Great-ing Gimmicks of the Past: The Revival of ECW – WWF, 2001
History
There’s been a lot that’s gone wrong with the new ECW. It started off with so much promise and then we saw what we were getting. A ditzy “exhibitionist who couldn’t undo a bra and her lunk-headed boyfriend. Another push for Test. The Zombie and Macho Libre. Another push for Bob Holly. December to Dismember. And, of course, don’t forget the dismissal of Paul Heyman, the person who helped define ECW into what it’s known as today.
Believe it or not, this is actually the second resurrection of ECW. The first didn’t go any better. It, too, started off with promise, and it too wound up bogged down in WWF politics and “brilliant†ideas.
It was July 9, 2001. Paul Heyman had replaced the departed Jerry Lawler alongside Jim Ross at the announce table. The Shane McMahon-led WCW invasion was in full swing.
Things had gone fairly smoothly throughout the show. Undertaker had fought Diamond Dallas Page in a street fight (which saw Shane join Page and Undertaker’s wife Sara get a diamondcutter afterwards). The APA (Acolyte Protection Agency – Faarooq (Ron Simmons) and Bradshaw) had taken the Tag Team titles away from the Dudley Boyz. Albert had retained the Intercontinental belt in a match against Rhino. Jeff Hardy had lost to the Big Show.
The ten o’clock hour had opened with Kurt Angle retaining the WCW World title against Booker T. Then things got weird.
Kane was set to take on Mike Awesome and Lance Storm in a handicap match when Chris Jericho joined Kane to make it a tag match. Kane was ready to chokeslam Awesome when two men jumped the rail and hit the ring to break things up. The two men were, of course, Rob Van Dam and Tommy Dreamer.
As Heyman gloated to Ross on commentary, the WWF locker room began emptying. Out came Tazz, the Dudleys, Raven, Rhino, and Justin Credible. Heyman was loving it as the newcomers turned, looked at Jericho and Kane, and attacked. As Jericho and Kane lay motionless in the ring, Heyman jumped up, pulled off his tie, and headed to the ring. The Dudleys moved to block his path, only to open the ropes for him. Once in the ring, Heyman announced the return of ECW, who would attack WCW or the WWF.
The fans loved it.
The main event saw a twenty-man tag match scheduled. ECW’s Tazz, Bubba Ray, D-Von, Raven, Rhino, Justin Credible, Tommy Dreamer, Rob Van Dam, Mike Awesome, and Lance Storm were set to take on WWF representatives APA, Big Show, Hardcore Holly, and Billy Gunn as well as their WCW teammates Chuck Palumbo, Sean O’Haire, Mark Jindrak, Sean Stasiak, and Chris Kanyon. The match didn’t take long as the WCW contingent decided to just stand outside and watch while the WWF competitors soon wound up dumped out of the ring. Once the WWF wrestlers were dumped, the WCW team hit the ring and started high-fiving the ECW competitors. Then after the referee was dumped as well, Shane McMahon and Paul Heyman embraced.
Vince McMahon came out and demanded an explanation. After all, earlier in the night he and Shane had joined forces to get rid of ECW. Shane went on to announce that ECW and WCW had joined forces instead, and the goal was still to destroy the WWF. Shane then brought out the new owner of ECW
Stephanie McMahon Helmsley.
In an instant, the excitement that the revival of ECW had generated was snuffed. At least this time we had a few weeks to look forward to the show’s debut.
Analysis
This angle shows exactly what was wrong with the Invasion, and what caused a potentially enormous money maker to fizzle out and die with a whimper. The crowd exploded when ECW appeared. You see, ECW had its flaws, but it was still remembered fondly. The fans didn’t remember the errors that were made along the way, they loved the promotion. And it also needs to be noted that at this time, WCW was still the enemy, owned by the evil Ted Turner.
Another fact is that ECW’s roster never got as thin as WCW’s toward the end. WCW had been built on the backs of WWF stars from the 80’s (as well as Ric Flair and Sting, who were, of course, NWA stars from the 80’s and the WWF’s Scott Hall and Kevin Nash). By the time 2001 rolled around, most of them were gone. Hogan had stormed out after the 2000 Bash at the Beach. Scott Hall had been released. Bret Hart had suffered a career-ending concussion. The younger talent that had established themselves like Chris Jericho, Giant, Chris Benoit, and Eddy Guerrero had already jumped to the WWF. The result was a paper-thin roster with few established names and a wide array of green, unproven talent.
ECW had always had a gift for turning people into stars. In addition, mainstays like Sabu, Rob Van Dam, and Tommy Dreamer could be counted on to be there. Add in new talent like Yoshihiro Tajiri, Steve Corino, and Jerry Lynn and the show was solid. ECW’s problem was that there just wasn’t enough money to keep things going.
However, the crowd’s love of the ECW reunion sputtered as the show went off the air. Rather than being the rebel that ECW had always been, now it was joining forces with WCW. So we had a perfect anti-hero type of team which the fans were behind being forced into a heel role. Also, Heyman’s speech earlier in the night about attacking the WWF or WCW appeared to be a ludicrous claim in the end. But, hey. It was a beloved swerve.
And then to make things worse, ECW found itself shoehorned into the never-ending McMahon family feud. This time it was Vince McMahon against Shane and Stephanie. And the crowd went mild.
Of course, it should also be noted that the ECW storyline had another wrinkle behind the scenes. At the time, ECW’s assets were still tied up in bankruptcy court, and the court didn’t like seeing the name and music used on WWF programming. Today Vince McMahon has obtained all ECW rights and tapes.
In the end, the entire Invasion storyline was despised by the crowd and what should have been a license to print money was just another missed opportunity. Looking at the new ECW, it’s amazing how much things never change.
Where are they now?
Tommy Dreamer, Sabu, and Rob Van Dam are still with ECW. Tazz is part of the ECW announce team as well.
Bubba Ray, D-Von, Raven, and Rhino are now part of TNA.
Justin Credible was released from the WWE in 2003. After a stint in XPW, he was brought back for the ECW resurrection only to be released again. Today he is part of MTV’s Wrestling Society X.
Mike Awesome was released from the WWE in 2002 and headed back to Japan, where he appeared for HUSTLE, as well as sporadic TNA appearances. In 2006, Awesome said that he had retired and entered the real estate business.
Lance Storm announced his retirement from wrestling in 2004 and headed to OVW to work as a trainer. Storm eventually was released, returned to Canada, and has opened his own wrestling school.
Next week
We meet a rather flamboyant new WCW wrestler.
