This is my first post on Hive, and I want to thank @wrestorgonline for the encouragement to join. Over time, I plan to add unique aspects to your enjoyment of professional wrestling - including web3 related topics.
However, my primary interest is to help preserve the history of ECW. These 3 letters still get chanted today at wrestling shows, both large & small, around the world. Despite that, many people are confused on its history so I welcome your suggestions and questions so that I can help increase your appreciation of ECW for what it has done to benefit the pro wrestling landscape today.
While I am not sure how many "parts" this post will have, today's "Part 1" will focus on a handful of topics regarding how pro wrestling in 2025 is still influenced by a company which had its first show in a sports bar on February 25, 1992. That was the "Original Sports Bar" (aka Mike Schmidt's sports bar) in Philadelphia, PA.
The first ECW Arena shows took place over two nights on May 14 and May 15, 1993. Early ECW, then known as "Eastern Championship Wrestling", had 5 shows in 1993 prior to its debut at the Arena; and it ran 19 shows (plus a possible 20th card, even though only match is mentioned on November 28, 1992) in 1992.
Confirmation:
https://crazymax.org/newsite/results/ecw-results-1992/
https://crazymax.org/newsite/results/ecw-results-1993/
Born out of the folded Tri-State Wrestling Alliance (TWA), many of the TWA roster later appeared on Eastern Championship Wrestling cards. In 1991 alone (the last year of TWA), the following wrestlers on TWA shows later held at least one championship in ECW:
Glenn Osbourne
JT Smith
The Sandman (then Mr. Sandman)
Bam Bam Bigelow
Larry Winters
Johnny HotBody (who originally helped Tod Gordon find and book the ECW Arena)
Tony Stetson
The Pitbulls (Gary Wolf and Anthony Duranti)
Sabu
Cactus Jack
Eddie Gilbert
Terry Funk
Kevin Sullivan
Most people don't know that TWA ran shows in 1991 at the same venue (the Original Sports Bar in Philadelphia) where Eastern Championship Wrestling debuted.
Here is are some confirmation resources:
https://ecwwrestling.com/champions
https://www.prowrestlinghistory.com/indy/tristate/tscards.html
Many other ECW alumni appeared in TWA, so they were very familiar with the Philadelphia/Pennsylvania area and its wrestling fans. This is one of the reasons that "die hard" ECW fans were able to get together and do a tremendous amount to let the United States (and later the world) know about ECW. Many of the fans enjoyed the TWA shows, and they wanted the adult-friendly alternative to continue instead of the then-watered-down WWF and WCW.
While WWF and WCW had some terrific talent at the time, the booking and presentation of their shows had neglected the teenage or young adult audience which grew up watching those shows in the mid-to-late 1980's. Many issues affected both WWF (now WWE) and WCW (formerly a part of the NWA) at the time, so there was room for a grittier adult-friendly company to offer a more intense product.
So how does all of this affect YOU today?!? Great question!
In this first part of how ECW has affected pro wrestling today, let's focus on 5 main topics:
- Fans being a part of the show
- Fans having a huge influence on the product and getting awareness to the company
- Many pro wrestling websites and newsletters which operate today got their start in ECW
- The sale of ringside camera "fan cam" house shows started in ECW - at least the way we know it today
- Fans bringing signs to wrestling shows in large numbers
#1 Fans Being Part Of The Show
Pro wrestling fans always have been a part of the show in one way or another since its inception, going back to the circus/carnival days. However, ECW modernized it with several new approaches. These include:
- Fans throwing the styrofoam heads into the ring during Al Snow's entrance, with the company bringing wrestlers to the ring before his matches to toss the heads to the crowd
- The inception of, or the modernization of, "fans bring the weapons" matches where ECW wrestlers would grab weapons handed to them by fans and used during the matches
- Its fans being the first to chant "E-C-W" (the company's initials) instead of just cheering or chanting for the individual wrestler's name. This marked a big change in terms of the wrestler-fan dynamic, and it helped give the company the ability to promote its shows just based on the "ECW" acronym instead of having to rely 100% on the specific wrestlers being on the show
- Wrestlers being thrown into the crowd, such as when Bam Bam Bigelow tossed Spike Dudley into the ECW Arena crowd. They then passed Spike around and "body surfed" him around the Arena!
- And the most well-known scene of fans throwing chairs into the ring during a tag team match of Terry Funk/Cactus Jack versus the Public Enemy! This was not the only time that this happened; but it became so well known that the company decided to include it in its TV show opening music montage for years.
#2 Fans Having An Influence On The Company's Awareness
ECW was the first company to leverage new technology to get the word out about its product. In addition to the early 1990's wrestling "tape traders", many of the die-hard fans went to the pre-browser internet bulletin boards (the old rec.sport.pro-wrestling usenet forums). They gave recaps of the shows, inside/backstage information and more. Later on, the fans participated with Joey Styles & other ECW staff members on the various Chat sessions such as on AOL, Prodigy, and more.
Tom Misnik also ran several of the pre-event ECW wrestler Q&A sessions during each year's Cyberslam event (typically each February starting in 1995). These events helped to connect wrestlers & fans, and these showed "proof of concept" which later morphed into the more-extensive pre-Wrestlemania events, WrestleCon, and other fan/wrestler events. Tom is an "unsung" hero in ECW history, so please take a moment to learn some more about him here:
https://ecwwrestling.com/tom-misnik
#3 Many Of Today's Pro Wrestling Newsletter Writers Getting Their Start In ECW
Many pro wrestling newsletter (and "dirt sheet") writers got their start, or gained nationwide exposure, during ECW's tenure. For example, PWinsider.com's Mike & Dave got their start as fans who decided to help ECW. Here is more about them: https://www.pwinsider.com/staff.php
Gabe Saplosky, who now is conducting pro wrestling tryouts/analysis sessions, got his start in ECW: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabe_Sapolsky
He started the ECW Action Wire newsletter; and he then wrote the programs sold at house shows + oversaw the "Street Team" which helped promote shows locally: https://ecwwrestling.com/trivia/what-was-the-ecw-street-team
#4 Sale Of Ringside Fan Cam Video Of House Shows
Since ECW was so unique, many people wanted to be a part of it when the company came to their towns. They also wanted some kind of "archive" proving they were there, so this led to the idea of taping - and ultimately selling - house shows which weren't run for TV tapings or pay per view events. RF Video got the rights to do this for ECW and it helped to aggregate the no-standards "tape trader" industry.
Fans wanted to see little-known shows, and they were able to buy from one location which (basically) was endorsed by the company. This helped prevent fans getting ripped off, being sent low-quality tapes, and other problems which plagued the "tape traders" who genuinely were willing to pay good money to see wrestling which they couldn't see locally.
This led into the standardization of "shoot interviews" as well. RF Video, Kayfabe Commentaries, and others either got their start or were heavily influenced by their experiences before/during/after ECW shows.
#5 Fans Bringing Signs To Shows
While earlier eras of pro wrestling had fans bring signs to the shows, ECW encouraged fans to bring signs -- including controversial signs. This even led to fans becoming talent, such as Sign Guy Dudley. He started as a fan who dressed up as one of the Dudley Boyz, bring signs to shows, and was planted to be near Hat Guy and the original "Sign Guy" fan. Yes, there were two "Sign Guy" fans!
Sign Guy Dudley joined the Dudley Boyz as part of their entourage, and he later became Lou E. Dangerously (spoofing Paul Heyman's wrestling name of Paul E. Dangerously) once the Dudley Boyz left for the WWF. He later ended up with TNA/Anthem Marketing and helped grow that company. Here is more about his background: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sign_Guy_Dudley
While WWF/WWE later had more fans with more signs, the modern version of this unique aspect to wrestling shows got its momentum going in ECW.
So many new wrestling fans who didn't attend original ECW shows (from 1992-2001), nor did they watch the shows very late on a weekend night, may have missed out on why ECW was so "extreme". They automatically, and mistakenly, look at the blood & violence & wild "spots" & weapons (tables, chairs, occasional fire, etc.) as the reason for being Extreme. This isn't the case when you talk with ECW veterans. Instead, it was a mindset of toughness, grit, authenticity, pride in one's work, adult humor (Joey Styles & Joel Gertner for exampler), adult topics (such as with Jenna Jameson and Jasmin St. Claire and some of the other women who appeared in ECW from 1992-2001), intense promos (think of New Jack on the microphone), and an attitude to "push the envelope" to give paying fans their money's worth. ECW did have its fair share of problems behind the scenes, so it can be a topic for another post later in the year. Remember how different ECW was at the time and how they still packed arenas with rabid fans even in its final weeks. This is so different than other wrestling companies which have folded before/after ECW, as typically their audiences & passionate fans dwindled before closing operations.
Please let me know if you would like more confirmation from anything you have read so far in this first part. Regarding "Part 2" and possible other posts continuing with this topic, please let me know your questions or insights. There are many who have contributed their time, money, and more to help preserve ECW's history in one way or another; and I will do what I can to add confirmation from those sources so that you get accurate information as well as their efforts getting recognized in the new web3 content (e.g. Hive) environment.
Thank you and I look forward to offering posts which offer you at least one unique aspect of ECW and its impact on pro wrestling history in each post.