HOME ABOUT SUPPORT US SITES WE LIKE FORUM Search Fanboyplanet.com | Powered by Freefind FANBOY PLANET
ON TV COMICS WRESTLING INTERVIEWS NOW SHOWING GRAB BAG
 
Wrestling Today's Date:

Not a Review...Just a Complaint:
ECW on SCI FI

06-14-06

I cry out in the wilderness...

I can’t say I didn’t see it coming, but ECW looks to be in trouble because Vince can’t trust any vision of wrestling other than his own. That’s right, he bungled it, and even if Paul Heyman has control, it’s tempered with Vince’s tampering.

The show on Tuesday just plain sucked. It didn’t help that there were far more commercials than I’m used to, but they really didn’t give us much that was ECW. Yeah, we had a weapons battle royal, but can anyone think of a time when ECW did a battle royal? Where was the outlaw nature of the ECW product? It was hiding behind Kurt Angle, who was one of the few bright spots, and The Big Show, who was put over like a monster.

Still, Sabu did get to shine a little, but not nearly enough to make things feel like they were special. Even the opening with Rob Van Dam was awful as the crowd booed him despite him getting a bit of his old character back. They also awarded him the ECW belt, which is terrible as they should have had a tourney like the one Shane Douglas won in 1994 which changed ECW forever.

Where to start on how they ruined it?

Them's some sparkly pants..

The big thing is they aren’t letting go. They need to let guys like RVD do their promos the way they did in the old days, completely without scripting. Let RVD get out there and run his mouth.

NBC Universal, the parent company of USA Networks, wanted things toned down and demanded they do things with a delay so things could be edited out. That’s idiotic as it’s that crowd reaction, no matter how vulgar, that keeps people coming in. It’s no good to block all of that out.

They also need to push the ECW guys as the stars -- RVD, Sabu, Sandman (who really needs the Enter Sandman music back) and even guys like Balls Mahoney. They also need to start bringing in young stars who might make an impact using the ECW style. There are a lot of guys in OVW who could be repackaged like Heyman did with so many guys in the past.

The fact is an ECW show needs the violence, needs to fly somewhat under the RADAR so that it can get away with things like excessive blood and brawling and using copyrighted music. Mostly, they need to have Paul Heyman as El Jefe and Vince just sitting back and counting the money.

The brightest spot? Other than Kurt Angle, who they really are positioning as the new Taz, The Zombie is going to be the best thing ECW has going for it. They had him even cut a promo, which was nice. The Zombie was a big F-U to the good people at SCI FI who said if they were going to get stuck showing wrestling, it would have to have aliens.

Starving in Vince's office...

I love The Zombie bit and I hope they do something with him in the comedy sense, which looks like the direction they’re going.

I’m hoping for a better week too, but I know it won’t happen until Vince sees that he has to give it to Paul.

They may have realized that there were some issues. My old buddy Dave Lagana has been shuffled off from SmackDown! to ECW. Now, Dave’s the one you want working with Paul if they insist on having one of the WWE guys on the ECW writing staff. He’s a long-time fan of the product, is a protégé of sorts of Paul Heyman and is a good booker. That’s a positive step.

The final rating, after everything was in, was a 2.8, which is huge considering. Still, I’m not sure how much of that will translate into a second week with the episode being less than stellar. Only time will tell.

Talk about today's column in the forums!

Chris Garcia

Our Friends:



Official PayPal Seal

Copyrights and trademarks for existing entertainment (film, TV, comics, wrestling) properties are held by their respective owners and are used with permission or for promotional purposes of said properties. All other content ™ and © 2001, 2014 by Fanboy Planet™.
"The Fanboy Planet red planet logo is a trademark of Fanboy Planetâ„¢
If you want to quote us, let us know. We're media whores.
Movies | Comics | Wrestling | OnTV | Guest | Forums | About Us | Sites
Google