We all remember it. That infamous chant is synonymous with the old ECW. Usually it came from the fans whenever a worker would blow a spot, make a move look bad, etc. It's one of the few things that left that can still be associated with the original ECW (and that's not a good thing) as they certainly have been making some very questionable judgement calls as of late.
Here's the million dollar question… Has WWE missed the boat on giving CM Punk the ECW Title? Yes, and here's why…
The internet loves CM Punk. You know it, I know it. But he's more than just the golden boy for the smart marks. While I don't think he's ready to carry the top belt on Raw or Smackdown, he's very well deserving of being called ECW Champion. Should he have beaten John Morrison for the belt last night at Summerslam. Defenitely, and I think they backed themselves into a corner by not doing so. After 3 consecutive PPV Matches, I think it would be a very bad idea if they revisit Punk vs Morrison yet again next month. While Punk has non-title and tag match victories over him, the PPV Title Matches are the ones that count in the long run. The time now is for Morrison to move onto bigger and better things.
The problem is there are no bigger and better things on the ECW Roster…
ECW never full recouporated from the loss of Chris Benoit. Essentially adding Benoit was to make up for the loss of Bobby Lashley… and Rob VanDam… and Sabu… Because they didn't send another guy to ECW that could work as a legit Main Eventer, they were left with 2 guys to carry the brand… Punk and Morrison. While I questioned putting the belt on Morrison initially, I think he's done a great job of carrying the ball (although his mic skills still leave something to be desired.) Now that Punk is 0-3, who else is left to feud with for the belt? Dreamer and Mahoney have been jobbed out too much to be taken seriously as contenders. Boogeyman hasn't gotten far enough in his feud with Big Daddy V to move on to something else. The Miz? Yeah right. The only legitimate choice they have that actually has some momentum going for him is Stevie Richards. Now thinking about it, he was an ECW Title Contender 10 years ago… that seems to be the direction they've been heading as of late so why not?
What will most likely happen is Nitro will continue to work squash matches against Enhancement Talent. That's not the thing you want to be doing with the guy carrying your top belt, plus when WWE PPVs are only featuring one ECW Match, you can't afford for it not to be featuring your only titleholder. He can feud with someone from Smackdown or Raw for the title like they did with Big Show and Lashley. While that does work to an extent because it adds prestige when your champ is getting clean victories over guys like Ric Flair, Kane, and The Undertaker, it also shows what a weak roster you have because there are no legitemate contenders.
Of course, we already know that by now…
My suggestion to ECW is to build up the roster a bit more. Take 2 guys from each existing roster, one that can help the Midcard, and one that can Main Event. Here are my suggestions:
1. Super Crazy - Why wasn't he part of the revived ECW initially? He's an ECW original, he's Super, he's Crazy, and he can pull out a good series of matches with guys like Miz, Nunzio, Punk, and Burke.
2. Matt Hardy - Everyone thinks Hardy's ready for a World Title Run. I don't see him beating The Great Khali anytime soon, so why not test out how he'd do carrying the ball in the land of Extreme?
3. Jeff Hardy - He's been written off TV on Raw, why not have him make his return in ECW? While he shouldn't be one to carry the belt, he can be taken seriously as a contender against Morrison, and we already know they already chemistry together.
4. Kenny Dykstra - While the Spirit Squad was around, he was touted as being the next big thing and a future World Champion. He struck out with his singles run on Raw and isn't doing much better on Smackdown. I think he would be a nice fit in ECW, and they can build him up to move him to another brand like they're currently planning for BDV.
Is it a perfect solution? Not really? Does it help give WWECW the feel of a Philadephia Bingo Hall? Not by a long shot, but if you're touting your top (and only) belt as a World Title, there's a bit more that needs done to make it feel like one.
Monday, August 27, 2007
You F*cked Up! You F*cked Up!
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2 comments:
This is a great article, and I pretty much agree down the board with it.
ECW is a midcarders paradise, and the ECW title is more on par with the IC and US titles than it is with any world title.
Are the Hardys, Super Crazy, and Dykstra going to elevate the belt?
It's doubtful. But they do provide an alternative style of wrestling that is exciting to watch.
WWE could flush out TNA just by making the ECW brand different. After all, TNA is just WWE Lite now anyways.
If WWE made ECW their "X Division" you would have those exciting matches to look forward to each and every pay per view.
Guys should go to ECW with the mindset of pushing themselves to the limit, whether in Extreme rules matches or not.
Everyone in ECW should be of a hardcore mindset and work a specific style. They started this with Angle and Big Show wrestling differently at first.
Woah, this totally inspired my next article...
*SPOILER WARNING*
Punk beat Morrison last night at an ECW taping to win the belt, and it looks to be because Morrison is going to be starting a 30 day suspension. Did they miss the boat? Oh hell yeah. It's nice and all that he's the champ now, but it's kind of too little too late. They had a great opportunity to do it at their 2nd biggest show of the year and give the fans dishing out $40 something to be happy about, instead it's now being done in the most anticlimatic fashion in changing hands at a TV Taping (it's not even airing live.) Congrats to Punk nonetheless, but they defenitely missed a great opportunity.
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