The wrestling fans will witness the downfall of another mammoth promotion in the world of professional wrestling at the end of this month. ECW will cease to exist soon. Though the “Paul Heyman version” of Extreme Championship Wrestling was over long long ago with superstars like The Sandman, Sabu, Tomy Dreamer, Balls Mahoney, Rob Van Dam, Tazz all gradually sidelined or retired, the brand was still available under Vincent Kennedy McMahon’s Sports Entertainment business. But WWE has now decided that Vince’s version of ECW will now finally be axed at the end of the month.
Under the guidance of talisman promoter Paul Heyman, ECW was once one of the most exciting wrestling promotions across the globe, particularly in the mid 1990s. But the promotion filed for bankruptcy in April 2001 and Vince McMahon bought the company and signed the biggest starts of the show to WWE. ECW was introduced as WWE’s third brand (after Raw and Smackdown) five years later under the stewardship of Paul Heyman and RVD. This new version of ECW was much criticized by the fans as the hardcore, innovative style of wrestling was not found anymore; something that made the original ECW such a huge hit. Heyman and RVD could do nothing but watch WWE tearing apart their vision with their hands tied behind their back. The duo later left WWE. Call it lack of creativity or a well thought-out business plan, ECW gradually became a less-important show where the future stars of WWE were given some serious air-time. Vince, during his brief announcement, simply thanked the producers, agents, production staffs and wrestlers who built the new ECW brand. This left Tazz, RVD and many former WWE and ECE stars furious. The ECW slot in SyFy network will now be given to a new program called NXT; a show that will star the future generation of wrestling. The final show of ECW will be screened on February 23rd, 2010. After all, all good things come to an end!
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