10 Things Everybody Gets Wrong About ECW

6. Barely Legal Was A Classic

Taz Sabu
WWE.com

Barely Legal was ECW's first foray into the pay-per-view marketplace. Listen to any militant fan of the promotion and they'll wax lyrical about how it was the show that medium needed. Chip away any partisan bias though and it's obvious that the 1997 debut was never going to live up to the hype.

Sorry, folks, but Barely Legal is a tough watch 22 years on.

The production quality was poor throughout, certainly paling in comparison to the top-notch camera work, graphics suites and sheen of the time in WCW and the WWF. Further, some of the matches were (and still are) a colossal disappointment. Taz vs. Sabu, Shane Douglas vs. Pitbull #2 and the main event Three Way Dance remain a big letdown bell-to-bell.

Barely Legal was a tentative step into pay-per-view rather than that hammer to the face ECW sorely needed after all the promotion. Any casual WWF fans lured into buying the show after seeing Vince McMahon talk it up on Raw would've left with a bad taste in their mouths.

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Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.