The only way to make the new ECW successfull IMO

[Yashamaga]

is to hold the events in small arenas.

You won't get the same atmoshpere if you tape it before Smackdown! in a huge arena. Most of the fans will be WWE marks and express the usual no emotion.

ECW wasn't made for Maddison Square Garden.

[Xero]

I hope that the show they're taping at the ECW arena is a test run. If that works out, they could hold it in smaller arenas.

[Jordan]

I agree 100% and its not like its gonna take a huge chunk of change out of their pocket, renting out Viking Hall can't cost more than a grand per night, tis a piece of shit, but its fun.

[Xero]

I agree 100% and its not like its gonna take a huge chunk of change out of their pocket, renting out Viking Hall can't cost more than a grand per night, tis a piece of shit, but its fun.
No, but I don't think Vince wants to do 3 (4 on a PPV week) days of tapings every week. That would include a third ring crew, camera crew, etc.

[Corkscrewed]

ECW wasn't about flash anyway, so why not cut back a little on the production crew as well?

Heck, they could save on transportation costs by holding the ECW tapings in the same city on the same night as the SD taping, only at a smaller nearby venue. Old school fans would probaby even enjoy the simpler look more.

[Kane Knight]

Vince really doesn't want the extra taping. They're consolidating Smackdown and Raw much of the time.

[Arnold HamNegger]

ECW wasn't about flash anyway, so why not cut back a little on the production crew as well?

Heck, they could save on transportation costs by holding the ECW tapings in the same city on the same night as the SD taping, only at a smaller nearby venue. Old school fans would probaby even enjoy the simpler look more.

Why not just have it every Tuesday in the Hammerstien Ballroom like the old days of Raw? Both of the ONS PPV's have shown that there is still a rabid ECW following there, so why not capitalize? PPV's & house shows could be on the road, same as always.

[rob11]

Why not just have it every Tuesday in the Hammerstien Ballroom like the old days of Raw? Both of the ONS PPV's have shown that there is still a rabid ECW following there, so why not capitalize? PPV's & house shows could be on the road, same as always.
Because we in Philly deserve it more:y:

[Arnold HamNegger]

Because we in Philly deserve it more:y:

Can't argue with that.

[Arnold HamNegger]

Well, if they don't have it in a smaller venue, there has to be a way to give ECW fans top priority as far as seating goes close to the ring for the TV taping. They have to find a way to create a pro-ECW environment. Can't they just block off a large section of the seating in the rows/sections close to the ring and make them only available for purchase through an ECW hotline or at ECW.com? There has to be enough die-hard ECW fans in each city to fill the seats no problem.

WWE could possibly sell them cheaper and only make them good for the ECW taping, that way the ECW fans wouldn't chant stuff or ruin Smackdown if anyone was worried about that happening. Then just re-release the seats for purchase at the walk up ticket booth before Smackdown tapes or make it a first come first serve basis with Smackdown fans already in attendance.

[Kane Knight]

Small arenas may be a bad idea, as it will be harder to recoup expenses even on a lower budget show. Right now, they can deal witha lot of it by having them tour with the Smackdown crew.

[The One]

The new ECW can be saved by not sucking.

[Xero]

The new ECW can be saved by not sucking.
Well, if the last show was any indication, it's a loss cause.

[Kane Knight]

The new ECW can be saved by not sucking.

I don't think that's possible.

[The One]

Well then stick it in any arena you want...

[Kane Knight]

I have a creeping suspicion that, even though Vince is aware of the problem, it won't be fixed next week. Heyman will still "need help," Because he won't book winning ideas like Big Show pwning the entire roster.

[Skippord]

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RATINGS

[Mr. JL]

ECW could be saved easily.

Like, how fucking hard would it be for them to present RVD with the new ECW World Heavyweight Championship and then have Balls Mahoney come out and crack RVD with a chair. Then the two can have a match in the main event of the show. RVD having a match will save ECW.

Then, how about you do not have Kurt Angle punk out the former ECW Champ in Justin Credible. The two could have actually had a decent 10 minute match or something. Hell, give Angle the win, just don't shit all over Credible's credibility.

Then have The Zombie debut and Sandman kill him with a bunch of singapore cane shots.

INsert a short backstage promo from CM Punk or someone from the new breed.

Then have you have your main event in Balls Mahoney versus Rob Van Dam. Obviously, RVD wins but then have Sabu come down and do one of his crazy moves to RVD through a table. End the show with Sabu posing or some shit.
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No fucking WWE guys, or no building up a WWE guy versus a WWE guy feud. You would figure they have enough time to do that on Raw or smackdown considering they no longer have RVD, Big Show or Kurt Angle on their shows.

[Kane Knight]

Angle? Not dominating? Pffft. He's in the MAjor LEagues, and these cocksuckers aren't even Busch League!

But seriously. Credible+Angle+10 minutes=GOLD.

RVD+Anyone+ECW Title-WWE guys=GOLD.

[crash99]

Almost anything's going to be gold after last week's show. I just wish they would stop with the interbrand feuds. I realize the ECW will not be like the old one, but that doesn't mean it needs to be another show like RAW. Give the show it's own identity, and stop making it just another WWE show.

[Volare]

i know we got a few brains in here. So let's match up in ECW who can face who and get a good match

i would like to see Tanaka//RVD as a feud personally

[Mr. Nerfect]

I don't think the gloss and glamour hurts ECW at all. I think the fans hurt ECW. I don't think small arenas would help ECW, I think arenas full of ECW fans would. Can you imagine 20,000 people chanting "Randy Swallows"? That would be absolutely awesome.

They need to give Heyman the book, have ECW start earlier, as to give fans a chance to move in and out. Have them pay seperately for ECW. If it doesn't work, and you only have a few fans in, it works to the cult atmosphere of ECW.

I personally think the SmackDown! set needs a change anyway, so why not have a set which can be easily swapped for ECW and SmackDown!? Have one screen in the background (not that shitty projection looking one they have on SmackDown!, some HD flat-screen shit, in case it isn't obvious, I have no clue what I'm talking about) which basically is changed for ECW and SmackDown!, giving the shows seperate feels.

ECW could really take off as a WWE brand if they inject energy into their shows. Turn up the sound, go crazy with the lights. Even the little kiddies will get caught up in it. If it has the glitz and glamour there and doesn't want to use it, that is when it will look third rate.

So my suggestions for making ECW work (atmosphere-wise):

-Let Paul Heyman write the shows.

-Make the show more Little Guido/Super Crazy type stuff, at least to start out. It's very SmackDown!-esque, won't offend anybody, plus it's solid TV.

-Use ECW.com. Most ECW fans are more than aware of the internet, thus having recording promos, web-shows and even matches airing online will really help ECW re-establish it's cult following.

-Much like SmackDown! has the blue light over the crowd, give ECW a red light over the crowd. Adds intensity.

-Get some bands to record theme songs for guys like The Sandman. He really isn't working at the moment.

-Turn up the sound, use technology to really boost this thing and make it not look like Velocity.

-Get a new set for SmackDown! and make it interchangeable with ECW.

-Tape ECW earlier than SmackDown!. Have ECW finish taping like an hour before the SmackDown! taping starts. That way people who don't want to see ECW won't see ECW.

-Charge for ECW as well as SmackDown!, so people who don't want to see it won't just be like "Ah, what the Hell, I'll check it out". To my understanding, ECW has just replaced Velocity. Not good, not good at all. Especially if Vince wants to make money from this thing.

[PullMyFinger]

just have it at the ECW arena, every week.

Saves production costs, and it'd be a lot better than doing it with Smackdown.

[Jaded-Dragon]

They need four things done, and done quickly.

1. A smaller arena. As PMF suggested, I could live with it being held in the ECW arena every week. If it starts to make money on it's own, then spread it out to New York, Baltimore, NJ, etc.

2. RVD needs to be un-restrained. Period. End of story.

3. Unpredictability. And I'm not talking about unpredictability as in RAW guys constantly showing up. I mean how the original ECW was unpredictable. I would of bet money that Al Snow would of won the title against Shane Douglas back at Wrestlepalooza 98, but he didn't. I never would of thought RVD would of went over Bigelow for the TV title, but he did. I honestly didn't know if Tommy Dreamer was finally going to beat Raven in their last match, at many points during the match I found myself saying "Fuck, Raven is going to win".

I mean THAT kind of unpredictability.

4. A bigger roster. And not guys from WWE. I MIGHT gain some amount of respect back for this new ECW if they would actually show some their current roster also. Credible getting squashed, The Sandman having a 20 second match, the rest of them not doing much of anything...

God damnit I want Super Crazy vs RVD for the title, not EDGE!!!!

[The One]

My solutions for fixing ECW...change the entire enviroment...

Continue to have it be filmed before SmackDown, that way they can censor any chants or whatever bullshit Sci-Fi is worried about, but make it open seating for ECW, before WWE comes along and makes assigned seats. If that happens you have all the rabid ECW fans showing up first and taking over the front rows, plus the ECW loyalist are massed together which makes chanting easier (and makes anti-WWE chanting harder once they are all split up and told to go sit in their assigned seats). Have Joey Styles and Tazz talk about the stupid shit. When a fuckin Zombie or Vampire shows up don't do the typical WWE response of "Oh my, what is this? Am I seeing this? Wow!" instead have them make the connection and then make fun of it. Have them talk about how they are on Sci-Fi and then when someone like Sandman beats the shit out of them, taunt the network and the Sci-Fi nerds! Talk about how easily Sandman cleaned the floor with some Sci-Fi wanna be loser who got lost on the wrong damn show.

This whole argument that it needs to be done in small arenas is bullshit. And the whole reason ECW never did the pyros or the lights was because they didn't have the money to compete with WWE or WCW with them...well HELLO...now they have the money. Use it!

Jaded-Dragon's comments about unpredicablity were dead fuckin on. I saw everything that was done on ECW from a mile away...actually I thought Show was going to win the battle royal, but aside from that, everything happened exactly the way I thought it would...

Here is my biggest suggestion of how to fix ECW's problem...get the new breed in as soon as possible. The bottom line is I think the only 3 genuine ECW alumni who Vince McMahon is going to allow to flourish is RVD, Sabu, and Sandman...that's three ECW stars, and of course Angle and Show will go over huge...thats a total of 5 stars who will get any sort of positive attention. Bring in CM Punk and the likes, let Heyman book them and when they get real over McMahon can smile knowing he made yet another new generation of stars. The facts are Balls, Snow, Credible, and the others just arn't going to get the attention they deserve...so at least while they are still "ECW is AWESOME" fresh let them put over the new breed. That's my opinion anyway...

[Mr. Nerfect]

This whole argument that it needs to be done in small arenas is bullshit. And the whole reason ECW never did the pyros or the lights was because they didn't have the money to compete with WWE or WCW with them...well HELLO...now they have the money. Use it!

I agreed with everything you said, but this particularly rings true. :y:

ECW should get CM Punk and Colt Cabana in as a tag team. Cabana isn't under contract, but they've given him enough tryouts to have formed an opinion one him way or another. ECW needs tag teams. Have Stevie Richards & Justin Credible team-up. For some reason I see them working well together.

The Sandman needs to go. Seriously, he just doesn't have it anymore, and if ECW shoves him down the fans' throats, he will work against the brand. Without his "Enter Sandman" atmosphere, he really has nothing going for him.

If I were the WWE, I'd be thinking about cutting Balls Mahoney loose, too. He can apparently wrestle, so good for him if he can adapt, but the ECW stereotype should be re-created.

[rob11]

I have a fear that ECW may end up like Shotgun Saturday Night and just fail because of it's watered down nature.

[Innovator]

Alienoid, ECW...nay the WWE isn't ready for the Second City Saints