10 Wrestlers Who Hated Working For ECW

10. Jerry Lawler (Original)

Jerry Lawler held a grudge against ECW when the promotion was first starting to make waves in the industry largely due to fans crediting it and its wrestlers as the innovators of the hardcore style in professional wrestling. Lawler took grievance with this because he had regularly been putting on hardcore classics for decades in Memphis and elsewhere. Like his Empty Arena Match with Terry Funk in ’81, Austin Idol in a Steel Cage in ’87 and his ‘No DQ’ with Eddie Gilbert in ’88.

Lawler agreed to work for ECW in its ‘90s prime for a short run at the request of WWF, who had established a working arrangement with ECW. Lawler famously began calling ECW “Extreme Crappy Wrestling” on episodes of Raw and began feuding with Paul Heyman and the rest of the ECW misfits. Lawler shocked the Philadelphia crowd at ECW Wrestlepalooza 1997 when the lights came back on in the building and he was stood in the ring viciously insulting them as he, Rob Van Dam and Sabu beat down the locker room.

Lawler has spoken of his animosity towards ECW: “In the early 90s when ECW came along and sort of invaded the WWF, I made the comment that ECW stood for Extremely Crappy Wrestling. To me, it was like these guys just came along and watched all of our old Memphis tapes and went out and did what we did and then called it extreme. We were doing extreme wrestling matches in the Memphis territory before most of these guys were even born — things like the Terry Funk empty arena match or the concession stand battle in Tupelo, Mississippi.”