Analyzing the ECW Brand and the Purpose Behind It

When the ECW Brand was 1st launched in June of 2006 right after One Night Stand 2, the question remained on would it be like the ECW of old or it would be a WWE Version of ECW trying to be a main brand within the WWE. Going into it, I did not watch ECW and follow it when I was younger but I knew it existed. It was on TV but never knew when it would be on exactly. When it revived, the 1st ECW Champion of this era would be Rob Van Dam, the man who won the WWE Title at One Night Stand defeating John Cena. However, after that, things would change due to the drug bust between RVD and Sabu with Big Show on the brand taking the ECW Title. It was seen as almost no choice because of that drug bust. During that time, The Big Show was defending the title against non-ECW Brand competitors such as Ric Flair, Undertaker, Kane, and notably Batista. The match with those two however was booed out of the building at the Hammerstein Ballroom making it the WWE's last appearance on Television. The show was put on Sci Fi with a 1-hour time slot on Tuesdays from 10:00 PM to 11:05 PM due to the possibility of it running over and being live.

The Big Show was then finally feuding with some ECW Originals that was apart of ECW's success mainly with Sabu. Though he was able to fend him off, a short mini rivalry also started with him and RVD but got converted into the Extreme Elimination Chamber that year. He was hurting by that time and needed to take time off but lost the title to Bobby Lashley. For months, Lashley was the face of ECW until they did the controversial decision to put the belt on Mr. McMahon. That was done and to be honest ECW at that point was more or less looking ridiculous and didn't have much of a direction and nothing to fight for exactly. Lashley got the belt but this run would be cut short due to him moving to Raw, which was bound to happen.

By that time, we are now where ECW is currently in, a direction for developing talent. There are no major veterans to help train and instruct younger wrestlers to get better due to Chris Benoit being dead. The ECW Title was originally supposed to be going to Chris Benoit but instead it went to Johnny Nitro now John Morrison. He is the reigning champion and being tested as a future player and could be brought to Raw or Smackdown, whichever he would be needed for most. The top challenger is CM Punk and right now would have to win the title soon enough instead of being a challenger only. By Summerslam, it could change but there are more areas that need to be covered.

It has become a development land with mostly young talent. While it isn't quite OVW but it is more or less seen as a half-step ahead of it but below WWE if that is what the major goal is. It's more or less a development show for the two main shows, Raw and Smackdown. Of course, not to say they're not all young as there are veterans like Steven Richards, Viscera now Big Daddy V, Tommy Dreamer, and Balls Mahoney to name a few. Speaking of Big Daddy V, he needs to put a shirt on as there could be children watching and it could give them nightmares. His name of course is a play off to Big Daddy Cool for anyone who actually caught the indirect reference.ECW might have found out what its true purpose is exactly. It won't be at the level of the other two shows but if it does develop talent and create new characters, it could very well be a success. It is currently on Sci Fi until I believe the end of the year and whether or not it will stay is another story. Only time will tell for sure on this.