10 Shocking Things You Learn Binge Watching Every ECW PPV
ECW's pay-per-view output was nowhere near as good as you remember, sadly.
"Revolutionary" might be the first word that pops into fan minds when asked to describe Paul Heyman's renegade ECW group. The "mad scientist" vibes Heyman had as a leader gave his ragtag bunch of pro wrestling misfits carte blanche to do pretty much anything they wanted.
That freedom and looseness came as a nasty surprise when revisiting every single ECW pay-per-view ever. No, not the WWE-produced stuff - there's no room for that excellent One Night Stand love letter to hardcore faithfuls, or even the 2006 follow up. There's definitely no space for the dire reboot later that year, or any of the supershow output that followed until Vince McMahon ended his extreme experiment in 2010.
Nah, the original stuff is much more interesting.
Heyman produced 22 pay-per-views between 1997-2001. The only one that isn't on WWE Network/Peacock is a co-promoted event with FMW from December '98, so 21 major events go under the microscope here. You might be left reeling by some of the observations too.
Despite being a huge ECW fanboy in the early-2000s, and someone who will always champion the promotion's impact, this writer has some harsh things to say...
10. Barely Legal = Barely Worth It
ECW’s first foray onto pay-per-view was not the ass-kicking hello to new customers Paul Heyman wanted it to be. Being brutally honest, it's one of the worst company pay-per-views you can find, and was kinda a lame-duck of a card that struggled to get going before Terry Funk's emotional ending.
Cult classic? Yes. Great show? Nope.
It's clear looking back that Heyman didn't really know how to properly package his rebels on pay-per-view. In highlight form and backed by killer tunes, ECW's product was fabulous. Running feature length bouts and presenting a cohesive card that built neatly from start to finish proved challenging for the boss though.
RVD vs. Lance Storm, Shane Douglas vs. Pitbull #2, Taz vs. Sabu and the main event three-way could all be considered disappointments. Of the quartet, it's Taz vs. Sabu that let the side down most; that was one of ECW's prized feuds, but it didn't translate well to PPV at all.