10 Wrestlers You Totally Forgot Worked For ECW
Hooking up 'Big Poppa'.
It's a strange thing, revisiting ECW through a 2018 lens.
Where once, the promotion was glorified for its brutal cutting edge and gritty innovation, its key players have cannibalised the corpse so thoroughly that there is very little of the old magic left to recover. Its rated R philosophy subsumed and arguably perfected by the WWF, we are years removed from nostalgia both literally and in sprit. The awesome One Night Stand shows reminded us of what we loved about the promotion, but House of Hardcore?
ECW was a moment in time. Living that moment over and over again brings into focus that, for the self-styled 'Nirvana' of professional wrestling, there was a lot of Godsmack in its bowels.
Still, the promotion's legacy is assured, if we can ignore all that. Though flawed and much-bettered in recent years, the Rob Van Dam vs. Jerry Lynn programme retains a certain charm, like an 8-bit classic that just about holds up, if you can forgive the choppy frame rate. The long-term, absorbing storytelling, wild, revolutionary angles and unique cast just about transcend its retrospective ugliness.
And ECW is one of few modern promotions of renown to have survived and thrived through a surge of DIY creativity, to such an extent that, when famous names were parachuted in, they were hardly defined by nor defined the promotion...
10. Sid
Sid entered ECW as he entered most promotions: blitzing his way through unfortunate souls in ghoulishly entertaining short-round squash matches.
Both performer and promotion were past their primes, but the spectacle of Sid in ECW was still a spot of worlds-collide fun, particularly since he looked even more massive in those small-scale civic centres. Heyman is remembered for his old "accentuate the positives, hide the negatives" maxim, but lost to revisionist history is the fact that so many high-profile ECW matches went far, far too long.
This wasn't the case with Sid, thank Christ.
Sid debuted at Guilty As Charged. He was always going to generate a massive pop, but he was helped on the night by the dismal "crazy" acting of impromptu opponent John Kronus. Sid emerged, wearing jeans, because it was only ECW, and no-sold Kronus' flurry of punches. He then grabbed him by the throat. We expected Sid to land his trademark gentle choke slam, but the man acquitted himself to his new hardcore home by recklessly launching Kronus neck-first out of the ring and through the ever-present ringside table. The Millennium Man was in ECW for a minute, but what a minute it was.
Hilariously, Sid was safer in the land of barbed wire, unprotected chair shots and fire than he was in WCW where, under the direction of John Laurinaitis, he snapped his fibula in two following an ill-advised top-rope big boot.