WWE ECW (officially known simply as ECW and colloquially known as ECW on Sci-Fi or ECW on SyFy and WWECW, a portmanteau of both "WWE" and "ECW") was an American professional wrestling television show that was produced by WWE, based on the independent Extreme Championship Wrestling promotion that lasted from 1992 til 2001. The show's name also referred to the ECW brand, in which WWE employees were assigned to work and perform, complementary to WWE's other brands, Monday Night RAW and Friday Night SmackDown.
WWE's ECW debuted on June 13th, 2006, on the Sci-Fi network in the United States and Global Television Network in Canada on Saturday mornings and ran until it's final episode aired on February 16th, 2010, on the rebranded SyFy network. It was replaced the following week by WWE NXT. Every episode is available for on-demand streaming via the WWE Network and Peacock.
During the shows existence, ECW had been broadcast from over 120 arenas, over 80 cities and towns, and 4 countries, the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and Italy in 2007.
SHOW HISTORY:
ECW Launches on Sci-Fi Network (2006):
WWE acquired the trademarks and rights to Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW)'s video library and assets in 2003 and later began reintroducing ECW through content from ECW's library and a series of books, which included the release of The Rise and Fall of ECW documentary. The enormous popularity of ECW's merchandise prompted WWE to organize an ECW reunion pay-per-view event called ECW One Night Stand, which took place for the first time in 2005. The financial and critical success of the event motivated WWE to organize a 2nd One Night Stand the following year. With a rejuvenated interest in the ECW product, WWE began exploring the potential possibility of reviving the promotion full-time, as the third brand of the WWE umbrella. The news that WWE was bringing back ECW was leaked in the middle of April as Vince McMahon decided to revive ECW as a full-time third WWE brand. Reports beforehand stated that WWE was preparing to bring back ECW immediately after WWE's WrestleMania 22. mega show.
On May 25th, 2006, WWE announced the launch of the ECW brand as it's own stand-alone brand, like RAW or SmackDown, with it's own television weekly program on the Sci-Fi network (now SyFy). Despite initial concerns that professional wrestling would not be accepted by Sci-Fi's target demographic, network President Bonnie Hammer stated that she believed ECW would fit the channels theme of "stretching the imagination". Sci-Fi (now SyFy) is owned by NBC Universal, parent company of USA Network and exclusive cable broadcaster of RAW and SmackDown. ECW''s weekly series was originally given a 13 episode run as a "summer series" on Sci-Fi. The premiere received a 2/79 rating, making it the highest rated show on cable in it's time slot. Because of it's good ratings, it was granted an extended run through 2007. On October 23rd, 2007, the network renewed the series through 2008. Prior to the shows launch, WWE opted to cancel its webcast Velocity and replace it with the new ECW program.
Original Format (2006):
ECW was initially produced differently from WWE's other shows. For televised shows, the main ring-facing camera was placed on a different location in the arena while the wrestling ring itself featured an ECW logo on the mat and all black turnbuckle covers. The male performers were referred to as "Extremists" instead of "Superstars" while female performers were called "Vixens" instead of "Divas". However, the show steadily began being produced following the same format as RAW and SmackDown. As opposed to the original promotion, match rules, such as count outs and disqualifications, were now standard. Matches featuring the rule set of the original promotion were then classified as being contested under "Extreme Rules" and were only fought when specified.
Former ECW Owner Paul Heyman served as the on-air "ECW Representative" (a reference to how Heyman was identified on Monday Night RAW during the ECW invasion of 1997). According to an interview in the UK newspaper The Sun, Heyman wrote the show's weekly scripts and submitted them to writers for possible changes and then Vince McMahon had the final say. Following December to Dismember, Heyman was relieved from both his on-air and off-air duties with WWE.
Change In Format (2007-2010):
While the show started out as a ratings success, it began drawing criticism early on from fans of the original ECW promotion. This was most evident by the negative crowd reaction "old school" fans gave the main event of Big Show vs. Batista at the August 1st, 2006 show at the Hammerstein Ballroom, which often held original ECW events between 2000-2001. After Heyman left in late-2006, there was no ECW authority figure until August 14th, 2007, when Armando Estrada was announced as the new ECW General Manager.
On May 6th, 2008, ECW celebrated it's 100th episode on Sci-Fi. On June 3rd, 2008, Estrada was replaced by Theodore Long as the General Manager of ECW. ECW moved to 9 PM ET / 8 PM CT on September 30th, 2008. ECW moved back to it's 10 PM ET / 9 PM CT timeslot on May 5th, 2009/ On the April 7th edition of ECW it was announced that Theodore Long was returning to SmackDown to fulfill the role of General Manager. From this point on the Interim General Manager was named as Tiffany who took over as full-time General Manager of ECW on the June 30th, 2009 episode. On July 7th, 2009, the Sci-Fi channel was rebranded to SyFy, prompting WWE to change the show name to ECW on SyFy. In 2009, a "new superstar initiative" was established for the purpose of introducing new talent to the WWE roster, mainly those from WWE's developmental territory Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW).
Cancellation and Aftermath:
On February 2nd, 2010, WWE Chairman Vince McMahon announced that ECW would be going off the air and would be replaced with a new weekly program in its same timeslot with McMahon stated "would be groundbreaking" and an "original show". It was later announced that the show would air it's final episode on February 16th, 2010. On the February 9th, 2010 episode of ECW, the new show's name was revealed to be WWE NXT.
Online Presence:
At the launch of ECW, WWE.com introduced the "Hardcore Hangover" segment, a video feature which gave fans the opportunity to stream or download video footage from the weekly ECW program. This was available for fans in the United States and Canada. On October 16th, 2007, it was replaced by a new feature which made full episodes of ECW available for streaming on WWE.com the day after the event originally aired. After gathering a list of names from fans and conducting an online survey, the feature was renamed ECW X-Stream on October 31st, 2007. Past episodes of ECW on SyFy were previously viewable on the video streaming website Hulu, which are available on WWE Network and Peacock.
Authority Figures:
| Authority figures | Position | Date started | Date finished | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vince McMahon | WWE Owner, Chairman, and CEO | May 22, 2006 | February 16, 2010 | |
| Paul Heyman | ECW Representative | May 22, 2006 | December 5, 2006 | Resigned after Big Show lost the ECW World Championship at December to Dismember 2006. Was legitimately let go from the company following disagreements with Vince McMahon and creative team over the direction of the new ECW brand. |
| Armando Estrada | ECW General Manager | August 14, 2007 | June 3, 2008 | Lost the position when Theodore Long was announced as his successor |
| Theodore Long | ECW General Manager | June 3, 2008 | April 7, 2009 | Appointed as General Manager by the WWE Board of Directors. Tiffany served as "Assistant General Manager" from June 3, 2008 – April 7, 2009 |
| Tiffany | ECW General Manager | April 14, 2009 | February 16, 2010 | Served as "Interim General Manager" from April 14, 2009 – June 23, 2009, after Long returned to SmackDown to become General Manager again. Opted to fully take over the position on ECW until the show's ending |
| Commentators | Date started | Date finished |
|---|---|---|
| Joey Styles, Tazz, Jim Ross, and Jerry Lawler | June 7, 2006 | |
| Joey Styles and Elijah Burke | November 14, 2006 | |
| Joey Styles and Tazz | June 13, 2006 | April 8, 2008 |
| Mike Adamle and Tazz | April 15, 2008 | July 22, 2008 |
| Todd Grisham and Tazz | July 29, 2008 | |
| Todd Grisham and Matt Striker | August 5, 2008 | September 16, 2008 |
| September 30, 2008 | March 31, 2009 | |
| Jim Ross and Matt Striker | September 23, 2008[35] | |
| Josh Mathews and Matt Striker | April 7, 2009 | October 20, 2009 |
| Josh Mathews and Byron Saxton | October 27, 2009 | February 16, 2010 |
| Ring announcers | Date started | Date finished |
|---|---|---|
| Lilian Garcia | June 7, 2006 | |
| Justin Roberts | June 13, 2006 | September 4, 2007 |
| September 29, 2009 | ||
| Tony Chimel | September 11, 2007 | September 22, 2009 |
| November 24, 2009 | December 8, 2009 | |
| Lauren Mayhew | October 6, 2009 | November 17, 2009 |
| Savannah | December 15, 2009 | February 16, 2010 |
| Segments | Hosts | Year(s) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Peep Show | Christian | 2009–2010 | In-ring interview segment. Discontinued when the brand closed |
| The Dirt Sheet | John Morrison and The Miz | 2008–2009 | In-ring interview segment. Discontinued after The Miz and Morrison were drafted to Raw and SmackDown respectively |
| The Abraham Washington Show | Abraham Washington | 2009–2010 | On-stage interview segment. Discontinued when the brand closed |
| Striker's Classroom | Matt Striker | 2006–2007 | In-ring "educational" segment |
| Kelly's Exposé | Kelly Kelly | 2006 | Striptease segment. Discontinued and replaced by Extreme Exposé |
| Extreme Exposé | Kelly Kelly, Layla, and Brooke Adams | 2007 | In-ring dance segment. Discontinued following Brooke's release from WWE |
| 15 Minutes of Fame | John Morrison | 2007 | Fifteen-minute match challenge for a future ECW Championship match against Morrison. Discontinued following Morrison's defeat by CM Punk |
In addition to being broadcast on Syfy, Mun2, and Universal HD in the United States, ECW was broadcast on a number of channels in many different countries.
| Country | Network | |
|---|---|---|
| Algeria and The Middle East | Showtime | |
| Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica and Mexico | FX Latin America | |
| Australia | Fox8 | |
| Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Nepal | TEN Sports | |
| Cambodia | MyTV | |
| Canada | Global TV | |
| Finland | MTV3 Max | |
| France | Action | |
| Germany | Sky Deutschland | |
| Italy | Sky Italia | |
| Malaysia | Astro Super Sport | |
| New Zealand | The Box | |
| Philippines | Jack TV | |
| Portugal | SportTV 3 | |
| Singapore | SuperSports | |
| South Africa | e.tv | |
| Taiwan | Videoland Max-TV | |
| United Kingdom and Ireland | Sky Sports 3 |
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