The Return of ECW

The big news in the wrestling world right now is the WWE's intention to relaunch the ECW brand on a full-time basis. And conveniently enough, it's been timed just right for the second One Night Stand pay-per-view coming up in June.

The plan, according to speculation on the dirtsheets, is that the WWE's primary farm territory -- Ohio Valley Wrestling, which is currently booked by Paul Heyman and Tommy Dreamer -- will simply be converted to ECW. Such a plan makes a lot of sense, at least logistically. There's already a proven infrastructure in place in terms of a regular house show network, television tapings, a wrestling school and so on, not to mention a proven track record of OVW graduates being promoted to the main WWE rosters. So on the face of it, all that really needs to be done is to change the name.

But it's not quite as simple as that, is it? I haven't seen any OVW tapings myself, but from what I've read of the promotion over the last few years, and knowing that until a year ago it was under the very capable but traditional hands of Jim Cornette, Ohio Valley Wrestling is a very different promotion to what ECW was. If anything, it's like comparing ECW to Cornette's first attempt to run an independent territory back in the early '90s, Smoky Mountain Wrestling.

In essence, it's a classic promotion very much tied to the Mid-West with an emphasis on bold characters and telling stories in the ring -- a lesson in the basics, really, that the kids today need schoolin' in. ECW, in contrast, is the street-smart big-city cousin with a switchblade in its back pocket. Sure, ECW had some memorable plots and angles too, but by and large its booking was driven by the hardcore element. It wasn't called Extreme Championship Wrestling for nothing. People didn't go to the ECW Arena to see technical classics of ring psychology -- they went to see someone get bludgeoned with the weapons they brought with them. They went for the blood and the barbed wire and the tables and the swearing and the envelope-pushing. They went to see the stuff that no one else in America was doing at the time.

So the promotional infrastructure might be in place, yes, but it's going to take a lot more than a name change to turn OVW into ECW. The farm territory factor is just one considerable obstacle; if this new ECW is to be anything like the old ECW, it's got to be a standalone promotion with a distinct style that will certainly be at odds not only with the current Ohio Valley house style but also with what the WWE's bookers deem acceptable for the Raw and SmackDown! rosters. Presuming that the new Deep South territory takes OVW's place as the farm league, that might resolve the issue, but it's a significant shift in focus for the team behind the scenes at OVW that can't and won't be taken lightly.

In the few days since the ECW rebirth plan was leaked online, talk has already gone from a tentative launch with just house shows with no TV slot, to a regular showcase spot on the WWE's weekly programming, to a full-on dedicated show on national cable and a resumption of the ECW house show network as it was before Heyman closed up shop in January 2001. Sheesh! Let's not get ourselves carried away here. The return of ECW is an exciting prospect, undeniably -- and especially for the likes of me who never had access to the original ECW in its heyday -- but we don't want another 'invasion angle' on our hands now, do we?

Anyway, until a concrete announcement has been made the details are all mere speculation at this point. In the meantime I'm looking forward with optimism to see what happens. If the rumours are true, I'm sure Heyman and Dreamer will do a great job with the brand. But will Vince McMahon let them? That remains to be seen.