ECW Progress Report: Quality vs. Quantity

I'll try to be brief with this one, but, you know how it gets when you're in front of a computer and you have a lot to talk about, with little or no interruption. So, here we go.

Lately, after much talk with fellow wrestling fans and even some other reviews here and there, I've come to see that ECW has become quite a quality show. Despite Raw's endless cavalcades of clownish entertainment, and SmackDown's slow descent into the same spiral as its sister brand, ECW remains the way it was, virtually untouched, and on the same path: creating new stars, re-focusing old stars, and remaining more on the action side of things, with little-to-no extra exposition. This isn't always the case, though, as we do see a lot of recap footage on this show, mostly to push the upcoming PPV event. However, when that's not the case, we can see ECW shine with the talent it brings to the table.

For the month of October, we've seen Yoshi Tatsu establish himself as a growing sensation, Zack Ryder maintain his standing as an increasingly adaptive heel, Sheamus become the big deal of a big man that he is, William Regal remain the dirty, rotten, scoundrel he has always been, Vladimir Kozlov and Ezekiel Jackson dominating as a tandem of tough brutes, veterans like Goldust, the Hurricane, and Tommy Dreamer fulfilling their roles to the best of their abilities, and Christian being as entertaining, charismatic, and athletically sound as possible. It's been a pretty solid effort on all their parts, hence, making ECW a very watchable and entertaining show. And yet, I wasn't shocked to learn that last week's ratings were at a .95, which I believe was ECW's lowest ratings to date. Why the lack of shock? Well, sadly, ECW's quality, as good as it can get, is still not enough to merit new or continuing viewers. This can be pretty disappointing, since ECW is the only quality show that's on WWE television now that hasn't been fully gentrified with "too much entertainment". So, one would say that it is the only show worth watching that is within the WWE programming schedule. However, some, if not most people don't think so.

If you don't know by now, ECW has been completely forgotten on the October PPV schedule, being frozen out of any and all matches on Bragging Rights or Hell in a Cell, when it's obvious that they would have fit in well for either PPV. However, the WWE's booking schemes have virtually proven to be very shoddy in some instances, whether it is in overbooking matches, or overplaying certain gimmicks. If that's not the case, then the match logic has been rather off when it comes to stipulations. In either case, someone must have gotten the message across that ECW wasn't worthy of being on PPV for the month of October. Also, it has been confirmed that the WWE wanted to shift the Smackdown team for Bragging Rights around to a team with more notable wrestlers instead of young and hungry wrestlers that could use the rub for a good push to the top. Instead of making new stars, they went with old ones only because the new guys looked weak against team Raw. Perhaps, they looked weak because everybody's favorite duo of "push killers", DX, made them look like a bunch of nobodys. Since DX keeps on talking, and is consisted of Vince McMahon's favorite "son" and his actual son-in-law, everyone has to listen. How much do you want to bet they had something to do with freezing ECW out of October's events? Well, they probably didn't, but someone obviously did.

I just find it very disappointing that the WWE's only quality show with little or no spots to make you change the channel isn't even an idea of their own, let alone a 2-hour show or wrought with top stars. If you haven't been watching ECW lately, I suggest that you do. Get an inside look at the stars of tomorrow on WWE television. Instead of breaking your brain on nonsensical booking, lousy announcing, re-hashed storylines, dreadful celebrity guests, and the same old main event you've seen a hundred times, go with ECW. I'm sure you won't be disappointed.

Yea, this is starting to sound like an ECW infomercial, but it has its merits, and I just wanted to let everyone know what they are missing. When the WWE was floundering around, looking for new stars to put on Raw, they completely forgot they had a place that was making new stars almost often. ECW continues to make new stars by having great matches with these new stars every Tuesday night, while Raw continues to spiral downward in quality every Monday, and Smackdown follows right after it. The problem is: no one really cares. When these new stars find a new place to go, be it Raw or Smackdown, ECW gets forgotten completely as if it never existed and the new stars just appeared out of nowhere. Can something be done to laud ECW's quality? Only time will tell, quite honestly. But, I will say this: ECW has been doing a better job at entertaining than Raw or Smackdown has, to be quite honest. It has also done a better job with athleticism and action. If you look at any match that has occurred this week, you'd be hard-pressed to say that ECW didn't deliver. ECW delivered, and in spades. It might not seem like a problem, but it is. It is reflecting the quality of Raw and Smackdown, on a whole. When you have people saying that the best rematch of the week was ECW's Christian vs. Chris Jericho over Raw's Cena/HHH battle #1000 or Smackdown's attempt at revisiting the C.M. Punk/Undertaker controversy, which was based on another controversy, you know you have a problem.

I'm just saying........that you can stand to do much better for certain shows that have been around for 10 years or more. Why is it that a show that is reborn from the ashes of an organization that died 8 years ago is doing your jobs for you?

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Thanksgiving weekend. That Sunday is Fan Appreciation Day!