Two weeks ago, 15 superstars were traded between the brands of Raw, Smackdown, and ECW. It sent stars on the rise, established stars, and stars of yesterday every which way but off the air. How did ECW fare? ECW proceeded to lose the stars that headlined its brand for the better part of 2008 and gained 5 superstars that have either toiled away on ECW for a time, toiled away in the WWE with limited success, or well...toiled away at being useless. Think of your favorite sports team trading away its proven talents for throw-away talents, talents who could be leaders, and over-the-hill talents that were or weren't successful in their day (yea, it sounds like the Knicks at times, I know. I'm a Knick fan, and this sounds like something they'd do. Only thing is, the Knicks wouldn't do this to help another team get great talent). Unfortunately, the WWE is not a major sports team, nor a major sports organization. So, if ECW has to get shafted for its talents to increase the power of other brands, then it's going to happen. The only consolation: four new stars who will continue ECW's trend to bring about the best young talent the WWE can create. In all honesty, as clever a move as that might be, logically, it's not a safe nor very smart move.
Yes, I know the talents that have come into ECW as rookies in the past two weeks have lots of potential. In fact, I think they have all the potential to do as well as the previous crop. But, there's still that risk factor of them actually failing...and miserably. With the WWE's track record of getting a handful of things right, and a majority of things wrong (or sometimes the other way around), you can never really be sure. Yes, I understand that it was probably time to start letting the good stars fly to better shows, but, did that mean the established talents that can help bring a star up had to go as well? Also, who's to say that these rising stars will get a fair shake on the shows that they are on? We've already seen Jack Swagger tap to Cena (which I blogged about and am still very mad about), and we've seen Cryme Tyme beat the Hart Dynasty in their first tag match on Smackdown. So, Cena and his Cryme Tyme buddies beat more talented wrestlers on their first nights out and some of us are supposed to be ok with that? How are we supposed to invest in the future of these stars if they are made to not have a present? This move might very well have hit ECW where it hurts.
Before this sounds like a complete downer, I will look at the positives. ECW does pick up some great talent in Shelton Benjamin and William Regal. Both wrestlers have excellent scientific skill, natural heel ability, and have been parts of some of the more underrated wrestling matches to happen within the last 10 or so years. Both were former champions on the mid-card level, along with tag team champions. However, both have not reached main-event status or attained major singles gold along the lines of either the WWE, World, or ECW titles. This trade can prove to be a great chance for them to secure the ECW title. Also, the new stars added to the show do bring some freshness to the program. The energetic Yoshitatsu, the arrogant Abraham Washington, the cool Tyler Reks, and the dominant Seamus all bring their impressive styles of wrestling and sports entertainment to the forefront of ECW. In fact, these guys have the indelible task of replacing whatever stars were on ECW recently or over time (out goes Finlay and Ortiz, in comes Seamus and Reks). I'll blog about these new stars over the course of the next 4 weeks to get an inside look at each. It should be interesting.
But, with every good thing, there's a bad thing or two. Ok, so you have Shelton and William. What exactly does Goldust and the Bella Twins bring to the table? Goldust, as good as he is, has lost his appeal for the most part. If not with the fans, it was definitely with the pundits backstage. His job is just to be, well, funny, weird, and bizarre. The last person to be that way on ECW got fired within the start of the year: the Boogeyman. Trust me when I say this: the novelty of the Boogeyman had disappeared pretty much on his last return as well. So, how long before Goldust sees his pink slip? Also, how useful can the Bella Twins be, knowing that there's only one diva to wrestle with on ECW? They have already embarrassed Katie Lea. So, what else are they good for? Being twins? There aren't any titles for women on ECW. So, who cares? I'd say every red-blooded male who likes to watch women do, well, anything. That's not particularly helpful. Lastly, what do you do when half of, if not all your potential main event talent disappears? You have no main event. If not right now, then not for a while. It's just Christian and Tommy Dreamer. Sure, there's Kozlov, and now Benjamin and Regal, but seriously, does anyone care? I'm guessing not the fans and not the people in charge. I don't expect them to get very far. Well, Kozlov might be the next champ, but after losing to Christian for contention for said title, it's doubtful.
It's funny. I've talked to two people about the move, and they openly said the following: "All the top stars are off the show? They must be ready to cancel ECW!" As short-sighted as that sounds, it would not be surprising. I've said it before and predicted it, too. ECW might very well be canceled tomorrow because no one cares. But, then, I've always said that ECW is still too precious a commodity to get rid of. How else will the WWE get new stars exposed in bulk? Then again, if no one cares about ECW, why keep it going?
Like it or not, ECW has changed. It has new stars that have to get over, throw-away stars that have no place to fit in, and in-between stars that should have gotten a push as soon as they showed up. The problem is that the quality of said stars are in question. The new guys have yet to be proven on a big stage. The in-betweeners are probably here for creative reasons, or lack thereof. Lastly, the throw-away stars are still here when they should have been fired or never hired in the first place. All us viewers can do now is sit back and wait until the new stars show us their quality and improve the show. Otherwise, ECW on SyFy might just be a memory. Did you know the regular watchers of the channel don't want all this wrestling on their network either? Also, it's been made official. After last week's show, TNA is officially beating ECW in the ratings on average.
Let's see: low quality wrestling, viewers that don't want ECW around, and TNA is now beating them. The wheels might very well be turning to ultimately destroy ECW as an entity, a brand, and as a memory from the minds and hearts of anyone who cares about it. Thanks to the general malaise shown towards ECW, I don't think it would be much of a tragedy.
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