8 Ways ECW Shaped Modern Wrestling
6. Acknowledging The Competition
Vince
McMahon’s policy used to be to never mention the competition. His strategy was to
brainwash the mainstream consciousness into making WWE synonymous with wrestling, genericising the brand à la Kleenex or Xerox. Wrestlers who jumped ship from the
territories or WCW were given new identities, their past accomplishments
erased.
ECW,
on the other hand, branded itself as the alternative to the major leagues, and
in doing so, chastised WWE and WCW for being stale, safe and insulting to the
audience. ECW commentator Joey Styles referenced prior achievements of renowned
stars like Terry Funk and Brian Pillman, and often mocked the mainstream
companies for lacking testicular fortitude during particularly brutal matches.
When one of the main companies would acquire an ECW guy, that talent’s departure
would be acknowledged as either selling out or getting a deserved break.
Through
Heyman’s masterful “us vs. them” mentality, there were no characters more hated
in ECW than WWE and WCW.
Taking
a page out of Heyman’s manual, McMahon’s policy soon changed when on the losing
end of the Monday Night War, as Jim Ross, Jim Cornette and D-Generation X
regularly blasted WCW. Of course, Eric Bischoff had no issue with returning
fire.