7. The Company Hosted A Match Between WWE & WCW Stars
By the year 2000, visible cracks were showing in ECW's formula. The oh-so-promising TV deal had already went sour, and it seemed Heyman and his cast of colourful characters were simply playing out time on TNN, seemingly unable to hide their resentment for the station and the way it had treated them. In addition, WCW and the WWF had raided several top talents, and ECW were struggling to replace them. When Mike Awesome joined WCW, it was treated like a big acquisition for those folks in Atlanta, but they'd quickly destroy the man's reputation by handing him rubbish gimmicks like 'That 70's Guy' and 'Fat Chick Thrilla'. This was a far cry from the hard-hitting wars Awesome had featured in during his ECW tenure, and he wasn't the only one who was floundering. Taz, renamed 'Tazz' by the WWF, wasn't doing so well. An initial debut at the Royal Rumble had been full of promise, but ECW had booked him much better. When WCW signed Awesome, he was still the ECW Heavyweight Champion, and a wacky deal was done between all 3 companies to host a match between Awesome and Tazz for the title, on an ECW show. That's right, a WCW wrestler faced a WWF performer on the ECW platform.
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.