It has been nearly 14 years since Paul Heyman closed ECW's doors, and nearly five years since the "WWECW" version of the brand stopped operating. It almost seems like there hasn't been any time apart, though, as companies (sometimes run by ECW people themselves) continue to use ECW workers in an attempt for another "nostalgia run". What will ECW's lasting legacy be in the end, though? On one hand, you have ECW supporters, who will praise just about everything the promotion did, talking about how innovative and underrated they were. On the other hand, you have ECW naysayers, who talk about how the company has received too much credit for things through the years, and how the product hasn't withstood the test of time at all. These sides have waged war for years now, with neither side wanting to budge. When it is all said and done, ECW does deserve the credit for a lot of the things they did. They pushed the envelope, allowing for the WWF and WCW to do so, as well, which is a huge reason why the WWF was able to be so successful during the Attitude Era. Paul Heyman was the master at accentuating the positives, while hiding the negatives, and that goes for everything from his wrestlers to the way ECW's shows were produced. While a lot of matches that were viewed as "good" or "great" 15-20 years ago don't really hold up after repeated viewings through the years, that can be said for matches from any wrestling company in the past, so ECW shouldn't get criticized too much for that. Unfortunately, the company's legacy gets watered down further and further with every time someone decides to bring people like Tommy Dreamer, Sabu, New Jack, Balls Mahoney, etc to wrestle in the modern day. If people would just let ECW be, fans could finally begin to truly discuss the promotion's legacy in the proper fashion.
Columnist/Podcaster/Director at LordsOfPain.net for nearly seven years, with nearly 2000 total columns written. Interviewed and/or involved in interviewing the likes of Tyler Black/Seth Rollins (twice), Diamond Dallas Page, Jimmy Jacobs, Christopher Daniels, Uhaa Nation and more.
