ECW Returns full time

[Guest Dan]

WWE IS BRINGING BACK ECW AS A FULL TIME ENTITY, MAKING PLANS TO SIGN TALENT FROM THE GLORY YEARS FOR NEW VENTURE

by Dave Scherer @ 2:56:00 PM on 4/23/2006

 

 

WWE has made the decision to bring back Extreme Championship Wrestling as a full time entity and has begun talking with former ECW talent about returning to work for the new version of the legendary promotion. As of right now, WWE is targeting a September return for the promotion. No decision has been made as to exactly how the company will be brought back yet. It's possible that it will take over the present OVW territory, that it will be a promotion that gets matches on the Raw and/or Smackdown promotions or possibly in some other manner. Sources have told us that Paul Heyman and Tommy Dreamer will be booking ECW when it starts up.

 

WWE has already contacted a number of ECW wrestlers and contracts will be sent out to them this week. The talents are being offered three year deals which consist of a series of one year contracts, with rollover clauses. A number of wrestlers have been contacts so far. We can confirm that WWE has talked with The Sandman, Francine and Balls Mahoney and will be sending contracts out to them this week.

 

We will have more information on this story later today or tomorrow.

 

Credit PWInsider.com

[Guest Kanenite]

OH MY GOD!!! That's awesome news, I really hope that it plays out well. I really hope that we get to see the matches though and it gets aired on tv or that will really suck.

[Guest Danny Styles]

It could happen, though i doubt it would

 

I think WWE would do it though because they could than try and lure people like Raven, Rhino, Dudleyz and Sabu from TNA to work for the ECW

[Guest Dave7g]

Thank God for that, hopefully they will give it the Smackdown timeslot, and just unify Raw and Smackdown as they have been getting boring lately.

 

Gret news though.

[Guest Twig]

Hmm. This is stange news. It may look, feel, and be booked like ECW, but if it's owned by Vince... I may just feel dirty watching it... in a bad way. I'm riddled with inner conflict.

[Guest porridge]

Yes this is great news!! :tban

 

As Dave said, unite Raw and Smackdown, give ECW the Friday night slot and the world will be happy again!!

[Guest Dan]

It should be interesting to see what happens with ECW getting TV time, maybe they'll get some coverage on the new CW Network comes in when UPN ends, I believe in September. I know Smackdown has supposedly been given thier slot, but maybe a ECW TV show will as well.

[Guest Reality Checked]

that is AWSOME news! suposing its true of course. there has been many ecw rumours that its coming back full time, but ive never seen news of it with this much information, so we will see hey. bieng someone who never saw ecw when it was on tv, but having seen the dvds, ill love to see a tv timeslot of it. wait and hope hey :D

[Guest Nemesis Enforcer]

Super news, I was a massive fan of old ECW and if WWE come good then Hayman and Dreamer will book and have controle over it, if Vince starts interfering and making it more WWE'esk then it will not work, leave it to the old guys to run and it will have a massive fan base again!

[Guest Nemesis Enforcer]

According to the WrestlingObserver, WWE will not be adding a third day of television tapings, so if there is a separate TV show slated for the revived ECW promotion, the matches will be taped at the RAW or SmackDown! events.

 

The promotion, which will likely include old ECW names and current WWE developmental wrestlers, will, however, likely run independent house shows

Source Headlineplanet.com

[Guest Clarkey]

In a story reported on earlier today by Pro Wrestling Insider, WWE is indeed bringing back the ECW brand name for merchandising purposes as well as some form of weekly television and house shows.

 

The decision appears to have been finalized in the past week as several former stars were offered three-year contracts.

 

Paul Heyman will be in charge of the brand. It is believed this will be a mix of both former ECW wrestlers and new WWE developmental wrestlers.

 

It is expected this will lead to some significant changes in the WWE television product as well. The company is not looking to add a third day of television taping. It would likely be handled similar to the Superastros deal in the late 90s, with weekly matches taped before either the Raw or Smackdown tapings.

 

Meltzer's take.

[Guest Slim Jim]

Meltzer has confirmed it..

 

In a story reported on earlier today by Pro Wrestling Insider, WWE is indeed bringing back the ECW brand name for merchandising purposes as well as some form of weekly television and house shows.

 

The decision appears to have been finalized in the past week as several former stars were offered three-year contracts.

 

Paul Heyman will be in charge of the brand. It is believed this will be a mix of both former ECW wrestlers and new WWE developmental wrestlers.

 

It is expected this will lead to some significant changes in the WWE television product as well. The company is not looking to add a third day of television taping. It would likely be handled similar to the Superastros deal in the late 90s, with weekly matches taped before either the Raw or Smackdown tapings.

 

Edit - Beat to it.

[Guest the HiTman]

I can't see how this is going to happen at all. First thing that comes to mind is that Vince doesn't allow almost all dangerous moves to be carried out, so how will ECW work?

[Dead Crow 370]

Wow, and to think, NEXT WEEK myself and Colin will be interviewing CW ANDERSON of ECW fame LIVE on VOICE OF WRESTLING UK.

 

Just saying...

[Guest Drake]

*cough*cheap plug*cough* :D