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WWE ECW

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This article is about the WWE television program. For the promotion that operated from 1992 to 2001, on which the show was based, see Extreme Championship Wrestling. For the WWE brand of the same name, see ECW (WWE brand).

WWE ECW
Created by
StarringECW roster
Opening theme"Bodies" by Drowning Pool (2006–2007)
"Don't Question My Heart" by Saliva featuring Brent Smith (2007–2010)
Country of originUnited States
No. of seasons5
No. of episodes193
Production
Camera setupMulticamera setup
Running time46 minutes
Production companyWWE
Original release
NetworkSci-Fi/Syfy
ReleaseJune 13, 2006 (2006-06-13) –
February 16, 2010 (2010-02-16)[1]

WWE ECW (officially known as simply ECW and colloquially known as ECW on Sci-Fi or ECW on Syfy and WWECW, a portmanteau of both "WWE" and "ECW") is an American professional wrestling television program that was produced by WWE, based on the independent Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) promotion that lasted from 1992 to 2001. The show's name also referred to the ECW brand, in which WWE employees were assigned to work and perform, complementary to WWE's other brands, Raw and SmackDown.

ECW debuted on June 13, 2006, on Sci Fi in the United States and Global Television Network in Canada on Saturday mornings and ran until its final episode on February 16, 2010, on the rebranded Syfy. It was replaced the following week with WWE NXT.[1] Every episode is available for on-demand viewing via the WWE Network and Peacock.[2]

Throughout the shows existence, ECW had been broadcast from over 120 arenas, over 80 cities and towns, and four countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, and Italy in 2007.

Show history

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Launch on Sci Fi

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WWE acquired the rights to Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW)'s trademarks and video library in January 2003 and later began reintroducing ECW through content from the ECW library and a series of books, which included the release of The Rise and Fall of ECW documentary.[3] The enormous popularity of ECW merchandise prompted WWE to organize ECW One Night Stand, an ECW reunion pay-per-view in 2005.[3] The financial and critical success of the event motivated WWE to organize a second ECW One Night Stand the following year. With rejuvenated interest in the ECW product, WWE began exploring the possibility of reviving the promotion full-time. The news that WWE was planning to bring back ECW was leaked in the middle of April as Vince McMahon decided to revive ECW as a full-time brand.[4] Reports beforehand stated that WWE was prepared to bring back ECW immediately after WrestleMania 22.[5]

On May 25, 2006, WWE announced the launch of ECW as a stand-alone brand, congruous to Raw and SmackDown!, with its own show on Sci Fi (now Syfy).[6] 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".[7] Sci Fi (now known as Syfy) is owned by NBC Universal, parent company of USA Network and exclusive cable broadcaster of Raw. 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] Prior to the show's launch, WWE opted to cancel its webcast Velocity and replace it with the new ECW program.[11]

Original format (2006)

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ECW was initially produced differently from WWE's other shows. For televised events, the main ring-facing cameras were placed on a different location in the arena while the wrestling ring itself featured an ECW logo on the mat and blank turnbuckle covers. The male performers were referred to "Extremists" instead of "Superstars" while female performers were called "Vixens" rather than Divas. However, the show steadily began being produced following the same format of the other shows. As opposed to the original promotion, match rules, such as count outs and disqualifications, were now standard. Matches featuring the rule set of the original promotion were then classified as being contested under "Extreme Rules" and were only fought when specified.

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 show'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.[12]

Change in format (2007–2010)

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The ECW set used from October 31, 2006-January 15, 2008.

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. Big Show at the August 1, 2006 show from Hammerstein Ballroom, which often held original ECW events while it was a company.[13][14] After Heyman left in late 2006, there was no ECW authority figure until August 14, 2007, when Armando Estrada was announced as the General Manager.

On May 6, 2008, ECW celebrated its 100th episode on Sci Fi.[15] On June 3, 2008 Estrada was replaced by Theodore Long as General Manager of ECW. ECW moved to 9:00 p.m. Eastern/8:00 p.m. Central on September 30, 2008.[16] ECW moved back to 10:00 p.m. Eastern/9:00 p.m. Central on May 5, 2009.[17] On the April 7 edition of ECW 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.[18] On July 7, 2009, the Sci Fi Channel renamed itself to "Syfy", prompting WWE to rename the show ECW on Syfy to reflect the changes.[19][20] In 2009 a "superstar initiative" was established for the purpose of introducing new talent to WWE programming, mainly those from WWE's developmental territory Florida Championship Wrestling to ECW's roster.[20]

Cancellation and aftermath

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On February 2, 2010, WWE Chairman Vince McMahon announced that ECW would be going off the air and would be replaced with a new weekly program in its slot in which McMahon announced as "groundbreaking, original show." It was later announced that the show would air its final episode on February 16, 2010. On the February 9, 2010 episode of ECW, the new show's name was announced as WWE NXT.[21]

Online presence

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At ECW's launch, WWE.com introduced Hardcore Hangover, a video feature which allowed fans in the United States and Canada to stream or download video footage from the weekly show.[22] 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.[23] Past episodes of ECW were previously viewable on the video streaming website Hulu,[24] which are available on the WWE Network worldwide and Peacock in the United States.

Production

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ECW's version of the universal WWE HD set used from January 22, 2008-February 16, 2010.

ECW shows were held in large arenas as a part of the taping schedules of WWE's other shows. This was in sharp contrast to the original Extreme Championship Wrestling which ran most of its events in smaller venues.[25] The show generally aired live on Tuesdays directly before — when touring the west coast — or after SmackDown was taped,[26][27] though it was also recorded and placed on a broadcast delay until later in the night depending on what circumstances dictated.[28] ECW had originally separated itself from WWE, featuring ECW's old black ring ropes, the ECW logo in the middle of the ring and no WWE logo to be seen on the turnbuckles or on the ring apron. However, they slowly began to become more of a WWE show than prior, when they made the ring ropes silver instead of the black ones and when they went HD, put the WWE logo on the turnbuckles, and the WWE.COM advertising on the left and right side of the ring aprons and removed the ECW logo from the ring.

ECW's initial theme song was "Bodies" by Drowning Pool, which had been used by WWE for Extreme Championship Wrestling before the establishment of the brand. "Don't Question My Heart" by Saliva featuring Brent Smith was later used to open ECW for the rest of the program's run. The songs "Famous" by Puddle of Mudd was used for one week, and a censored version of "This Is The New Shit" by Marilyn Manson was used for a few weeks.[29] On January 22, 2008, ECW began broadcasting in HD, along with a new HD set, which is shared among all three WWE brands.[30]

Special episodes

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Episode Date Venue City Rating Notes
WWE vs. ECW June 7, 2006 Nutter Center Dayton, Ohio 3.1[31] Special pilot episode
ECW's premiere episode June 13, 2006 Sovereign Bank Arena Trenton, New Jersey 2.8[31] Series debut
ECW Halloween October 31, 2006 Bradley Center Milwaukee, Wisconsin Special Halloween episode of ECW
Best of ECW 2006 December 26, 2006 1.4[32] Featured clips from 2006
ECW Halloween 2007 October 30, 2007 Nassau Coliseum Uniondale, New York Special Halloween episode of ECW
ECW Thanksgiving 2007 November 20, 2007 St. Pete Times Forum Tampa, Florida Special Thanksgiving episode of ECW
Thursday Night ECW December 6, 2007 Florence Civic Center Florence, South Carolina Special Thursday Night episode of ECW
Best of ECW 2007 December 25, 2007 1.1[33] Featured clips from 2007
New Year's ECW January 1, 2008 Richmond Coliseum Richmond, Virginia The first ECW episode of 2008
ECW Goes HD January 22, 2008 John Paul Jones Arena Charlottesville, Virginia The first ever ECW episode in HD
100th episode May 6, 2008 John Labatt Centre London, Ontario, Canada 1.0[9] Celebrated the show's 100th episode
Move to 9pm/8c September 30, 2008 Resch Center Green Bay, Wisconsin ECW moves to 9pm/8c
ECW Halloween 2008 October 28, 2008 San Diego Sports Arena San Diego, California Special Halloween episode of ECW
ECW Thanksgiving 2008 November 25, 2008 Dunkin' Donuts Center Providence, Rhode Island Special Thanksgiving episode of ECW
Best of ECW 2008 December 23, 2008 1.2[9] Featured clips from 2008
ECW returns to 10pm/9c May 5, 2009 Mellon Arena Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania ECW Returns to its regular time at 10pm/9c
Thursday Night ECW 2009 July 9, 2009 Rabobank Arena Bakersfield, California Special Thursday Night episode of ECW
ECW Thanksgiving 2009 November 24, 2009 Arena at Harbor Yard Bridgeport, Connecticut Special Thanksgiving episode Of ECW
ECW Homecoming December 15, 2009 Laredo Entertainment Center Laredo, Texas The first ever ECW Homecoming
Best of ECW 2009 December 22, 2009 1.2[9] Featured clips from 2009
ECW Homecoming Finale January 12, 2010 Resch Center Green Bay, Wisconsin The Finale of ECW Homecoming
Final episode February 16, 2010 Sprint Center Kansas City, Missouri 1.14[34] Series finale

International broadcasters

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In addition to being broadcast on Syfy, Mun2, and Universal HD in the United States, ECW was broadcast on a number of channels in many different countries.

Country Network Ref
Algeria and The Middle East Showtime [35]
Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica and Mexico FX Latin America [36][37][38]
Australia Fox8 [39]
Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Nepal TEN Sports [40][41][42]
Cambodia MyTV [43]
Canada Global TV [44]
Finland MTV3 Max
France Action [45]
Germany Sky Deutschland [46]
Italy Sky Italia [47]
Malaysia Astro Super Sport [48]
New Zealand The Box [49]
Philippines Jack TV [50]
Portugal SportTV 3 [51]
Singapore SuperSports
South Africa e.tv [52]
Taiwan Videoland Max-TV [53]
United Kingdom and Ireland Sky Sports 3 [54][55]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Caldwell, James (February 5, 2010). "WWE Officially Announces NXT's Debut Date Replacing ECW, Only Two Episodes Remaining". Pro Wrestling Torch. Archived from the original on April 9, 2016. Retrieved February 5, 2010.
  2. ^ "WWE ECW". WWE Network. Archived from the original on October 12, 2017. Retrieved October 11, 2017.
  3. ^ a b Shields, Brian; Sullivan, Kevin (2009). WWE: History of WrestleMania. p. 58.
  4. ^ Madigan, TJ (April 29, 2006). "WWE love affair with ECW to continue". Slam! Sports. Canadian Online Explorer. Archived from the original on January 15, 2013. Retrieved September 24, 2007.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  5. ^ Baines, Tim (August 28, 2005). "WWE has eyes on return of ECW". Slam! Sports. Canadian Online Explorer. Archived from the original on January 15, 2013. Retrieved September 24, 2007.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  6. ^ "WWE brings ECW to Sci Fi Channel". WWE. Archived from the original on August 13, 2006. Retrieved June 2, 2006.
  7. ^ "Sci Fi grapples with summer wrestling series". Retrieved May 21, 2006. It will have a nice little twist that will fit in the brand [permanent dead link]
  8. ^ "Sci Fi Channel pins the competition with ECW's triumphant return to television". The Futon Critic. Retrieved July 8, 2007.
  9. ^ a b c d "Sci Fi Channel Extends ECW". Archived from the original on March 2, 2007. Retrieved October 11, 2006.
  10. ^ "SCI FI Channel Reups WWE'S ECW Through 2008". WWE. October 23, 2007. Archived from the original on October 25, 2007. Retrieved October 23, 2007.
  11. ^ Baines, Tim (April 30, 2006). "WWE's finally going to get Extreme again". Slam! Sports. Canadian Online Explorer. Archived from the original on January 15, 2013. Retrieved September 24, 2007.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  12. ^ "Heyman out". Archived from the original on June 29, 2020. Retrieved December 23, 2006.
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  16. ^ "Lost", "Sanctuary" Among SCI FI's Fall Premieres, The Futon Critic, July 3, 2008
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  18. ^ "Shows". Archived from the original on July 6, 2009. Retrieved July 5, 2009.
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  21. ^ Caldwell, James (February 4, 2010). "Caldwell's WWE Superstar TV Report 2/4: Complete coverage of Team Morrison vs. Team McIntyre six-man tag, awesome Bourne vs. Carlito match". Pro Wrestling Torch. Archived from the original on April 9, 2016. Retrieved February 5, 2010.
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  23. ^ "Watch it Again Exclusively on WWE.com". WWE. Archived from the original on October 19, 2007. Retrieved October 17, 2007.
  24. ^ "Hulu to stream full episodes of SmackDown, ECW". WWE. Archived from the original on June 1, 2009. Retrieved June 12, 2009.
  25. ^ "The History of Extreme Championship Wrestling". Pro Wrestling History. Archived from the original on August 22, 2007. Retrieved August 12, 2007.
  26. ^ "WWE Makes Changes To Compete With WSX". Archived from the original on February 7, 2007. Retrieved February 7, 2007.
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  30. ^ "WWE Goes HD". WWE. Archived from the original on September 24, 2012. Retrieved January 15, 2008.
  31. ^ a b 2008 Nielson Ratings on Gerweck.net Archived 2009-03-01 at the Wayback Machine
  32. ^ 2006 Nielson Ratings on Gerweck.net Archived 2009-03-02 at the Wayback Machine
  33. ^ 2007 Nielson Ratings on Gerweck.net Archived 2009-03-01 at the Wayback Machine
  34. ^ Final ECW Rating, WWE Diva Hires a Designer, Jericho News, More Archived 2010-06-10 at the Wayback Machine
  35. ^ "WWE's Algeria Schedule". World Wrestling Entertainment. Archived from the original on March 15, 2010. Retrieved February 17, 2010.
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  39. ^ "WWE's Australia Schedule". World Wrestling Entertainment. Archived from the original on February 9, 2010. Retrieved February 17, 2010.
  40. ^ "WWE's Bangladesh Schedule". World Wrestling Entertainment. Archived from the original on July 4, 2009. Retrieved February 17, 2010.
  41. ^ "WWE's India Schedule". World Wrestling Entertainment. Archived from the original on March 17, 2010. Retrieved February 17, 2010.
  42. ^ "WWE's Pakistan Schedule". World Wrestling Entertainment. Archived from the original on June 3, 2010. Retrieved February 17, 2010.
  43. ^ "WWE's Cambodia Schedule". World Wrestling Entertainment. Archived from the original on February 28, 2010. Retrieved February 17, 2010.
  44. ^ "WWE's Cambodia Schedule". World Wrestling Entertainment. Archived from the original on February 8, 2010. Retrieved February 17, 2010.
  45. ^ "WWE's France Schedule". World Wrestling Entertainment. Archived from the original on February 10, 2010. Retrieved February 17, 2010.
  46. ^ "WWE's Germany Schedule". World Wrestling Entertainment. Archived from the original on March 14, 2010. Retrieved February 17, 2010.
  47. ^ "WWE's Italy Schedule". World Wrestling Entertainment. Archived from the original on March 3, 2010. Retrieved February 17, 2010.
  48. ^ "WWE's Malaysia Schedule". World Wrestling Entertainment. Archived from the original on February 28, 2010. Retrieved February 17, 2010.
  49. ^ "WWE's New Zealand Schedule". World Wrestling Entertainment. Archived from the original on May 27, 2010. Retrieved February 17, 2010.
  50. ^ "WWE's Philippines Schedule". World Wrestling Entertainment. Archived from the original on February 9, 2010. Retrieved February 17, 2010.
  51. ^ "WWE's Portugal Schedule". World Wrestling Entertainment. Archived from the original on March 2, 2010. Retrieved February 17, 2010.
  52. ^ "WWE's South Africa Schedule". World Wrestling Entertainment. Archived from the original on March 17, 2010. Retrieved February 17, 2010.
  53. ^ "WWE's Taiwan Schedule". World Wrestling Entertainment. Archived from the original on April 15, 2010. Retrieved February 17, 2010.
  54. ^ "WWE's United Kingdom Schedule". World Wrestling Entertainment. Archived from the original on February 8, 2010. Retrieved February 17, 2010.
  55. ^ "WWE's Ireland Schedule". World Wrestling Entertainment. Archived from the original on March 25, 2010. Retrieved February 17, 2010.
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