The History of Extreme Championship Wrestling

[SUPERECWFAN1]

( This may take 2 posts....so please wait for questions and replies .. ;) )

The history of Extreme Championship Wrestling for those who don't stretches back to 1991 . In fact the seeds for what ECW would become existed in Joel Goodhart's old Tri-State Wrestling which was located in the South Philadelphia area.

Goodhart's Tri-State was booked by Eddie Gilbert and the matches could be pretty hardcore for thier time. But Tri-State sadly fizzled away by 1992. In this time a man named Todd Gordon would become involved in the wrestling business and had saw a lot of Tri-State Wrestling shows. So he hired " Hot Stuff " Eddie Gilbert as his booker and writer in 1993 and Eastern Championship Wrestling was born.

1993-1994: The Early days of ECW

Gilbert booked ECW awhile but Eastern Championship Wrestling only ran cards once or twice every 3 to 4 weeks. Gordon over time had a falling out with Gilbert and called up a man who had just gotten fired from WCW ( World Championship Wrestling ..owned by Ted Turner/Time Warner) named Paul Heyman.

Heyman was pretty much tired of wrestling as he saw it then. He wanted to shake things up and told Gordon this. Before Bischoff got the WCW job in 1993 , Heyman pitched that WCW should go back to the basics and be more hardcore. That the product needed to change because it had became all stale with gimmicks. WCW proptly turned him down pretty fast.

But Gordon loved this idea. That Eastern Championship Wrestling should spearhead this " Revolution ". So Heyman got the job and in his 1st show he brought in Tommy Dreamer and Taz. 2 Men who would help inspire the change ECW was going thru.

In 1994 a young man named Shane Douglas was pissed and angry. Claiming WCW had banished him without letting himself get a fair chance , Douglas took his ECW TV time to rip on Ric Flair & WCW. Claiming he was the next star to step into Flair's shoes and that Ric was scared , Douglas built his name in ECW. Calling himself the " Franchise " Douglas became Eastern Championship Wrestling's " World Champion " in no time.

In 1994 Eastern was supposed to merge with the National Wrestling Alliance and several other indies in an attempt to rebuild the NWA name back into a big name syndication wise. Instead...well ...Heyman & Douglas had other ideas.

That night Shane tossed the NWA World Title down claiming he wasn't gonna represent a dead organization and rechristened the Eastern Championship Wrestling " World Title" the Extreme Championship Wrestling " World Title ".

The product underwent a change in late 1994 and 1995. ECW started airing music videos in segments. Thier wrestlers took part in more brutal matches mixed in with the classics a Chris Benoit , Dean Malenko and Eddie Guerrero would throw in !

The promo's , the music , and the changes to the product was a revolution in change. The wrestlers would give interviews that showed thier hearts. Mick Foley in 1994 and 1995 used his ECW promo time to really sell different sides of his Cactus Jack personality. Its no wonder he signed with the WWF after ECW.

But the thing is..as ECW started getting more and more notice , it effected thier abilities to keep talents locked to ECW. In fact Benoit , Guerrero and Malenko were soon lured to bigger pay days and exposure much to fans dismay. Because ECW fans realized the end was near for those talents being that close to them and being an ECW Fan you always knew when and how a guy was leaving. The usual chants of " Please Don't Go " would follow.

As time would pass and more guys would flow out of ECW at the end of 1995 , the company had inspired something. Losing tons of Main Event talent is always a blow. But ECW had a loyal fanbase who believed in the Company..and name of ECW. Not the talents. They could deal with losing people as long as the name ECW stood.

The Middle Years : 1995-1998

Losing the Public Enemy ( may they R.I.P ) Johnny Grunge and "Flyboy" Rocco Rock , Mick Foley, Chris Benoit,Eddie Guerrero , Dean Malenko and Shane Douglas would seem like a huge blow to a company like ECW. Heyman who had assumed equal ownership in ECW by this point retooled the company like he would do many times.

ECW was a farm league of sorts sad to say. They had to retool and refocus. So the company brought in the Mexican Luchadores like Rey Mysterio Jr , Konnan , and Pscosis in short order . Those men added a new element to ECW and for the 1st time lucha wrestling started to get big exposure in the USA.

Heyman also had loyal ECW Wrestlers. He had Mikey Whipreck, Sandman , Tommy Dreamer , and Taz. All these men would stay ..some thier entire careers in ECW. Some would leave near the end.

1995 & 1996 saw the company getting bigger exposure. At a WWF PPV in Philadelphia , ( King of the Ring ) fans erupted into ECW Chants. They booed the Main Event which shocked Vince McMahon. McMahon wanted to know what and who this ECW was.

McMahon was intriqued by this ECW. And in 1996 he invited ECW to take part in a small mini-invasion at another WWF PPV. This one had Heyman with his loyal employees Sandman ( Jon Fullington) and Tommy Dreamer ! Fans were getting excited as the WWF were going thru a bad period.

In 1997 ECW gained thier 1st ever PPV. Barely Legal was to happen on April 13th 1997. The company was setting a 1st. The 1st wrestling company to just use national syndication across the United States to do a PPV. They didn't even have a primetime cable deal...yet.

McMahon had ECW come in for thier 1st InVasion angle to hype the PPV. By then Vince had became very impressed by Extreme Championship Wrestling and he wanted to incorporate some of the ECW blueprint Heyman was using to fix his stale company. The war with WCW had the WWF at a end game where they needed a change...its just ECW influenced it. McMahon to show his gratitude would in effect pay Heyman money and send wrestlers to ECW so the " Mad Genuis " could get them over.

The WWF/ECW relationship money wise would not however...be found out til years later in ECW's Bankruptcy case where the WWF would end up buying everything ECW owned.

The InVasion angles ran for the better part of 1997 . Jerry Lawler would show up on ECW shows and ECW guys would work WWF RAW. The entire time helping to switch the stale RAW to RAW is WAR by Feb. 1997. Its little shock that the 1st person to down a beer on WWF RAW was not Steve Austin....it was the Sandman. Some things became pretty fun to watch as the WWF Attitude woulkd mirror some ECW Concepts.

By 1998 ECW was running between 4 to 6 PPV's a year. The wrestling bubble started to rise and ECW's syndication time was starting to become a higher price. Heyman....forced into a war with the WWF & WCW signed a lot of talents to contracts to keep them.

The sad fact was ECW existed on the bubble. The rising costs of producing syndicated TV Nationwide , the costs of going on the road and PPV , mixed with paying talents started to go up. ECW road the bubble as more talents left for greener pastures.

end of part 1

[SUPERECWFAN1]

By 1999 it became clear that ECW needed Cable. By 1998 the ECW bubble Heyman rode to expand ECW was shrinkin. In 1999 the company was reaching a " Do or Die " phase. Thier 1st real one in a long while.

The cable company Viacom approached Heyman with putting ECW on The Nashville Network. For Paul Heyman and the loyal ECW Workers this seemed like a kiss from god himself. ECW would be broadcast for free on a national cable channel hitting 50 to 60 million potential homes !

In Aug. 1999 the ECW/TNN deal was annouced to much fanfare. the Wrestling Wars on Monday nights now had a new entry coming on Fridays. ECW was gonna be the 3rd big wrestling company to start on a channel. Fans wondered if a potential ECW vs WCW vs WWF war on Mondays were ahead.

The only problem though was the fact by the end of summer 1999 , Vince had seen ECW coming. So he decided to raid the roster in good time. The 1st big raids were The Dudleyz and Taz. By 1999 Taz had became a certified Main Event star in ECW. He was ECW World Champion and fans legit were scared of the 5-9 human suplex machine who once coined the term " Fuck the World " and carried a title called " FTW World Title." Taz was a bad mood s.o.b who as he would explain...hated people. If they got in his way...screw em. His whole identity was that he was on the " Path of Rage ! "

Taz was a major loss as he was only gonna be on ECW on TNN a short while . The Dudleyz however were due to leave ECW after thier 1st TNN show so ECW ran an angle where the Dudleyz as Tag Champions said they were gonna take the ECW Tag Titles to WWF. This would piss off the loyal ECW fans. The results saw ECW bringing back ex-ECW star Raven ( Scott Levy ).

Raven was and is a comic book fan who fans loved. Losing Taz and the Dudleyz was a big price. But gaining Levy back as Raven seemed ok. The only problem was Scott Levy was battling steriod problems and gained an untold amount of wieght to kick them.

The problems with Raven didn't compare to what Paul Heyman was going thru. By early 2000 the writing was on the wall. ECW wouldn't get a 2nd hour even as ratings were in the 1.0 range. By this point Viacom had started to reveal thier true intentions....ECW was an experiment to see how Wrestling faired on the Network.

Heyman , who was pissed and was sole owner at this point decided that it was time to teach TNN a lesson. With little to no advertising ECW was forced to advertise other TNN shows like ROLLERJAM and Rock n Bowl. Heyman , decided he'd advertise them all right...he just decided to tank them is all.

The storyline with ECW vs TNN started and Heyman forced the main heel to come out and plug Dukes of Hazzard , Dallas , Rock n Bowl and Rollerjam at times. Don Callis was so hated and the fans who knew the real life troubles TNN was putting ECW thru responded by doing huge chants of " Rollerjam Sucks " or " Rock n Bowl Blows " . The results saw ratings on both shows tank and TNN was less than happy as weeks passed.

ECW was TNN's highest rated show but they sure as hell didn't want Paul Heyman there. In the spring Heyman saw the writing on the wall and dared TNN to cancel the show ON THE AIR. The fact was ECW was losing money at this point and the TNN deal was killing them.


Over the summer of 2000 Heyman had his loyal band going full force. Dreamer was back ( putting off shoulder surgery and thus making his one arm look like a scarecrow) and Heyman pushed his youngest talents. The fans still filled out for the typical ECW great moments and they remained behind ECW.

Heyman however was backed into corners. Unable to shake himself free of bad deals with TNN and rising costs started to miss paying his wrestlers. Some looked past it...loyal to Paul Heyman and Extreme Championship Wrestling. Some however didn't and left when the bad times started.

By the fall of 2000 TNN delieverd the bad news. ECW was gonna be kicked off. No Network and USA Network refusing to air wrestling anymore had ECW in a bad spot. The rising costs and the fact Heyman was weeks late on paying his men seemed to be the writing on the wall.

Vince McMahon however bargined with TNN and gave Heyman a few weeks to find a suitable cable home. As well as a part buyer into the company . Heyman wanted to sell 50% of the company but a few decided against it .

By 2001 ECW was off its cable home and the company seemed to be ending. After the 2001 Guilty as Charged Jan. PPV , the company called ECW closed its doors. Heyman was in massive debt and even though his loyal workers wanted to keep going...he couldn't any longer. The writing was on the wall that March.

Heyman signed a WWF contract and started work in the WWF. He helped as many guys as he could land deals in WWF and WCW over the next few weeks. He also was asked by Vince McMahon if he wanted to do the March PPV with ex ECW talents who were in the WWF then. Heyman said it would be wrong and the March PPV was scrapped .

R.I.P Extreme Championship Wrestling: 1993-2001.

You want a New InVasion ? ECW InVades Part 1 & 2 : 2001-now !

In 2001 ECW wasn't the only company to go down and under....World Championship Wrestling was sold to Vince McMahon. The former owners ( Time Warner ) botched a deal when Jamie Kellnor cost the company 50 million dollars when ex-WCW VP Eric Bischoff with Fusiant Media was gonna buy and own WCW. Kellnor after the sale was near canceled WCW and its shows from TNT and TBS. Its little wonder he was bounced soon after.

Vince was busy trying to get TNN ( Spike TV) to give him 2 hours for his planned WCW relaunch. ECW was gone by this point and McMahon was confident he could relaunch WCW with the guys he picked up from WCW. The only problems was that he didn't pick up any Big WCW stars besides Diamond Dallas Page or Booker T.

Its little shock fans were less than kind to this. Also missing was the fact Vince booked his WWF Stars as being better than the WCW stars. The biggest angle in wrestling was fast becoming a massive egg on Vince's face. No more was that evident than the May RAW where fans chanted " Boring" as WCW's Booker T had a World title match against Buff Bagwell.

WWE went to work massively. The company needed to speed some things up. The plan was to bring in ECW to fued against WCW on thier own shoiw. Now they needed ECW to save the angle. Unlike WCW where the fanbase had slowly evaporated , ECW's was still there demanding to see the stars.

On June 5th 2001 , ECW inVaded as Rob Van Dam and Tommy Dreamer came from the ring. The 2 men helped a bunch of old ECW wrestlers win and as more guys hit the ring..they too turned on the WWF guys. Paul Heyman who was doing commentary with Jim Ross strolled into the ring and gave his speech and promo: " What does it look like J.R ? I tell you. It seems this man has left Vince McMahon's WWF ....and this man has left Shane McMahon's WCW. We've been outside looking in...and what about us. The Tribe of EXTREME ? Were not the WWF .....were not the WCW. Were E...C....W ."

Sadly even with Heyman giving great ring promos and even with Rob Van Dam becoming a certified Main Event star fans demanded to see...the WWF would drop the ball in 2001. The saddest most pathetic thing was seeing Vince put his daughter over the hardcore product as owner to have a 3 way McMahon War. The booking of putting himself over the InVasion rubbed people wrong and the fact he wouldn't let his WWF stars look weak to most ECW/WCW guys was the problems that sank everything.

By November the writing was on the wall. Vince had blowed the biggest money making angle of all time due to pettyness and ego. The fact he wouldn't put these guys over cleany at times led to this. The InVasion ended and sadly ECW would dissapear for the next 4 years as fans struggled to forget Stephanie McMahon owning the company.

In late 2004 Vince would release the " Rise & Fall of ECW " DVD. The 2 disc DVD would go on to sell as much as the Wrestlemania DVD's shocking McMahon. Cleary fans were hot for this ECW still. They had never really left !

This time Vince was hellbent to not make the same mistakes. This time it was a true ECW InVasion as Heyman was back. The wrestlers were given TV time as they would show up InVading RAW beating down WWF stars. Fans went ape shit for ECW and the response was clear....ECW LIVED on.

The PPV went off better than expected and with DVD's sales of ONS doing very well , talks of doing a new ECW PPV in 2006 will happen. Now ECW exists possibly if the PPV sales and due to DVD sales to hardcore fans.

ECW DVD's avliable:
ECW: The Rise & Fall of ECW
ECW: One Night Stand PPV
ECW: Bloodsport: The Most Violent Matches in ECW History.

[Mabels Folly]

My dogs breath smells like icing.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

My dogs breath smells like icing.


Wow....I'm glad you decided to share this on this thread. I mean I'm sure that took a lot of thought to put down.

[Sean McClain]

*claps*

Very nicely done.

It just goes to prove that the idea of ECW can live on in our hearts and minds as long as we still yearn to see one guy beat on another with a flaming, barb-wire wrapped, Singapore cane.

[twilight]

This was very interesting Supe. *claps*

I never actually got to watch an ECW show but I was still a wrestling fan during the Invasion.RVD!

*revels in nostalgia*

[SUPERECWFAN1]

*claps*

Very nicely done.

It just goes to prove that the idea of ECW can live on in our hearts and minds as long as we still yearn to see one guy beat on another with a flaming, barb-wire wrapped, Singapore cane.


You can tell you love your fellow man when you bash his brains in with a steel chair. :evilsmile

[SUPERECWFAN1]

This was very interesting Supe. *claps*

I never actually got to watch an ECW show but I was still a wrestling fan during the Invasion.RVD!

*revels in nostalgia*


You should check out the " Rise & Fall of ECW " DVD. It has 6 to 8 matches. Tons of extra's and a 3 hour story where you learn a lot of truths on what led to ECW's downfall.

Rob Van Dam has a lot of ECW work on his " Rob Van Dam: One of a Kind " DVD. I think 12 to 13 matches are all ECW. Includes his classics with Jerry Lynn.


I posted this thread really so members can see why I use the name " ECW" and like the product a lot. And hell....ECW changed the bsuiness. Its like Image comics to an extent . ;)

[Punchy]

Times like this I wish we had a sports/sports entertainment board.

[Paul McEnery]

When you could have the fun of trying to own the front page?

[Trystenn]

When you could have the fun of trying to own the front page?
And stopping said owner of the front page?

[BigJayStudd]

Great post/articule. What I loved about ECW is that, for the most part, they didn't treat thier fans like fucking morons.

[nubly]

didnt know ECW didnt exist anymore. so does vince have a monopoly on wrestling now?

[SUPERECWFAN1]

Times like this I wish we had a sports/sports entertainment board.


Yeahh.....but Jonah has spoken and ECW shall stay on the Community board where all can see ! ;)

[SUPERECWFAN1]

Great post/articule. What I loved about ECW is that, for the most part, they didn't treat thier fans like fucking morons.


The fans were very smart. They knew when a guy was leaving and when a guy was coming. This is before the internet really took off. Jericho himself said many knew who he was and his history in Japan as they had traded tapes of his matches.

The ECW fans were very loyal. Rarely do fans stick with a company when they lose a ton of talent . But the fans believed solely in the name " ECW ". Heyman cycled thru a lot of Main Event talent in those 8 years.

:)

[SUPERECWFAN1]

didnt know ECW didnt exist anymore. so does vince have a monopoly on wrestling now?


Wow....you didn't know ? I am shocked because I thought most knew Extreme Championship Wrestling was gone.


In 2001 the company filed for Chapter 11 reorganization bankruptcy. Now many believed Heyman could work for the WWF and possibly work out a sale of ECW to the WWF over the summer during InVasion.

The only problem was Heyman missed a Bankruptcy hearing and the judge wasn't so happy. He remade the case into a Chapter 7 liquidation Bankruptcy and the WWF had to jump in quicker.

Now the main people in the ECW Bankruptcy case was Acclaim ( the video game maker and owner of Acclaim Comics) who claimed they owned a 5% stake in ECW at the time. Heyman & Dreamer had sold a 5% stake in ECW with the option for more to Acclaim since they made the video games for ECW. The WWE was on another side wanting it all.

The WWE scooped in and grabbed all the trademarks , rights ect ect in 2001. The only problem was they were running a storyline in 2001 called InVasion and the judge in the case got angry since Vince McMahon was using the ECW name he didn't own yet . McMahon tried to say it was a "Wrestling Storyline " and had no basis in fact. The Judge...didn't see it that way and ordered Vince to drop using the ECW name til he owned it.

This is why the ECW/WCW team became the " Alliance " onscreen. They had to stop using the ECW name til the courts worked it out. By 2003 it all was settled. Vince would walk away as sole owner of all of ECW while Acclaim had pretty much went under too. So yeah...Vince McMahon owns ECW.

He owns the thing that makes him the most money. The tape library. Its expected that the $ 500,000 he paid for it is chump change compared to how he'll use it to sell ECW DVD's and wrestler DVD's. :)

[Super Sonic]

The writing was on the wall!

The writing was on the wall!

THE WRITING WAS ON THE WALL!

Great post, but you used the above phrase too much. =P

*still waiting for his Rise and Fall of ECW DVD*

[SUPERECWFAN1]

The writing was on the wall!

The writing was on the wall!

THE WRITING WAS ON THE WALL!

Great post, but you used the above phrase too much. =P

*still waiting for his Rise and Fall of ECW DVD*


Wow.....didn't know I used it that much. Damn.... :eek:



Just 4 times lol. ;)

[Super Sonic]

Wow.....didn't know I used it that much. Damn.... :eek:

Didn't stop it from being an interesting post. ^^

And now I think I'll be naughty, and get the ECW One Night Stand torrent, and if it's good, I'll buy the DVD. =P

[noh-varr]

Huge fan of ECW, but there were a few things I think you missed. Tommy Dreamer had a group of backers ready to buy ECW and front money to keep it going near the end, Heyman told him no. Also the NWA title throw down pissed off a lot of ECW wrestlers oddly enough (just a side note not really that big). And I really don't think Vince was as shocked by some of those revelations as you said (I know it's all from ECW's perspective) I'm sure he knew the Rise and Fall of ECW was going to sell well. Hell ECW's dvds that were released right when they got the tv deal sold very well especialy for something that wasn't WCW or WWF. Also I recall hearing that when Heyman said he was trying to save ECW near the end he was instead helping make Rollerjam, then of course making a deal with WWF.

And I remember ECW chants at several WWF and WCW shows I went to, so what if we started them? Doesn't matter, others joined in :D

[SUPERECWFAN1]

Huge fan of ECW, but there were a few things I think you missed. Tommy Dreamer had a group of backers ready to buy ECW and front money to keep it going near the end, Heyman told him no. Also the NWA title throw down pissed off a lot of ECW wrestlers oddly enough (just a side note not really that big). And I really don't think Vince was as shocked by some of those revelations as you said (I know it's all from ECW's perspective) I'm sure he knew the Rise and Fall of ECW was going to sell well. Hell ECW's dvds that were released right when they got the tv deal sold very well especialy for something that wasn't WCW or WWF. Also I recall hearing that when Heyman said he was trying to save ECW near the end he was instead helping make Rollerjam, then of course making a deal with WWF.

And I remember ECW chants at several WWF and WCW shows I went to, so what if we started them? Doesn't matter, others joined in :D

I really sadly didn't know or read that Dreamer had any backers to buy ECW. Tommy gave everything he had to ECW so it wouldn't shock me if he did. The only ones I know who showed an interest was Rainbow Media and several Executives in Time Warner who mused they could unload WCW and pretty much pay off ECW's 8 million in debt pretty easy.

The ECW DVD was expected to sell good. But not at what the WWE expected. In fact they sheduled the June PPV in 2005 after this happened. the ECW DVD outsold the Monday Night Wars and sold up there with the Wrestlemania DVD's.

Rob Van Dam has said he sold McMahon on a ECW PPV after the success of the DVD. I think the company expected sales to be good...but not at what they saw. The demand was there so they have kept releasing ECW DVD's. ECW: Bloodsport II is expected out in a few months ( May/June) .

[noh-varr]

I really sadly didn't know or read that Dreamer had any backers to buy ECW. Tommy gave everything he had to ECW so it wouldn't shock me if he did. The only ones I know who showed an interest was Rainbow Media and several Executives in Time Warner who mused they could unload WCW and pretty much pay off ECW's 8 million in debt pretty easy.

The ECW DVD was expected to sell good. But not at what the WWE expected. In fact they sheduled the June PPV in 2005 after this happened. the ECW DVD outsold the Monday Night Wars and sold up there with the Wrestlemania DVD's.

Rob Van Dam has said he sold McMahon on a ECW PPV after the success of the DVD. I think the company expected sales to be good...but not at what they saw. The demand was there so they have kept releasing ECW DVD's. ECW: Bloodsport II is expected out in a few months ( May/June) .


I was shocked to find out about Tommy's backers too. Now as for why Heyman refused the sale the opinions differ some think that Heyman didn't want anyone else running the show, or if he didn't own ECW no body would. Then there's ideas by then he had already agreed to sell to Vince so that's why he turned him down. We will never know most likely.
Well I enjoyed most of One Night Stand, I still didn't like the Mike Awesome match (never was a big fan, though damn I wanted Spike to beat him at that pay per view.... Spike Dudley the ECW champ one can dream). And it being right before the main event bugged me a lot. I can't afford wrestling dvds anymore, though I'm going to pick up Forever Hardcore (a great history of ECW with fantastic interviews loved the ones with Sinister Minister, Francine, and New Jack) I do wish they could have used some footage though would have been even better! Plus in that one Funk mentions why he went to Hardcore Homecoming instead of One Night Stand. And will pick up Hardcore Homecoming, it has a better card in my opinion.

[Cowlander]

Great posts Super, I remember me and my friends getting together to see this "new" organization on PPV. It was a November to Remember or or the Halloween PPV. The matches with RVD and Lynn blew us all away we couldnt believe it. Those are still some of the greatest matches I've ever seen. I'll defeinitely try to pick up that RVD dvd if it has his matches vs Lynn.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

For those who wanna know who this : Tommy Dreamer is ( Tom Laughlin ) is heres the rundown. Its little shock Dreamer became one of my favorite stars in ECW. Because he had that " Never Say Die " attitude. No matter how bad an ass kickin , Dreamer kept comin for ya !


In 1993 Tommy Dreamer would make his debut in ECW. He was a different man than what we would see later. He used more mat style wrestling moves and looked like a nice kid out there. In fact Tommy looked like the type of nice guy you'd see in the WWF or WCW at the time. And the ECW fans hated his freakin guts.

I mean they rode his ass hard at times. Dreamer wore suspenders and green tights which didn't help sell himself to those hardcore motherf-ckers in ECW. It would take a lot to get him over.

Dreamer would go into his 1st real War in the ring with the Sandman in 1994. The Sandman would carry a cane , smoke and drink like a sailer. It made sense the hardcore ECW Fans would love him. His biggest workout was the entrance to Enter Sandman by Metallica , downin a 6 pack of beer as fans would sing along ! They loved the freakin guy.

Sandman and Dreamer would have a lot of hardcore battles. The biggest battle was when Dreamer and him had car parts in the ring and Dreamer bashed him with a card door , lol. Then Dreamer to show how bad ass he was and what impressed a few fans was when he let himself be caned by the Sandman. Up to this point fans didn't know how far Tommy Dreamer would go...but watchin him get caned ( inspired by the boy overseas who was supposed to be caned) repeatedly and not backin down impressed them.

The whole time Tommy kept saying " Thank you sir, may I have another! " Dreamer's back was a bloody mess but he never backed down and the fans started to turn towards him. But the storyline that put fans solidly behind Dreamer was a storyline that would wage for 3 years.

The Raven storyline began like this: Boy goes to summer camp and is a popular jock ( Dreamer). Other boy is an outcast ( Raven) who battles jock repeatedly there. Dreamer never could get a fair win over Raven then so he returned to haunt Tommy Dreamer as an adult! Now throw in a former fat girl ( Beluh ) who is now a hot smokin babe and you have the recipe for drama.

Before long the entire roster would sink into this storyline and so many things would spin out. Dreamer never could get a fair win over Raven in the entire 3 years. From 1995 to 1997 Raven would be his arch nemisis. Raven's henchmen would always end up tying Dreamer in fueds like Brian Lee , Stevie Richards , and the Blue Meanie .

Beluh was smokin hot now. She was mad at Dreamer for ignoring her in that camp so she and the Raven led group made his life hell. Then in late 1995 they threw a curve. Beluh annouced she was pregnet and a pissed , angry Raven came down and beat up his flunkie Richards ! Thinkin him the father!

Then she let it slip....it was Tommy Dreamer's kid ! Dreamer hit the ring as this finally made him get over fully. He beat up Raven and his flunkies to save his woman. Then weeks later it was found out Beluh was cheating and Shane Douglas knew who it was !

Douglas claimed it wasn't a man as it was revealed Beluh was seein the hot smokin asian babe Kimona ( her last name was a tease on I Wanna Lay Ya lol) ! The 2 women shared a hot kiss as Dreamer stood tryin to hold em apart.

Then he cut the thing that really sold him as the Hardcore Innovator of Violrence to ECW fans in attendance. When asked what he was gonna do...Dreamer reponded: " I'll take em both! I'm HARDCORE ! " ( Corny as hell but lookin back...the man was freakin awesome.) :D


In 1997 after 3 years of blood , sweat and tears Tommy Dreamer would finally pin Raven at the ECW Arena . Raven ( Scott Levy) was departing for the greener pastures of WCW and Dreamer scored his win finally. That night another War started for Dreamer as he was forced to battle Jerry Lawler & Rob Van Dam for ECW's honor.

After the Raven/Dreamer War , Tommy really didn't have big battles anympore. He had smaller scaled fueds or wars against the Dudleyz ( Bubba Rey & D-Von, Steve Corino , The Impact Players ( Justin Credible & Lance Storm ) and C.W Anderson from 1998 on out.

Tommy never wanted to be ECW World Champion or hold a title. He was always happy putting guys over who would step up into the Main Events. His injuries read like a car wreck: Broken heel , bad knees , herniated disc in his back , near testicle injury and a screwed up shoulder bone.

Dreamer to his credit always seemed to put off surgery to keep going. He worked in a special medical boot for his broken heel. He once took a cane shot from Jerry Lawler on his testicles and had to be rushed to the doctor. Dreamer claims they had to drain blood from it for a few hours. His back after years of abuse was in a bad shape.

Putting off surgery in 2000 on his shoulder because Paul needed him , Dreamer's bone in his shoulder would heal making him look like a semi scarecrow ! Its little wonder his style of hardcore would make his in ring career short.

But Dreamer gets my props. His toughness and the fact he took part in the 1st ever lesbian storyline in history will seal his place to me. :)

www.canoe.ca/WrestlingImagesD/dreamer_tommy.jpg

[Gaz]

Then he cut the thing that really sold him as the Hardcore Innovator of Violrence to ECW fans in attendance. When asked what he was gonna do...Dreamer reponded: " I'm Man enough to take em both on ! "


Actually, it was "I'll take 'em both. I'm HARDCORE!"
It's extremely corny when reading, but it worked at the time.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

Great posts Super, I remember me and my friends getting together to see this "new" organization on PPV. It was a November to Remember or or the Halloween PPV. The matches with RVD and Lynn blew us all away we couldnt believe it. Those are still some of the greatest matches I've ever seen. I'll defeinitely try to pick up that RVD dvd if it has his matches vs Lynn.


One of the RVD/Lynn matches is on RVD's DVD. You should check it out. Rob talks very highly of it claiming it was really one of his last great matches . ;)

[SUPERECWFAN1]

Actually, it was "I'll take 'em both. I'm HARDCORE!"
It's extremely corny when reading, but it worked at the time.


Corny and thanks. I'll re-edit it. But come on....smoking hot Beluh on one side and smoking hot Asian babe Kimona. What man wouldn't say Tommy Dreamer was thier freakin idol ? :D

[noh-varr]

But you forgot Raven's return! The Dudley Boys ready to leave for WWF, were threatening to take the belts to Vince. Tommy comes out to defend ECW, trying to even the odds with a ladder. Then out of no where, Raven comes out Evenflows one of them and new tag champs, Dreamer and Raven, arch enemies.
Sadly Raven's return never led to the rematch, I think Dreamer winning the last match before Raven left kind of took wind out of it. Imagine Dreamer still never having beaten Raven when he returned! We could have gotten a few good matches then (I know Raven's health had impact too). They lose the belts to the Impact Players and Dreamer also loses Francine his then valet to Raven.
A returning Taz beats Mike Awesome for the world belt, and then fights Dreamer who even comes out on WWE and attacks Taz. Dreamer wins the belt at Cyberslam, him and Raven embrace ending the fued. Then Justin Credible challenges and wins. Tommy is champ for like 20 minutes.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

But you forgot Raven's return! The Dudley Boys ready to leave for WWF, were threatening to take the belts to Vince. Tommy comes out to defend ECW, trying to even the odds with a ladder. Then out of no where, Raven comes out Evenflows one of them and new tag champs, Dreamer and Raven, arch enemies.
Sadly Raven's return never led to the rematch, I think Dreamer winning the last match before Raven left kind of took wind out of it. Imagine Dreamer still never having beaten Raven when he returned! We could have gotten a few good matches then (I know Raven's health had impact too). They lose the belts to the Impact Players and Dreamer also loses Francine his then valet to Raven.
A returning Taz beats Mike Awesome for the world belt, and then fights Dreamer who even comes out on WWE and attacks Taz. Dreamer wins the belt at Cyberslam, him and Raven embrace ending the fued. Then Justin Credible challenges and wins. Tommy is champ for like 20 minutes.


I sadly didn't have time to really do all that. Theres like a 10,000 word limit per post so I went short with it. I just wanted to go over Dreamer's good angles and his major health issues. But thanks for addin this.

[noh-varr]

His title runs were pretty good. And one of the better things going on during the last years of ECW IMO. Plus it led to one of my favorite champs, Justin Credible. I think he helped stabalize the belt again after all the hecticness with Mike Awesome and Taz. Plus it seemed a good time for someone on the midcard to be moved up. And it helped push Tommy once more as the soul of ECW who you want to win yet love seeing lose at the same time.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

His title runs were pretty good. And one of the better things going on during the last years of ECW IMO. Plus it led to one of my favorite champs, Justin Credible. I think he helped stabalize the belt again after all the hecticness with Mike Awesome and Taz. Plus it seemed a good time for someone on the midcard to be moved up. And it helped push Tommy once more as the soul of ECW who you want to win yet love seeing lose at the same time.


No one took more abuse online than Justin Credible. Poor Pj Polaco . The poor guy was pushed into a Main Event slot due to the losses of a few big stars and the internet hated him. I thought he did some great heel work in ECW.

In 2000 the Main Event scene in ECW consisted of Jerry Lynn/Justin Credible/Steve Corino with Dreamer mixing in at times. No one could execpt ECW had to redo thier Main Event scene as usual do to the losses so Credible got a ton of heat for being World Champion.

[noh-varr]

I avoided the net when I'm deep into wrestling. After the botched Invasion angle I gave up for a while and now slowly coming back. So I never saw the net hating Credible. But it never seemed to be there at shows, at least not anything besides what your supposed to have being the heel. I thought he made a great champ myself. Rhino would have been a good champ for a bit too if he wasn't only the double champ the last night. In ECW I thought he was a bad ass, he was the big f'n deal! Big bastard who'd just beat up everyone, look what he did to the Sandman and his wife. Ah how I miss them so. What I really wish they had done is push Balls Mahoney into matches where he wrestled, hell him and Axel Rotten. Both were good at mat wrestling, more then they were ever given credit for. Balls was a former amateur wrestler until he beat up a ref, and many old ECW guys say Axel was much better then he was ever allowed to be since those hardcore matches against Ian that pretty much synched him as a hardcore brawler. While I'm reminising, do you remember when Balls came out and wanted a fight so he offered a beer to the winner and fought the Sandman? That was brilliant I think, especially considering Sandman downed a six pack on the way just to win that one. Will never forget them dueling with the chair and kendo stick. Awww memories....

[SUPERECWFAN1]

I avoided the net when I'm deep into wrestling. After the botched Invasion angle I gave up for a while and now slowly coming back. So I never saw the net hating Credible. But it never seemed to be there at shows, at least not anything besides what your supposed to have being the heel. I thought he made a great champ myself. Rhino would have been a good champ for a bit too if he wasn't only the double champ the last night. In ECW I thought he was a bad ass, he was the big f'n deal! Big bastard who'd just beat up everyone, look what he did to the Sandman and his wife. Ah how I miss them so. What I really wish they had done is push Balls Mahoney into matches where he wrestled, hell him and Axel Rotten. Both were good at mat wrestling, more then they were ever given credit for. Balls was a former amateur wrestler until he beat up a ref, and many old ECW guys say Axel was much better then he was ever allowed to be since those hardcore matches against Ian that pretty much synched him as a hardcore brawler. While I'm reminising, do you remember when Balls came out and wanted a fight so he offered a beer to the winner and fought the Sandman? That was brilliant I think, especially considering Sandman downed a six pack on the way just to win that one. Will never forget them dueling with the chair and kendo stick. Awww memories....


I remember that. I saw the Balls Mahoney/Sandman clash on ECW Hardcore TV.

Another Champion who was booked wrong after he left was Mike Awesome. What a damn monster he was. Heyman really booked him so well to his strengths and used him.

A guy who was 6-6 290 pounds of solid steels and could high fly at times , makes you wonder how WCW could miss the ball with this guy. He'd destroy guys. Watching ECW:Bloodsport and him destroying Spike Dudley thru all those tables was freakin wild.

I may hate Awesome for conducting business wrong but his career went to hell in a handbasket in WCW. I wonder if he realizes how far his career went down after he left ECW .

[Pól Rua]

*claps*

Very nicely done.

It just goes to prove that the idea of ECW can live on in our hearts and minds as long as we still yearn to see one guy beat on another with a flaming, barb-wire wrapped, Singapore cane.

The intriguing thing about ECW was that while many came for the barbed wire, the flaming tables and the Singapore canes, they stuck around for the quality of wrestling and storylines.
ECW made its reputation on Hardcore or Extreme Wrestling, and it was true they had a lot of 'stuntman' style guys who could dive headlong through a burning table wrapped in barbed wire but (as Lou Thecz once put it) wouldn't know a wristlock from a wristwatch...
But on the other side of the story, wrestlers like Chris Candido, Steve Corrino, Dean Malenko, Chris Benoit, Eddie Guererro, Chris Jericho, Al Snow, Terry Funk, Shane Douglas, Rey Mysterio jr., Super Crazy, Kid Cash, Jerry Lynn and Masato Tanaka were capable wrestling technicians.
At a time when most wrestling matches consisted of punch, kick, repeat, it was refreshing to see a federation where there was respect for actual grappling and submission moves as well.

[noh-varr]

I remember that. I saw the Balls Mahoney/Sandman clash on ECW Hardcore TV.

Another Champion who was booked wrong after he left was Mike Awesome. What a damn monster he was. Heyman really booked him so well to his strengths and used him.

A guy who was 6-6 290 pounds of solid steels and could high fly at times , makes you wonder how WCW could miss the ball with this guy. He'd destroy guys. Watching ECW:Bloodsport and him destroying Spike Dudley thru all those tables was freakin wild.

I may hate Awesome for conducting business wrong but his career went to hell in a handbasket in WCW. I wonder if he realizes how far his career went down after he left ECW .


I could never stand Mike Awesome. He just lacked personality and that mullet was just ridiculous. I remember watching him toss Spike through those tables but I was still hoping Spike would pull it through. God him in WCW, remember his disco phase? lol it was horrid. Though I do give Mike some credit, he did some good matches with Spike, New Jack and a few others. Him and Raven as a tag team kinda sucked and his manager the Judge was a bit annoying.

I do agree though if he got a better manager or got better on the mic. He'd have been one of the best champs around. He was a giant especialy at ECW who's roster isn't as big as WWE or WCW.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

I could never stand Mike Awesome. He just lacked personality and that mullet was just ridiculous. I remember watching him toss Spike through those tables but I was still hoping Spike would pull it through. God him in WCW, remember his disco phase? lol it was horrid. Though I do give Mike some credit, he did some good matches with Spike, New Jack and a few others. Him and Raven as a tag team kinda sucked and his manager the Judge was a bit annoying.

I do agree though if he got a better manager or got better on the mic. He'd have been one of the best champs around. He was a giant especialy at ECW who's roster isn't as big as WWE or WCW.


The only problem was WCW used his mic skills to sell him as a Fat Chick Thrilla ( because fat babes need Awesome luvin ) or that 70's guy. The 70's guy was fun with the whole bus and all and he could have still been a monster heel/face as that.

" Don't be pissin on David Cassidy ! He's my idol !! "


But WCW just tanked his career completely. Awesome put Hogan thru a table his 1st or 2nd night in WCW. After that it died. ;)

[noh-varr]

WCW was great at pushing a wrestler their first two appearances and then drop em. I guess I didn't like him appearing apparently randomly and winning the title. There was a list of people I wanted to see as champ after Taz and he wasn't one of them. RVD could have gotten the belt and dropped the TV belt to someone instead. We never did get a good Taz RVD program, just the small run before Taz left.
Awesome in WCW did amuse me though, and I finally saw he did have some personality I'll give them that. Yeah it was abysmal booking for him to pop up throw Hogan through a table then.... nothing! But that is WCW for you.

[Forefinger]

Hey, thanks for posting all that SuperECWfan1. I learned a lot. Of course, my favorite ECW moment is when Chris Benoit broke Sabu's neck. I know, I'm sick....

[SUPERECWFAN1]

Hey, thanks for posting all that SuperECWfan1. I learned a lot. Of course, my favorite ECW moment is when Chris Benoit broke Sabu's neck. I know, I'm sick....


That made Benoit's career though. It was sick and an accident. But Heyman was already running with it the moment Sabu got to the hospital lol. " We'll call you the Crippler. Because you just cripple guys who get in your way! " ;)

[Pól Rua]

I could never stand Mike Awesome. He just lacked personality and that mullet was just ridiculous.

Oddly enough, I love Mike Awesome in what FMW stuff I've seen him in.
He's perfect as the huge lumbering American bully/lummox.
And his matches with Masato Tanaka are always entertaining.
Man, what I'd give for an FMW Cactus Jack T-shirt. It's the standard 'Wanted Dead' Cactus Shirt with 'Funk Masters of Wrestling: The REAL, AMERICAN FMW' on the back.

[Pól Rua]

That made Benoit's career though. It was sick and an accident. But Heyman was already running with it the moment Sabu got to the hospital lol. " We'll call you the Crippler. Because you just cripple guys who get in your way! " ;)

It's always gotta be hard for guys like Benoit and Owen Hart who pride themselves on their technical ability to come out and run with those angles 'Owen 3:16 says I just broke your freakin' neck'.
It's basically like waving a big sign saying, "I F***ED UP!"

I do love the Benoit interview about that where he's on the phone with Paul E and Benoit's all, "How's Sabu? Is he okay?"
And Paul's saying "We'll call you the crippler, because you cripple people!"
"Yeah, okay, but how's Sabu?"
"We'll film your hands, because you break people with your hands."
Mad Professor of Professional Wrestling indeed.

[noh-varr]

It's always gotta be hard for guys like Benoit and Owen Hart who pride themselves on their technical ability to come out and run with those angles 'Owen 3:16 says I just broke your freakin' neck'.
It's basically like waving a big sign saying, "I F***ED UP!"

I do love the Benoit interview about that where he's on the phone with Paul E and Benoit's all, "How's Sabu? Is he okay?"
And Paul's saying "We'll call you the crippler, because you cripple people!"
"Yeah, okay, but how's Sabu?"
"We'll film your hands, because you break people with your hands."
Mad Professor of Professional Wrestling indeed.

In the Sabu shoot interview he said Benoit was with him on the ambulance ride there feeling real bad about it. At least Sabu isn't pissed about it or anything. Pitbull #2 is still pissed about how he got his neck broken by Shane Douglas DDTing him onto the title belt, though if you ask Shane it's all Pitbull's fault since he wanted to really sell the move and let his head hit the title right on without cradling his neck at all! So who knows.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

In the Sabu shoot interview he said Benoit was with him on the ambulance ride there feeling real bad about it. At least Sabu isn't pissed about it or anything. Pitbull #2 is still pissed about how he got his neck broken by Shane Douglas DDTing him onto the title belt, though if you ask Shane it's all Pitbull's fault since he wanted to really sell the move and let his head hit the title right on without cradling his neck at all! So who knows.


Ahhhh the Pitbulls. They were a monster team and its a damn shame how things fell for them. Pitbull 1# ( Durant) has sadly passed and Wolfe is the only one alive now.

I'm shocked WCW or the WWF never signed them. 2 Big guys who could destroy. Hell WCW signed the Public Enemy so why not the Pitbulls ? ;)

[Forefinger]

It's always gotta be hard for guys like Benoit and Owen Hart who pride themselves on their technical ability to come out and run with those angles 'Owen 3:16 says I just broke your freakin' neck'.
It's basically like waving a big sign saying, "I F***ED UP!"

I do love the Benoit interview about that where he's on the phone with Paul E and Benoit's all, "How's Sabu? Is he okay?"
And Paul's saying "We'll call you the crippler, because you cripple people!"
"Yeah, okay, but how's Sabu?"
"We'll film your hands, because you break people with your hands."
Mad Professor of Professional Wrestling indeed.
That was a great part of the DVD. I could just picture Paul getting all excited and rubbing his hands together.

Benoit said that Sabu shifted in mid-air; he was supposed to hit on his back, but he wanted to land on his chest for some reason, and that's why he ended up landing on his head.

I wish that they still called Benoit "Crippler" instead of "Rabid Wolverine".

[SUPERECWFAN1]

The begining of the RAVEN.


Early 1990's : Scott Levy wrestled under a lot of names before he came to ECW. In WCW he was Scotty the Body and Scotty Flamingo. In the WWF he worked as Johnny Polo as a manager and annoucer.

By the end of 1994 , Levy would be fired from the WWF. Sources claim his party lifestyle had Vince scared of the effect he'd have on his son , Shane McMahon.

So where do ya go when your career hasn't taken off ?

ECW : The Raven part 1# :

Levy would end up in ECW and with Paul Heyman , would create a charactor so well known that Levy would use the charactor from then on. The Raven charactor as Heyman described in the Rise & Fall of ECW DVD " Spoke to him. He was so creative. "

The charactor was introduced as an outcast. He was the one who wasn't popular. Picture grunge rock ala Pearl Jam or Nirvana and you have the Raven charactor at his peak. He was anti-social and seemed to have a David Koresh type influence on people.

The way Raven was introduced was unique. Heyman filmed him in a classroom . There Levy would cut a promo using poetry and at the end with a strong message for Tommy Dreamer ! The very end always had the " Quote the Raven , Nevermore ! " tag line.

The Raven/Dreamer war as I detailed in Tommy Dreamer's profile would last for 3 years. It would involve everyone. Raven would prove so popular as a heel he'd get heel runs as ECW World Champion.

He was the boss and he led his heel group. Stevie Richards was his loyal flunkie for a year or 2. The Blue Meanie was Richard's flunkie as well as Raven's . Soon the entire ECW would take part in the Raven/Dreamer war as different teams and angles would spin out of it.

In 1996 , Raven was busy fueding with the Sandman. In his war with him , Raven would do the 1st storyline that would stretch the boundries. Raven knowing how hardcore the Sandman was would use his ex-wife and son in a way to get at the Sandman. Seeing a little 8 yearold kid say " I like Raven better than you daddy ." was really intense. The Sandman was so eaten up by it as were fans. Raven had gotten close and in promos would tell lil Tyler that his dad didn't care lol.

In 1996 , Levy would hang the Sandman. At the same show a young 1996 Olympic Gold Medalist was in attendance and his name was Kurt Angle. Seeing Raven crucify , Sandman made Angle walk. The angle was so heated Heyman forced Levy to make a public apology on the whole Sandman crucifiction !

By 1997 Levy was so over as a heel that he started getting offers from the WWF and WCW. Levy chose WCW due to the money offer they had on the table and at the last ECW show ...Tommy Dreamer pinned him to end an era in ECW. Raven was sadly leaving ECW and fans didn't want him to go.

ECW / Raven part II 1999-2000

I'm skipping over Raven's WCW stay. By 1999 , Levy was pretty unhappy in WCW. His push was ended and he couldn't get a storyline to happen in WCW. So when Bischoff asked if anyone had the balls to quit WCW , Levy stood up. Bischoff tried to back out asking him " So where are ya gonna go ..back to Heyman and ECW ? " to which Levy replied " I'd rather be in ECW than here . So you gonna give me my release ?"

Many others were shocked and loved how Levy had stood up. They too started to want thier release as Bischoff backed off this. Eric Bischoff would be replaced 2 weeks later.

Levy came back to ECW. In his 1st show on ECW on TNN , Levy came out to help his old foe Tommy Dreamer defend ECW's integrity against the departing Dudleyz. The fans went ape shit as thier old favorite was back. The Dreamer/Raven angle stumbled on for months.

Plans to make Raven vs Dreamer for the ECW World title never happened in this period due to the horrible condition Raven was in. He was busy kicking steriods and his body had gained wieght. Heyman was angry because he felt Levy was floating for the year and using ECW as a stepping stone to WWF.

In the final months Raven dissapeared from ECW and the WWF told him to lose wieght before he signed. The end came over the summer. Raven would depart ECW for the greener pastures of the WWF and later TNA.

Raven however has suffered just as many injuries as some in ECW did. In fact if you look close , Levy on one leg wears a bigger boot . Due to knee surgeries one leg is an inch shorter than the other!

Also Levy is a comic book fan . In his matches in ECW he'd wear comic book shirts like " Neil Gaimon's ; Sandman " , " Daredevil " , " Hellboy " and " Concrete " at times. In all in ECW , Raven became a huge impactful heel and his work elevated to where guys like HHH and Edge would go. ;)

www.THERAVENEFFECT.com

[noh-varr]

The begining of the RAVEN.


Early 1990's : Scott Levy wrestled under a lot of names before he came to ECW. In WCW he was Scotty the Body and Scotty Flamingo. In the WWF he worked as Johnny Polo as a manager and annoucer.

By the end of 1994 , Levy would be fired from the WWF. Sources claim his party lifestyle had Vince scared of the effect he'd have on his son , Shane McMahon.

So where do ya go when your career hasn't taken off ?

ECW : The Raven part 1# :

Levy would end up in ECW and with Paul Heyman , would create a charactor so well known that Levy would use the charactor from then on. The Raven charactor as Heyman described in the Rise & Fall of ECW DVD " Spoke to him. He was so creative. "

The charactor was introduced as an outcast. He was the one who wasn't popular. Picture grunge rock ala Pearl Jam or Nirvana and you have the Raven charactor at his peak. He was anti-social and seemed to have a David Koresh type influence on people.

The way Raven was introduced was unique. Heyman filmed him in a classroom . There Levy would cut a promo using poetry and at the end with a strong message for Tommy Dreamer ! The very end always had the " Quote the Raven , Nevermore ! " tag line.

The Raven/Dreamer war as I detailed in Tommy Dreamer's profile would last for 3 years. It would involve everyone. Raven would prove so popular as a heel he'd get heel runs as ECW World Champion.

He was the boss and he led his heel group. Stevie Richards was his loyal flunkie for a year or 2. The Blue Meanie was Richard's flunkie as well as Raven's . Soon the entire ECW would take part in the Raven/Dreamer war as different teams and angles would spin out of it.

In 1996 , Raven was busy fueding with the Sandman. In his war with him , Raven would do the 1st storyline that would stretch the boundries. Raven knowing how hardcore the Sandman was would use his ex-wife and son in a way to get at the Sandman. Seeing a little 8 yearold kid say " I like Raven better than you daddy ." was really intense. The Sandman was so eaten up by it as were fans. Raven had gotten close and in promos would tell lil Tyler that his dad didn't care lol.

In 1996 , Levy would hang the Sandman. At the same show a young 1996 Olympic Gold Medalist was in attendance and his name was Kurt Angle. Seeing Raven crucify , Sandman made Angle walk. The angle was so heated Heyman forced Levy to make a public apology on the whole Sandman crucifiction !

By 1997 Levy was so over as a heel that he started getting offers from the WWF and WCW. Levy chose WCW due to the money offer they had on the table and at the last ECW show ...Tommy Dreamer pinned him to end an era in ECW. Raven was sadly leaving ECW and fans didn't want him to go.

ECW / Raven part II 1999-2000

I'm skipping over Raven's WCW stay. By 1999 , Levy was pretty unhappy in WCW. His push was ended and he couldn't get a storyline to happen in WCW. So when Bischoff asked if anyone had the balls to quit WCW , Levy stood up. Bischoff tried to back out asking him " So where are ya gonna go ..back to Heyman and ECW ? " to which Levy replied " I'd rather be in ECW than here . So you gonna give me my release ?"

Many others were shocked and loved how Levy had stood up. They too started to want thier release as Bischoff backed off this. Eric Bischoff would be replaced 2 weeks later.

Levy came back to ECW. In his 1st show on ECW on TNN , Levy came out to help his old foe Tommy Dreamer defend ECW's integrity against the departing Dudleyz. The fans went ape shit as thier old favorite was back. The Dreamer/Raven angle stumbled on for months.

Plans to make Raven vs Dreamer for the ECW World title never happened in this period due to the horrible condition Raven was in. He was busy kicking steriods and his body had gained wieght. Heyman was angry because he felt Levy was floating for the year and using ECW as a stepping stone to WWF.

In the final months Raven dissapeared from ECW and the WWF told him to lose wieght before he signed. The end came over the summer. Raven would depart ECW for the greener pastures of the WWF and later TNA.

Raven however has suffered just as many injuries as some in ECW did. In fact if you look close , Levy on one leg wears a bigger boot . Due to knee surgeries one leg is an inch shorter than the other!

Also Levy is a comic book fan . In his matches in ECW he'd wear comic book shirts like " Neil Gaimon's ; Sandman " , " Daredevil " , " Hellboy " and " Concrete " at times. In all in ECW , Raven became a huge impactful heel and his work elevated to where guys like HHH and Edge would go. ;)

www.THERAVENEFFECT.com

The guy who made me love ECW more then anyone else! A few add ons and such cuz well I love Raven! He actually quit WWF way back when, he was working as the producer of the Saturday morning show, pretty much F-ing around and watching old wrestling footage from the promotions Vince bought putting an old match on the show once a week. Then leaving, changing out of the suit he had to wear and dressing pretty much like Raven does. He'd work half days and not really do anything but he always put the show together right so Vince never bitched. Vince did hate the fact Levy and Shane would go out drink and party nearly nightly though which did get him heat from Vince. So since he up and quit the great job he had, Vince didn't even want him back ever (it was Ross I think who hired him back years later not knowing Vince never wanted him back, they later kissed and made up but still).
The Sandman fued was great. Especially since Levy has said Sandman's son knew the lines better then he did, helping him with his ques and such lol. The whole crucifying thing is still my favorite aspect of the story, too bad Heyman got convinced by Taz and Douglas that it was a bad idea and had him apologize. Even if the fans completely hate something (which the fans didn't seem to be too upset over it) the heel should never ever apologize in character IMO. The funny parts about it is Angle is said to have been sooooo upset over it, yet when he was in the WWF, Undertaker crucifiys Austin and Angle never walks out, complete bs. And also, Sandman was the one who built the cross he was hung on, I just find that ammusing.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

The guy who made me love ECW more then anyone else! A few add ons and such cuz well I love Raven! He actually quit WWF way back when, he was working as the producer of the Saturday morning show, pretty much F-ing around and watching old wrestling footage from the promotions Vince bought putting an old match on the show once a week. Then leaving, changing out of the suit he had to wear and dressing pretty much like Raven does. He'd work half days and not really do anything but he always put the show together right so Vince never bitched. Vince did hate the fact Levy and Shane would go out drink and party nearly nightly though which did get him heat from Vince. So since he up and quit the great job he had, Vince didn't even want him back ever (it was Ross I think who hired him back years later not knowing Vince never wanted him back, they later kissed and made up but still).
The Sandman fued was great. Especially since Levy has said Sandman's son knew the lines better then he did, helping him with his ques and such lol. The whole crucifying thing is still my favorite aspect of the story, too bad Heyman got convinced by Taz and Douglas that it was a bad idea and had him apologize. Even if the fans completely hate something (which the fans didn't seem to be too upset over it) the heel should never ever apologize in character IMO. The funny parts about it is Angle is said to have been sooooo upset over it, yet when he was in the WWF, Undertaker crucifiys Austin and Angle never walks out, complete bs. And also, Sandman was the one who built the cross he was hung on, I just find that ammusing.

There can never be enough Raven pimpin ! He really took bad guys heel to a new era for this generation. He had the whole Eddie Vedder , Cobain fucked up childhood grunge thing down . You saw a disturbed genuis in the Raven charactor.