This post is the first of two parts regarding how ECW used, and may still be able to use, new technology of the day to grow its emotional connection to fans nationwide and internationally. The second part will focus on new Web3 technology such as NFTs, virtual worlds, augmented reality, metaverses, and more.
This first part will focus on what ECW did during its original time running shows.
ECW, both as Eastern Championship Wrestling and Extreme Championship Wrestling, ran shows from February 1992 through January 2001. During those 9 years, one of the little-known reasons why the company became so popular was to leverage new technology before other wrestling companies did.
Here are just a handful of examples of ECW using technology to reach fans nationwide & internationally, overcoming the "regional" or "traditional" marketing mindset at the time of the larger professional wrestling companies:
** 1 - Using the early online forum/bulletin boards which existed before internet browsers. Sometimes referred to as the "Usenet" forums, which later got integrated into Google Groups, early ECW fans were the first to use this new technology. They organically took charge and made their passionate feelings for the company, as well as their disdain for what then-WWF (later WWE) and WCW had become, known to wrestling fans who were using the then-new online medium. Fans learned about ECW and how were told stories (in text format only plus a handful of small online images) by fans who believed that they received more than their money's worth.
Since access to the internet's early forums, these Usenet and other forums (sometimes called the "RSPW" for rec.sport.pro-wrestling), mainly could be accessed by adults then it was adults talking to other adults. While some teenagers were early adopters of the new communication method at the time, the majority of written content came from adult thought process. ECW's internal team saw this and realized that their content had to be more adult-oriented in order to gain a competitive edge over other other pro wrestling companies in order to gain national acceptance and gain small - but respectable - market share over WWF & WCW.
This led to the fan-run Cyberslam meet & greet Q&A sessions with Tom Misnik, bus rides to the ECW Arena (sometimes with ECW staff or even wrestlers on the bus), and more ways to gain loyalty from die-hard wrestling fans who wanted a product to call their own.
** 2- ECW hosted online chats with wrestlers, Paul Heyman, Joey Styles and more.
Early home access to the internet usually went through third-party services like AOL and Prodigy. These services had their own "chat" forums and similar features.
ECW was the first to adopt this new technology in order to give fans nationwide more exposure and connection to the company. Here is just resource which has compiled online chat Q&A sessions with the names mentioned above:
https://ecwbyshaggs.tripod.com/interview.html
Here is another resource leading to a 1997 Prodigy chat with Paul Heyman:
https://ecwwrestling.com/original-content/paul-heyman-march-1997-prodigy-chat
** 3- The original ECWwrestling.com website + fan-run websites
ECW had its main website, ECWwrestling.com, as well as several fan-run websites. These included sites such as:
StrictlyECW.com (Tony Lewis' website)
ECWnews.com (run by Tom Misnik)
1wrestling.com (partially owned or controlled by Joey Styles - still TBD)
The company's main website was registered as a domain on December 3, 1997 according to WHOIS records: https://www.godaddy.com/whois/results.aspx?domain=ecwwrestling.com
The other websites started around that time as well, and they competed to give fans more insight into the wrestlers, staff, wrestling industry news, and more. This competition led to fans getting more information, therefore leading to more nationwide adoption due to increased familiarity with the company.
** 4 - Other Wrestling Websites
Due to ECW's high degree of volume of content being posted with such consistency, the growth of wrestling news websites and fan websites - including the old GeoCities & Angelfire website pages - also shared more ECW-specific content with their fans.
When Acclaim the video game company acquired an interest in ECW, it generated additional websites for each game. At the time were the two websites:
HardcoreRevolution.com
AnarchRulz.com
Here is the link to the Archive/Wayback of one of the earlier snapshots for the Hardcore Revolution website.
IGN and other video game websites, email newsletters, and other online content creators shared ECW with its readers at the time as well.
Part two of this post will come soon regarding the potential for today's "new technology", in this case Web3 tech, and how it can be used to help keep alive the passionate memories of both ECW fans and wrestlers alike. Please let me know your memories about ECW and the various ways you may have consumed & shared content at the time. Thank you!