10 Greatest Things About ECW’s Final Year

4. The Impact Players Explode

ECW Paul E Dangerously Paul Heyman
WWE

When looking back at the pantheon of great teams, one tandem that doesn't get anywhere near as much love from the masses, is the Impact Players.

Granted, we're not talking the Hart Foundation, the Road Warriors or Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard, but the pairing of Justin Credible and Lance Storm made for a fantastic unit during their time together. Of course, said time lasted not even 18 months, and thus the Impact Players obviously didn't embark on some legendary, lengthy run.

For a spell, though, Credible and Storm were one of the best teams in the industry, as highlighted by how they were positioned by Paul Heyman. Not just did the Impact Players have two runs with the ECW Tag Team Titles, but they were notably paired up against names like Tommy Dreamer, Raven, Shane Douglas, Mike Awesome, the Sandman, Masato Tanaka, Sabu, Jerry Lynn and Rob Van Dam - all talents who were ECW World Champions at some point (albeit if RVD didn't achieve that goal until his WWE days).

The beginning of the end for the Impact Players came at CyberSlam 2000, with Credible defeating Dreamer in an impromptu match for Tommy's freshly-won ECW World Title. That was followed by the one-time Aldo Montoya vacating his half of the company's Tag Team Championships, joining the nefarious Network, and setting in motion a feud with Lance Storm over the greatest prize in ECW.

Credible and Storm did some great work here, with the Canadian serving as the fired-up, pissed-off babyface opposite the cocksure, obnoxious Connecticut heel. As the first notable feud for Credible as the World Champion, this was brilliant and even led to these one-time pals headlining Hardcore Heaven 2000.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.