ECW on Syfy

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ECW on Syfy
Format	Sports entertainment Professional wrestling
Created by	Paul Heyman Vince McMahon
Starring	ECW Brand
Opening theme	"Don't Question My Heart" by Saliva featuring Brent Smith[1]
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	161 (as of July 9, 2009)
Production
Camera setup	Multicamera setup
Running time	60 minutes (including commercials)
Broadcast
Original channel	Syfy
Picture format	480i (SDTV), 1080i (HDTV)[2]
Original run	June 13, 2006 – Present
External links
Official website

ECW on Syfy is a professional wrestling television program for World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), based on the independent Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) promotion that lasted from 1992 to 2001, that airs on Syfy in the United States. It debuted on June 13, 2006. The show's name is also used to refer to the ECW brand, in which WWE employees are assigned to work and perform on that program; the other programs and brands are Raw and SmackDown.

Contents 1 Show history 1.1 Original format 1.2 ECW on Sci Fi/Syfy 1.3 Online presence 2 Production 2.1 Special episodes 3 On-air personalities 3.1 Champion 3.2 General Managers 3.3 Commentators 3.4 Ring announcers 3.5 Recurring segments 4 See also 5 International broadcasters 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Show history

[edit] Original format

WWE acquired Extreme Championship Wrestling and its video library in 2003 and later began reintroducing ECW through a series of DVDs and books. The enormous popularity of ECW merchandise prompted WWE to organize ECW One Night Stand, an ECW reunion pay-per-view in 2005. The financial and critical success of the event motivated WWE to organize a second One Night Stand the following year. With rejuvenated interest in the ECW product, WWE began exploring the possibility of reviving the promotion full time. On May 26, 2006, WWE announced the launch of ECW as a stand-alone brand, congruous to Raw and SmackDown!, with its own show on Sci Fi.^[3] Despite initial concerns that professional wrestling would not be accepted by Sci Fi's demographic, network President Bonnie Hammer stated that she believed ECW would fit the channel's theme of "stretching the imagination".^[4] Sci Fi is owned by NBC Universal, parent company of USA Network and exclusive cable broadcaster of WWE programming.

The ECW brand initially attempted to differentiate itself from WWE's other brands. The hard cameras were placed in a different location. The ring mat featured an ECW logo, and the WWE logo turnbuckle covers were replaced with blanks. The male performers were also referred to as "Wrestlers" as opposed to "Superstars" (later "Extremists" was used as the official label), and female performers were called "Vixens" instead of Divas. It also featured original ECW talent. Later however, changes were made to differentiate it from the original ECW promotion, including changing the original promotion's rules where weapons were legal in all matches and there were rarely any count outs or disqualifications. WWE now classifies such matches as having "Extreme Rules" and are only fought when specified. The only pay-per-view event hosted exclusively by the ECW brand since its launch was December to Dismember in December 2006. On March 14, 2007, before another one could be scheduled, WWE announced that all future pay-per-views would feature all three brands.^[5]

Former ECW owner Paul Heyman served as the on air "ECW Representative" (a reference to how Heyman had been identified on Monday Night Raw back in 1997). According to an interview in the UK newspaper The Sun, Heyman wrote the brand's weekly scripts and submitted them to writers for possible changes, and then Vince McMahon for final approval. Following December to Dismember, Heyman was relieved from both his on and off air duties with World Wrestling Entertainment.^[6] After Heyman left, there was no ECW authority figure until August 14, 2007, when Armando Estrada was announced as the General Manager. On June 3, 2008 Estrada was replaced by Theodore Long as General Manager of ECW. On the April 7 edition of ECW on Sci Fi it was announced that Theodore Long was returning to SmackDown to fulfill the role of General Manager. From this point the Interim General Manager was named as Tiffany who took over as full time General Manager on the June 30, 2009 episode ^[7].

[edit] ECW on Sci Fi/Syfy

ECW's weekly series was originally given a thirteen episode run as a "summer series" on Sci Fi. The premiere received a 2.79 rating, making it the highest rated show on cable in its time slot.^[8] Because of its good ratings it was granted an extended run through the end of 2007.^[9] On October 23, 2007, the network renewed the series through 2008.^[10]

While the show started out a ratings success, it began drawing criticism from fans of the original ECW early on. This was most evident by the negative crowd reaction "old school" fans gave the main event of Batista vs. the Big Show at the August 1, 2006 show from Hammerstein Ballroom, which often held original ECW events while it was a company. During the match, fans chanted "Boring", "You both suck", "same old shit" and "change the channel".^[11][12]

On October 16, 2007, a "talent exchange" was started between the SmackDown! and ECW brands, allowing their respective talent to appear on either brand.^[13][14] On May 6, 2008, ECW celebrated its 100th episode on Sci Fi.^[15] On the September 8, 2008 edition of Raw it was announced a "talent exchange" was started between the Raw and ECW brands, allowing their respective talent to appear on either brand. ECW moved to 9:00PM Eastern/8:00PM Central on September 30, 2008.^[16]

ECW moved back to 10:00PM Eastern/9:00PM Central on May 5, 2009.^[17] On July 7, 2009, the Sci Fi channel renamed itself to "Syfy",^[18] prompting WWE to rename the show ECW on Syfy to reflect the changes.^[19]ECW was broadcast on Thursday, July 9th for special night episode.^[20]

[edit] Online presence

At ECW's launch, WWE.com introduced Hardcore Hangover, a video feature which allowed fans only in the United States and also in Canada to stream or download video footage from the weekly show.^[21] On October 16, 2007 it was replaced by a new feature which made full episodes of the show available for streaming on WWE.com the day after they aired. After gathering a list of names from fans and conducting an online poll, the feature was named ECW X-Stream on October 31, 2007.^[22] Past episodes of ECW are now viewable on Hulu.^[23]

[edit] Production

ECW brand shows are held in large arenas as a part of the taping schedules of WWE's other brands.^{[citation needed]} This is in sharp contrast to the original Extreme Championship Wrestling which ran most of its events in smaller venues.^[24] The show generally airs live on Tuesdays directly before — when touring the west coast — or after SmackDown! has taped,^[25][26] though it has been recorded and placed on a broadcast delay until later in the night depending on what circumstances dictate.^[27]

ECW's initial theme song was "Bodies" by Drowning Pool, which had been used by WWE for Extreme Championship Wrestling since before the brand was established. Since then the theme song has changed between a number of different songs before settling on "Don't Question My Heart", sung by Kyle Morrison of the band Shattersphere. It has also used "This Is the New Shit" by Marilyn Manson. A remix of "Don't Question My Heart" by Saliva featuring Brent Smith is now used.^[28] On January 22, 2008, ECW began broadcasting in HD, along with a new HD set, which is shared among all three WWE brands.^[29]

[edit] Special episodes

Episode	Date	Rating	Notes
Best of ECW 2006	December 26, 2006	1.4[30]	Featured clips from 2006.
Best of ECW 2007	December 25, 2007	1.1[31]	Featured clips from 2007.
ECW 100th episode	May 6, 2008	1.0[32]	Celebrated 100th episode.
Best of ECW 2008	December 23, 2008	1.2[32]	Featured clips from 2008.

[edit] On-air personalities

[edit] Champion

Championship	Current champion	Date won	Event	Previous champion
ECW Championship	Tommy Dreamer	June 7, 2009	Extreme Rules	Christian

[edit] General Managers

General Manager	Date started	Date finished	Notes
Paul Heyman	June 13, 2006	December 4, 2006	Served as "ECW Representative" through term. Resigned after Big Show lost his world title.
Armando Estrada	August 14, 2007	June 3, 2008	Term ended when Theodore Long was announced as his successor.
Theodore Long	June 3, 2008	April 7, 2009	Tiffany served as "General Manager Assistant" through Long's term. Tiffany served as "Interim General Manager" from April 7, 2009 - June 30, 2009
Tiffany	June 30, 2009	Present	Tiffany served as "Interim General Manager" from April 7, 2009 - June 30, 2009

[edit] Commentators

Commentators	Dates
Joey Styles and Tazz	June 13, 2006 - April 8, 2008
Mike Adamle and Tazz	April 22, 2008 - July 22, 2008
Todd Grisham and Tazz	July 29, 2008 - August 5, 2008
Todd Grisham and Matt Striker	August 12, 2008 - March 31, 2009
Josh Mathews and Matt Striker	April 7, 2009 - Present

[edit] Ring announcers

Ring Announcer	Dates
Justin Roberts	June 13, 2006 - September 18, 2007
Tony Chimel	September 25, 2007 - Present

[edit] Recurring segments

Segment	Host	Years	Notes
Kelly's Exposé	Kelly Kelly	2006, 2008	Striptease segment. Discontinued and replaced by Extreme Exposé.[33]
Striker's Classroom	Matt Striker	2006 - 2008	In-ring interview segment.
Extreme Exposé	Kelly Kelly, Layla, Brooke	2007	In-ring dance segment. Discontinued following Brooke's release from WWE.[34][35]
15 Minutes of Fame	John Morrison	2007	Fifteen minute match challenge for a future ECW Championship match against Morrison. Discontinued following Morrison's defeat by CM Punk.[36]
The Dirt Sheet	John Morrison and The Miz	2008 - 2009	In-ring interview segment. Discontinued after The Miz and Morrison were drafted to Raw and Smackdown respectively.
The Peep Show	Christian	2009 - Present	In-ring interview segment.
The Abraham Washington Show	Abraham Washington	2009 - Present	In-ring interview segment.

[edit] See also

• World Wrestling Entertainment roster (ECW brand)
• Extreme Championship Wrestling
• WWE Raw
• WWE Friday Night SmackDown

[edit] International broadcasters

Country	Network
United States	Syfy
Middle East	Showtime Arabia
Latin America	FX Latin America
Australia	FOX8
Austria, Germany	Sky Sport
Southern Asia	TEN Sports
Cambodia	Cambodian Television Network
Canada	Global TV
Malaysia	Astro Supersport
New Zealand	The Box
Philippines	Jack TV
Portugal	SportTV 3
South Africa	e.tv
United Kingdom and Ireland	Sky Sports 3

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• ECW at Syfy
• ECW at the Internet Movie Database
• ECW at TV.com

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