but with the addition of some top indies (Amazing Red, Xavier) and some relative unknowns(Eddie Venom, Truth Martini and even El Generico) ECW could seem more edgy and more legit at the same time.
Also to make more ECW purists happy, the new one should have included a roster more similar to that of the first ECW one night stand, than the second. Guys like Masato Tanaka, Mike Awesome, the entire original BWO (sure the reference is dead but they could have still have made fun of the WWE and TNA) Lance Storm, Kid Kash, Tajiri, the entire WWE cruiserweight division ECT ECT ECT. Also had the WWE been smart about this they wouldn't have let go some of ECW's biggest stars who are still in their prime (Dudleys + Rhino) But of course that wasn't Paul's decision, it was Vince's.
Which brings me to the last point. ECW, regardless of whether youre just watching it for the first time or a long time fan, is clear should be in the hands of it's creator. Sure if Vince wants some oversight he's entitled to it, I just wish he'd have more of a 'board of directors' role and allow the everyday decisions to be made by Heyman and Dreamer. I trust that they know what ECW is and what it should be, more than Vince, myself, or anyone else on this board... ECW WILL fail, regardless what is done as a WWE brand... but with a little more autonomy and it's own original style it can even thrive in the new market.
Whatever your feelings on the Big Show, that Cobra Clutch bomb/toss thing he does is bad ass.
The show has gotten better?
Are you kidding?
This project has a shorter television lifespan than the XFL.
I'll be SHOCKED if they're still on the air in September.
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