There were a lot of high hopes when WWE relaunched ECW back in 2006. After two very successful pay-per-views, fans had reason to be. But unfortunately, Vince McMahon‘s ultimate vision of ECW didn’t align with what the fans wanted to see, and eventually had to see those letters die all over again.
Blue Meanie was on a recent episode of Stories with Brisco and Bradshaw where the three men talked about ECW. During the discussion, Bradshaw compared the NXT fanbase and “underground feeling” to the one ECW used to have. This was something Blue Meanie was completely on board with:
“I totally agree with that,” Blue Meanie said. “I kind of wish when they brought ECW back I wish they would have had done with the original ECW what they do with NXT, take it out of the big arena, have it in like a studio with this smaller crowd and have that more of an underground feel. NXT is part of WWE, but you wouldn’t know it by looking at the product because it’s such a different, darker building. It [relies] heavily on wrestling and stuff, and I kind of wish they had done that. When they brought back ECW, I wish they would have done the NXT thing that way with ECW. Because if you watch the ECW, they brought back, it was really good TV but the only thing that hindered it was the three letters…ECW.”
This was a sentiment that Gerald Brisco wholeheartedly agreed with, stating that he feels WWE as a company blew it with the relaunch of ECW:
“We being WWE really blew that,” Gerald Brisco responded. “I think that was something I look back on that I see we really blew — we as a company blew it. Because I don’t think any of us really gave it the respect and had the vision that Vince actually had to make it work. Because our early TVs were really good ECW product. Then we started getting, ‘Well, it needs to be slicker, it needs to be this,’ it didn’t need to be any of that stuff except the way we started and the way you guys had it there. So I think we blew that opportunity to really make another competition, another brand that was with the WWE. I think we blew it big time because we wanted to slick it up too much, because the original TV was dark, and we just started messing with it, putting that WWE slickness on it. I think that’s where we started going down with it there.”
Do you think WWE blew it with the relaunch of ECW? Do you think it would have been a success if they had used the NXT formula back then? Let us know your thoughts by sounding off in the comments section below.
If you use any of the quotes above, please credit Stories with Brisco and Bradshaw with a link back to this article for the transcription.
