Is ECW dead (spoilers)

[Chavo Classic]

Following last night's Raw, ECW's roster now looks as follows -

Male Babyface Wrestlers
» Christian
» DJ Gabriel (in Florida Championship Wrestling)
» Goldust
» Tommy Dreamer

Male Heel Wrestlers
» Ezekiel Jackson (in Florida Championship Wrestling)
» Paul Burchill (currently on leave of absence)
» Shelton Benjamin
» William Regal
» Vladimir Kozlov
» Zack Ryder

Female Wrestlers
» Brie Bella
» Katie Lea Burchill
» Nikki Bella

Other On-Air Talent
» Gregory Helms (soon to be the Hurricane again?)
» Josh Mathews
» Matt Striker
» Tiffany
» Tony Atlas
» Tony Chimel

Is this roster strong enough to entertain? Would you watch any of these guys every week? Will the WWE need to bring up developmental talent to fill the void left by the departures of the Hart Dynasty, Evan Bourne, Mark Henry and Swagger?

To me, this reads like a list of possible 'future endeavor' talent, rather than a exciting roster.

[Destor]

This happens to ECW annually though. The good thing about ECW is they constantly bring up new talent and take chances pushing said talent. It's on air developemental.

[Not Booked]

You can look at the positives or the negatives... Finlay, Tyson Kidd, Natalya, and David Hart Smith to Smackdown is an exciting move. It's going to be interesting to see how DH Smith goes in the 'big league'. Likewise with Evan Bourne and Jack Swagger moving to Raw.

Bit sad for Christian though, being left to rot in ECW ;s

[Dave Youell]

It's only a 1 hour show, I still see no problem

[kareru]

ecw died just before the invasion angle
actually extreme championship wrestling died then

wwecw (extremely cuddly wrestling ) is just fail

[Innovator]

Not dead, just raped beaten and left unconscious in the gutter

[Evil Vito]

<font color=goldenrod>The trade was retarded because while Shelton and Regal are solid additions...they traded away Bourne, Swagger, the Hart Dynasty, Finlay and Mark Henry. They traded away a lot more than they got back. If these were actual competing shows (which they clearly aren't, but from a kayfabe perspective) it just makes ECW management look retarded.

So they brought in two solid guys, Goldust (who can be anywhere from jobber to midcarder) and the Bella Twins who will pretty much add nothing as Katie Lea would be their only opponent.

I would have at least traded Festus and Swog over to ECW instead of the Bellas, just to keep that whole freak show team thing with Goldust going. But whatever.

On the plus side, this just leaves more air time for guys.</font>

[CSL]

Gay that they got rid of Finlay. I'd be happy to watch Finlay/Regal every week

[Kane Knight]

LOL...Christian's still on ECW?

[Fabien Barthez]

Christian, Goldust, Benjamin and Regal is an awesome choice of guys to build whatever developmentals they have on the way. They are currently all out of the main writing at the minute, they all always have good matches and they all make who they wrestle look exceptional. And at this stage in their careers, all very safe workers.

I am usually pretty negative about WWE and the idiot moves they pull to saturate their product with increasing bullshit and decreasing relevance and wrestling... but the fact they have 4 guys like these, and instead of old policy of making a 5 minutes of fun tag team and then throwing them back on the bench, they are putting them on TV in order to develop and push new talents by putting on good length, solid matches... I think that's a great thing for the wrestler, the business and the fan.

So ECW isn't at all dead. It is still the best thing about WWE right now, even if they don't technically have any new talent on the roster yet.

[erickman]

yea ecw is what ovw used to be a starting place for young talent. i hope they put fit and regal togather again they were a good heel tag team.

matt hardy did not last long on raw back to smackdown to fued with his brother.

[Nicky Fives]

Not dead, just raped beaten and left unconscious in the gutter

perfectly said.... they need to make some stars.... and quick.....However, I am glad to see Regal in a small "main event" role on ECW....

[Krimzon7]

Didn't they just have a draft? Is this the talent exchange at work again? Sucks for Christian, as he'll become a multi time ECW champ before being future endeavored.

[Fabien Barthez]

perfectly said.... they need to make some stars.... and quick......

Why do they? They don't need 20 minute promo's and video packages and insane programmes to stop eachother wrestling..... they start fueds, and the guys involved progress the programmes in the matches, every week.

They do 3 matches per week, maximum. And, it is the developmental show. It is not in competition with anything but itself. It gets good rating, its got a new batch of solid entertaining wrestlers.... it needs no new stars at all, it needs 2 or 3 FCW guys to get into the mix and begin their introduction to the main rosters.

Why don't marks at least just 'get' the point of ECW?

[RatedGSuperstar]

Between Christian, Dreamer, Regal, Benjamin, and Kozlov they have enough upper midcarders to fill out their ECW title feuds until the next draft. I was hoping Christian would get traded off the show, but in hindsight I don't think it had much chance of happening considering he's been back for less than a year. He'll probably get drafted to SmackDown in next year's draft or the next "huge trade" in like 4 months anyway.

They needed to keep someone on that show, and considering even freaking Jack Swagger has tenure over him at this point, I don't think it's much of a surprise.

[Nicky Fives]

Why do they? They don't need 20 minute promo's and video packages and insane programmes to stop eachother wrestling..... they start fueds, and the guys involved progress the programmes in the matches, every week.

They do 3 matches per week, maximum. And, it is the developmental show. It is not in competition with anything but itself. It gets good rating, its got a new batch of solid entertaining wrestlers.... it needs no new stars at all, it needs 2 or 3 FCW guys to get into the mix and begin their introduction to the main rosters.

Why don't marks at least just 'get' the point of ECW?

I get the point.... but when Goldust can be in the main event, the show could have a problem.... Kozlov, Christian & Dreamer are already over with the ECW crowd, and additions of Benjamin & Regal will add to the main event. But losing The Hart Dynasty and Evan Bourne, they lose their "mid-card" leaving only Zack Ryder to fill the void

[Kane Knight]

Christian, Goldust, Benjamin and Regal is an awesome choice of guys to build whatever developmentals they have on the way. They are currently all out of the main writing at the minute, they all always have good matches and they all make who they wrestle look exceptional. And at this stage in their careers, all very safe workers.

I am usually pretty negative about WWE and the idiot moves they pull to saturate their product with increasing bullshit and decreasing relevance and wrestling... but the fact they have 4 guys like these, and instead of old policy of making a 5 minutes of fun tag team and then throwing them back on the bench, they are putting them on TV in order to develop and push new talents by putting on good length, solid matches... I think that's a great thing for the wrestler, the business and the fan.

So ECW isn't at all dead. It is still the best thing about WWE right now, even if they don't technically have any new talent on the roster yet.

I think it's fairly telling that most of those guys are the same guys who would be mostly on Velociheat.

Now, it doesn't mean they're abandoning it, but surely putting a positive spin on a move consistent with prior WWE burials might be a good time to rethink things. Again, this isn't a foregone conclusion, but it's one Val Venis away from a veritable perfect storm.

[thedamndest]

It's pretty clearly a trade of taking all the "we have nothing for you, but you can still wrestle" guys and sending them to ECW in exchange for the hot up-and-comers who are no longer up-and-comers. I'm not sure when Helms will be able to wrestle, but that would be huge for the show. DJ Gabriel showed sparks of charisma, but they were right to ship him back off the air. Ryder is getting over. We will have to see if he can sustain that. ECW isn't going to be as good as it was a week ago, but between it only being an hour long and them having the ability to call up guys and having guys that are solid in the ring (albeit forgotten by much of the current audience) they should find their footing.

[Destor]

LOL KK clearly hasn't seen ECW.

The guys aren't mostly would be Velocity guys. The guys are owuld be SD! jobbers, but there's a difference. Just go through and look at how far so many of the new guys that have come up threw ECW have gone. Or even what the guys did after they were sent down to play vetren to the young guys. Once they leave ECW they tend to get some serious momentum. ECW is making stars.

that's like saying going to FCW is a burrial.

[Gertner]

This happens all the time with ECW. No worries.

[Heyman]

ECW is not dead.

It's just a show that will always be in a constant change.....due to the fact that it's not a major show.

ECW will always be a breeding ground for newer and/or washed up talent.

Once someone gets 'good' and/or 'over',they will be moved to one of the main shows.

[Jannettyzilla]

Tonight's ME is Christian/Dreamer vs. Regal/Kozlov.

Not Dead.

[Jannettyzilla]

Then again, that leaves three active wrestlers to fill out the rest of the show.

So maybe dead.

[Dr. Abyss]

It Tuesday Night Heat with a title thats all it is. But I am pissed about Shelton Benjamin getting moved there. He is way too good for ECW.

[Jannettyzilla]

Well, that was an interesting way for Shelton to debut.

[Fabien Barthez]

I think after that show, this thread is dead.

And the survey says..... No. ECW is fine.

[DAMN iNATOR]

Between Christian, Dreamer, Regal, Benjamin, and Kozlov they have enough upper midcarders to fill out their ECW title feuds until the next draft. I was hoping Christian would get traded off the show, but in hindsight I don't think it had much chance of happening considering he's been back for less than a year. He'll probably get drafted to SmackDown in next year's draft or the next "huge trade" in like 4 months anyway.

They needed to keep someone on that show, and considering even freaking Jack Swagger has tenure over him at this point, I don't think it's much of a surprise.

Yeah, but ECW could do just fine without Christian. It's obvious that even as the former ECW Champion, he's not being utilized to the best of his ability, and it's time he got traded (i.e., promoted) to SmackDown! That still leaves Dreamer as a rock-solid ECW Champion, with Swagger and plenty other heels that could possibly feud with him over the title (Benjamin, Regal, Kozlov for starters)...

[Fabien Barthez]

Swagger got traded.

Christian being on ECW means he get's a bigger TV time %age and longer TV matches. And because he gets to work better matches, it makes wrestling fans want to see ECW. On Raw he would maybe get between 5-7 minutes total TV wrestling time between PPV's and be involved in some storyline we all think is a pile of crap, only to round it off with a PPV match that is no longer than if it were an ECW match, and against someone not as good as Benjamin or Regal.

It may seem like he is being under utilized, but I really don't think he is.