AWA or ECW?
 

Which was the better promotion that was killed by the big boys?

Gotta go with AWA simply because Heyman was on Vince's payroll and Verne wasn't

Paul was on the WWE payroll during the time WWE was taking ECW's talent and Paul was a horrible business man when it came to money

He still owes guys a lot of money


by the time AWA shut down most of the good talent had fled to WWF and WCW

-Verne's downfall was he didn't wanna change with the times and thusly in the fall of 1990 the promotion closed

by that time they were pretty much a tv only promotion

I have more fond memories of ECW, but looking at their history and the superstars they created I have to go with AWA.
More people know who Hulk Hogan is than Rob Van Dam.

AWA. I don't even know how this is even up for debate. I'm a HUGE ECW mark, but the AWA blows it away.

I went with ECW personally.

ECW

ECW had RVD,Sabu,The Sandman, Etc

AWA had Hulk Hogan, Curt Henning, Scott Hall, Nick Bockwinkel and at the tail end The Had Brusier Brody.

I am going to have to go with ECW it what I am more familiar with.

Hey what did everyone think of the Title vs Title match between Jerry Lawler and Kerry Von Erich.

The AWA lost soooooo many top wrestlers. Curt Hennig, Hogan, Scott Hall, Rick Martel, The Road Warriors, Bobby Heenan, The Midnight Rockers, Gene Okerlund, Jesse The Body Ventura, Adrian Adonis, Sgt Slaughter not to mentions guys like Ric Flair, The Nasty Boys, Vader all got their starts in the AWA. The AWA was considered the top title along with the NWA and WWWF/WWF. The ECW was never on par with the AWA in terms of prestige.

The big guys didn't destroy ECW it was Paul Heymans poor business handling that made it go under. ECW had everything to make it successful but but Heyman was terrible with money. I would though he would have been better with money him being jewish and all.

yeah fucking jews steal and miser all the moneys

I'd like to know who's voting ECW, and ask them why. AWA made bigger stars than ECW, it had better wrestling, it lasted longer, and Verne Gange was never on WWE payroll.

ecw was more important to wrestling

plus i never saw awa

Wait, what?
ECW was more important to wrestling, but you never saw AWA?
ECW was more influential to modern day wrestling, but you're making an unfair judgment call if you've never seen AWA.
While ECW did have some stellar talent on their pay roll during one time or another (The Dudleyz, RVD, Dean Malenko, Raven etc) their star power is incompreable to the likes of Nick Bockwinkle, Hulk Hogan, Curt Henning, Scott Hall, and Bruiser Brody. ECW was counter culture, and in your face. AWA was traditional wrestling that made people like Bobby Heenan, Shawn Michaels, Sgt. Slaughter, and Jesse Ventura. Besides, you'll never hear of the icons that Paul Heyman trained. Verne helped make Ric Flair who he is.

AWA

lol are you serious?

its true i never saw awa

personal opinions aside, there's no argument here. AWA was a far more successful company then ECW. AWA lasted for around 30 years. ECW lasted for like 6 years. come on.

Both companies were from two different eras though. They each left thier mark on professional wrestling and each produced great talent for the bigger promotions. Gagne was just an old promoter that didn't change with the times. Heyman certainly changed with the times, but was a horrible businessman.

ECW did change the way the Wrestling world worked for the better. YOu could argue without ECW the WWE/WCW would have never turned things around in the 90s.

But man, AWA was the shit. They were national, cultivated more hall of famers than anyone, and were a top promotion.

And that pic is just a drop in the bucket

I love this video AJHayes Posted

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WrestleRock_86

Sorry to spam, but look at the card for that event. Fucking STACKED

At one time,AWA was the most watch wrestling promotion on television.

Crowd wise, has ECW ever drawn at least 15,000 to a show? No,hell how many times they drew at least 10,000?

Look, my favorite time period was the 90's and I seen ECW first hand and thought it was cool but looking back I never put ECW on WWE or WCW level like others. I never got why people was so mad at WCW and WWF for taking talent from them,you can only get so far in ECW. AWA messed up by not keeping Hogan, that was their biggest downfall.

P.S. ECW on TNN is probably the worst primetime weekly cable wrestling show EVER. Awful show

Two different generations of wrestling and different styles, but without the AWA there wouldn't even be an ECW. Paul Heyman was even in the AWA.....Paul E Dangerously.

E-C-Dub! E-C-Dub!

ECW it was always about the fans.

Verne at the tail end of AWA was only trying to steal Vince's Ideas.

ECW had to be about the fans due to the size of the promotion.

Isn't that what all idependent promotions are about?

It's their only choice.

Well I mean shit if they didn't make it all about the fans Ian Rotten would be out of work.

Also, I heard Paul Heyman had a gambling problem. I hate the fact the Dudleys talk shit about him now.

Well it's better than taking Vince's money and lying about it.

on a related note, i watched 'forever hardcore' last night, it was a documentary by jeremy borash (yet that one) it was really good as an alternative to the wwe's rise and fall of ecw
it showed the real side to ecw rather than just wwe masturbating in a mirror screaming how great they are.

lol this thread shows the ages of the people on here. ECW is no way comparable with the AWA.

Agreed

Well Gertner what did you choose?

try geography aswell

Exactly man

AWA blows ECW completely outta the water

they created legends and made wrestlers into superstars

Plus they had Jerry Blackwell who was pretty damn good for as large as he was

Hell even Yokozuna had a stint in AWA during its dying days in 1989 as Kokina Maximus

Georgraphy has nothing to do with it. The AWA was a national promotion.

The AWA of course. The ECW comparison is laughable.

I like how very few people are sticking up for ECW. Any pro ECW argument is going go be shallow.