Well, if considering the lampooning nature of the 1990s in the pro wrestling industry, the idea that ECW's place in all of this as an outside instigator is incredibly important. As the "third" major American company, the idea that ECW promoted hardcore and pure wrestling over classic portrayals of the business and cartoonish buffoonery (and excelled in doing so) pushed forth WCW's attempts at indoctrinating cruiserweight wrestling into the industry, as well as then then WWF's "Attitude Era." Insofar as ECW poking fun at the competition, as well as the competition poking fun at them, the silliness is obvious and rather commonplace. However, the more intriguing issues to consider center around moments when ECW's wrestlers, wrestling or characters were directly lifted from the bingo hall on the corner of Swanson and Ritner in South Philadelphia and put on Raw, Nitro, Smackdown, Thunder or global Pay-Per-View. Some of these moments will be obvious, others, less so. But, when thinking about the groundbreaking legacy of Extreme Championship Wrestling, it's these moments that show that ECW was on point, progressive and always a bit more than ahead of the curve. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then after reading this list, consider that Paul Heyman and his famed "gang of misfits" should have been the most flattered crew of all time.
20. WCW Took Legendary ECW Matches And Made Them Commonplace
At one point, ECW employed Rey Mysterio, Psychosis, Dean Malenko, Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit and Chris Jericho. Especially in the case of say Malenko and Guerrero, what were industry-redefining matches became merely early-event or mid-card filler in WCW. If an ECW fanatic, the best two out of three falls match between Dean Malenko and Eddie Guerrero has legendary connotations. Given how in-ring solid this match was and the obvious chemistry the two share, the idea that it took well over two years before Guerrero and Malenko hooked up in televised action is insane. To also consider that this match was merely a match on Nitro between US Champion Guerrero and challenger Malenko is even crazier. http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x68wst_nitro-97-dean-malenko-vs-eddie-guer_shortfilms I urge anyone reading this article to Google search legendary ECW matches between competitors who later ended up in WCW and you're certain to likely be disappointed at Mikey Whipwreck and Hardcore Hak (Sandman) having a match on the third hour of Nitro. In a sad case of a company having too much talent and too few hours over which to spread them, WCW was a company that suffered from a failure in executing many of the potentially big drawing matches they had on their roster at any given time.
Besides having been an independent professional wrestling manager for a decade, Marcus Dowling is a Washington, DC-based writer who has contributed to a plethora of online and print magazines and newspapers writing about music and popular culture over the past 15 years.
