WWE is the biggest wrestling organisation in the world, of that there can be no doubt. WCW ran it close for a few years in the late 1990's, but ultimately Vince McMahon prevailed. Now, granted, this has led to a little complacency on WWE's part, as Vince has always worked best when he has had major competition or his back was up against the wall. But even when things were going better than they are today (and we needn't worry about WWE going out of business any time soon) they haven't always been successful in everything that they have done. Yes, in life you have to take chances - calculated risks, if you will - but WWE has made some decisions that over the years have made people sit up and, along with Stone Cold Steve Austin, say "What?" We're going to look at ten of the biggest flops in WWF/E history - in and out of the ring - and see if anything could have been done to rescue these creative mishaps. (For reference, we will not be including the Gobbledegooker, Isaac Yankem DDS or Papa Shango's special effects -these are always included in any flops list; this one is intended to be more thought provoking.)
10. ECW
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPQcUoAiX1o Let's get a few things straight. I was a big fan of Paul Heyman's original incarnation of ECW. No, they didn't always get everything right, but it was awesome for its time. Fast forward to 2006 and Vince McMahon, after a successful ECW One Night Stand PPV the year before, decides to launch ECW as a third brand within WWE. It was given a one hour time slot on the Sci-Fi/Syfy channel and Paul Heyman was given creative control (of sorts). So far, so good..... I remember being in America in July & August2006, and watching a particular episode on August 1st which featured the debut of CM Punk. It also featured a main event of Batista v Big Show getting booed out of the building on live TV. Oh how I laughed......But only for a little while. Vince's ECW was never what Heyman thought it would be. Slowly but surely the brand was diluted and ratings went down. Heyman quit (or was fired, take your pick) after the disastrous December to Dismember PPV and the show eventually became a version of what we now know as NXT - it featured up and coming performers, with a few veterans thrown in for good measure. It was finally taken off the air in early 2010. Could anything have been done to make ECW a viable brand within WWE for the long term? Unfortunately, I don't really think so. As we will see in later pages, if something isn't Vince's idea it eventually is done away with. Many fans were left wondering what could have been. But what's that old expression about rose-tinted spectacles?