Did ECW Leave A Negative Impact On Wrestling?

I was watching Extreme Rules 2014 the other day. Having only just come back into wrestling it was my first time viewing it. One of the stand out moment for me, as with most people I’d expect, was when Rollins dived from the crowd onto Triple H and Randy Orton, which got a good old fashioned “Holy sh!t” chant. While it was very impressive and took more guts than a lot of people will ever possess, I found myself thinking “that was good and all, but Rhyno hit Spike Dudley with a piledriver, through a table, off the apron in ECW.”

This got me thinking about other recent hardcore moments and feats of endurance and tenacity and the fact that 90% of them are scripted. While this isn’t a bad thing by any means, it can make things feel a bit silly, such as when Demon Kane stamped his broken leg better after Seth Rollins had broken it. Or in worse cases it can completely remove us from a story. This was the case when Reigns was taken out of the rumble but came back despite his injury. I believe this is the case partly due to the popularity of ECW and Hardcore wrestling in general.

Now I’m not saying that wrestlers should go back to the hardcore wrestling. I believe the current climate is heading in a far more athletic direction thanks to the rise of indie wrestling. Nor am I saying that wrestlers should fight through injury, as we’ve seen the impact that can have on people such as Mick Foley, who is in constant pain and can hardly walk. But by being exposed to people who have legitimately fought through pain and injury to provide the best quality match they could has left a lot of fans jaded. And nowhere were these tough SOB’s found more than in ECW and in Japan, with cruel, barbaric matches and shows such as the King of the Deathmatch.

ECW was the first major hardcore promotion a lot of people were aware of and due to its environment. You could almost guarantee to be impressed by someone’s endurance every night, from planned matches such as the Taipei death match to freak accidents like Sabu tearing his bicep nearly off his bone and carrying on. Comparing these feats to Modern day storyline feats almost doesn’t seem fair. Because ECW was a lot more believable because it was actually real, and saying Kane stamping his leg better is on the same wavelength as Sabu and his torn bicep is almost laughable.

Discussing this topic with someone, they said “yeah but ECW and WWE are for different people”. This is a very valid point. ECW was always marketed to middle aged men and angst ridden teenagers, whereas modern day WWE is marketed as family viewing. While this is the case, the most noticeable fan at the moment is the “Smark” – who won’t buy into the fake story lines of endurance and will berate the company for even trying, just as I am right now. Look at Roman Reigns at the Rumble. This could have a knock on affect as kids will join in chants at shows and internalise what they read on the internet in an effort to be seen as old and cool which, let’s be honest, most smarks are not. As you guessed, the overexposure of hardcore wrestlers in the 90’s and early 2000’s has had a negative impact on WWE’s current product, thanks largely to ECW and Japan.

Not wanting to end on a sour note, I believe that Japan has the answer to this issue, and WWE currently has the king of it. Strong Style might be what is need to revitalise WWE and have Smarks, fans and even non fans respect wrestlers more. By allowing the use of Strong Style in some of its matches WWE can show a wrestler’s endurance, allow for character development and keep weapons special. It even has a much lower rate of injury compared to hardcore weapons based matches such as ECW.

Having recently seen Katsuyori Shibata vs. Tomohiro Ishii at the G1 Climax, I have never been more captivated in a wrestling match. Simply by watching Shibata elbow Ishii repeatedly in a corner thinking “he’s out cold and fair enough anyone would be after that”, only for Ishii to rise up and challenge Shibata to hit him harder was by far, the most intense thing I have seen since I have started to watch wrestling. This isn’t unreasonable either.

Since the “new” era started, WWE has noticeably changed for the better. We’ve seen a larger focus on the Superstars as athletes and an increase in the indie style largely thanks to NXT, as well as the arrival and popularity of Shinsuke Nakamura. These factors may indicate Strong Style is on the horizon and if it does arrive it might be able to right a lot of wrongs with the current product.