8 Things We Learned From WWE Untold: ECW’s 2nd Coming

5. Shane McMahon Wanted ECW To Be Online Only

Vince McMahon ECW Champion Shane McMahon Judgement Day 2007
WWE.com

How's this for a scoop: it was Shane McMahon who repeatedly went to bat for ECW as a third WWE brand to his father.

Following the then-one-off One Night Stand pay-per-view in June 2005, Shane-O badgered daddy dearest about capitalising on the craving a niche audience had to satisfy their passion for the extreme. When TV networks expressed some interest, any and all control over the direction of a fledgling third wing to WWE's televised output was taken out of Shane's hands.

This is where the story gets depressing. Before Vince took charge, Shane wanted to keep ECW off traditional TV and make it an online only product. His gut feeling was that TV execs wouldn't give enough them freedom to make the show worthwhile, and so he fancied trying out a streaming service via WWE.com instead.

That'd let WWE see if streaming weekly was possible (back before such things were common), and it'd make ECW true to Paul Heyman's original vision. It was a genius idea that was ahead of its time, but it wasn't meant to be. Dad, perhaps rightly seeking concrete dollars for licensing, went the usual TV route.

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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.