SmugStuff: Why ECW Worked, Can Reunion Shows Work In 2013?

Anyone who knows me I was as big of an ECW fan as they had. I stayed back and got my own place when my family moved away from Philadelphia so that I could keep attending shows.

Over the last few years it seems there have been more ECW “reunion” shows and promotions then there were in 04,05 when ECW was still a hot thing, despite it being shut down.

There were many things that made ECW work as well as it did and most of them the “reunion” companies do not seem to quiet to understand.

One of the many things that made ECW was the ability to understand that no matter how successful your talent is, there comes a time when said talent is just too old to be headlined as a “top star.” Most of these “second coming” promotions use 40, 50 year old stars as main-eventers and that is kind of the opposite of what ECW would have done.

Despite that fact that there is a market for reunion shows, most of the fans that attend these are the people who were too young to attend the original ECW. Most of the “original hardcore fans” or at least the ones I have talked to want no part of a “reunion” and feel ECW is a part of their past they want untouched.

Paul Heyman had a way of moving forward and had a real understanding for what people wanted to see or more importantly would want to see 6 months from now and because of that he seemed to always be one step ahead.

I am not saying companies like, Extreme Rising or Hardcore Roadtrip are bad companies or will be unsuccessful but they will never reach the fans for have the success that ECW had because for the most part that market has moved on.

I am not talking about the marked for “hardcore wrestling” in general but for a second rate ECW the market is dead and to sale ‘hardcore wrestling’ or any kind of wrestling, for that matter, you need to over something new, original, something you can call your own.

With most of the ECW guys being will into their 40s or 50s, especially with the time of wrestling they perform(ed) you really need to market mostly young talent.

I hope that the day will come where multiple companies will be mainstream and you have a choice as to what kind of promotion you want to watch on television, until that day comes, however you maybe best rewatching old ECW videos to get that feel of nostalgia back.

There are multiple companies for those fans of hardcore wrestling to watch: Extreme Rising, Combat Zone Wrestling, and Hardcore Roadtrip just to name a few but it is important, when you watch these to NOT EXPECT ECW because in 2013, these promotions need to be recognized as there own

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