Man… oh man… oh man… oh man… This is going to be painful.
So TNA is going rebrand their upcoming Hard Justice PPV as Hardcore Justice: The Last Stand and will serve as their version of an ECW One Night Stand PPV similar to what was done back in 2005. Apparently, Tommy Dreamer has full control over what happens and there’s presently an effort to recruit former ECW talent (that is not presently employed by WWE or serving 90-day no-compete clauses as a result of being future endeavored) to attend this One Night Stand PPV that is supposed to be the return of “Extreme” Wrestling and a celebration of the ECW legacy… or something.
May I ask why?
The original ECW died back in 2001. That’s roughly nine years ago. It’s old news. It’s gone. It’s never coming back. It had its niche and its place in history, but ultimately, that wasn’t enough to sustain it. So it died. It’s a sad story, but that’s the way it is. It ain’t coming back.
In 2005, WWE put together ECW One Night Stand, a show that was a nice little tribute to the old ECW and was also a fun show to boot. But this was a good four years after the closure of the original company. If this was going to be the “final” ECW show ever made, then that would have been fine. It would have been an appropriate closure to the legacy of ECW.
On a sidenote, I also saw Shane Douglas’ Hardcore Homecoming show that took place in the same night. Not as great as One Night Stand was, but still a fun show to watch and sit through. And if that weekend was all we got – those two shows – it would have been perfect closure to a company that made its mark in the business, but didn’t really have enough to last.
In 2006, WWE brought back ECW as a third, C-grade program that served more as a farming brand to the two bigger WWE franchises than it did as a true ressurection of the Extreme promotion. Oh, they tried to position it as a renegade faction with its own show, but it didn’t last. It ended up being a shitty show that really wasn’t worth the effort in following. That entity was eventually killed off earlier this year and replaced with NXT, a show that is also pretty pointless considering that this is about earning a contract but really, what’s the point since all the contestants get hired anyways? But I digress.
So now the former ECW Originals made their way to TNA. They teased an invasion, even had a little brawl (that looked good until Dixie showed up and stopped everything dead by letting everyone know that she invited the ECW guys), and then this past week, Tommy Dreamer cuts this promo that seems so shallow and so fake that I couldn’t headdesk enough at the absurdity of the whole thing… and the end result is that Dixie gives these guys a night to present fans a product worthy of the legacy they wish to preserve or something. And what does she give them?
One of their Pay-Per-Views.
This isn’t WWE. TNA can’t afford to pull off two PPVs within a month. So they surrender one of their PPVs to these former Extreme wrestlers who are years past their prime, who can’t wrestle worth a lick, who want to bring back a style of wrestling that has overstayed its welcome…
ECW One Night Stand, Hardcore Homecoming… they were great tribute shows, great reunion shows, but that’s all they were. It wasn’t going to be the same thing, it was always going to be a respectable copy and tribute. And ECW was still fresh in people’s minds, what with the Rise and Fall of ECW DVD being a top-seller at the time. So they have those shows and the legacy had closure.
Now some might contend that this Hardcore Justice might be a response to how Vince treated the ECW brand for the past few years. Look, I’m not going to deny that the WWECW shows sucked balls. I only saw one or two episodes and they didn’t seem all that great. Certainly not worth staying up until 3 in the morning to watch… because that’s when they’d air in Canada. So when they killed off the ECW experiment early this year, I thought it was for the best and maybe we can let the corpse rest in peace.
But of course… that’s not the case.
So, this August, TNA presents ECW One Night Stand Long Past The Point Of Relevancy 2010 featuring a bunch of guys who want one final night to preserve their legacy at the cost of TNA’s ever-dwindling credibility. What does that say about TNA? That they’re so desperate for a ratings boast that they drill this ECW corpse until there’s nothing left? Are they so pathetic that, rather than showcase their own talent, they’re willing to give up one of their PPVs for these has-beens?
I hate to sound like I’m harping on TNA or the former ECW Originals taking advantage of a company that doesn’t know any better, but I fail to see how this will benefit anybody. It seems like a desperate plea to attract some of those people who miss the old ECW or something.
Yeah, ECW was great for the most part back in the day. But it’s long gone.
Let it rest in peace.
dtm666 