Mid 20th Century
108-461: Extreme Championship Wrestling ( ECW ) was an American professional wrestling promotion that was based in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania and operated by its parent company HHG Corporation. The promotion was founded in 1992 by Tod Gordon as National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) affiliate Eastern Championship Wrestling. The following year, businessman and wrestling manager Paul Heyman took over
216-653: A World Title tournament for the vacant NWA World Heavyweight Championship . Unbeknownst to any one, the event was staged for ECW's public withdrawal from the NWA, with tournament winner Shane Douglas throwing down the NWA title belt and instead picking up the ECW Heavyweight Championship belt, proclaiming himself to be the ECW World Heavyweight Champion. ECW founder Tod Gordon would subsequently announce ECW's secession from
324-514: A controversial segment from that month's Samhain PPV event, in which Father James Mitchell along with several women and wrestlers were seen consuming cocaine , drew negative reactions online. The following month, The CW signed a deal with WWE for its weekly NXT program. Though it was rumored to be in-response to the Samhain segment, Corgan later revealed in a 2024 interview with Fightful that
432-636: A "disgrace" and said he would move to have Douglas stripped of both the NWA World Heavyweight Championship and the Eastern Championship Wrestling Heavyweight Championship, as he was "undeserving" of both titles. Gordon made the following announcement on the next edition of ECW programming: I listened with great interest as the representative of the NWA board of directors took it upon himself to inform you that they have
540-541: A figurehead commissioner. Years after being the ECW "Commissioner", Gordon left ECW in May 1997, his absence was explained on-air that he retired from wrestling due to family. Rumors circulated, however, that Gordon was fired by Heyman after he was suspected as a "locker room mole" for a rival wrestling promotion, helping to lure talent to World Championship Wrestling. Storyline-wise, Vince McMahon first became "aware" of ECW while at
648-427: A holding company run by Houston, Texas-based attorney and wrestling promoter R. Bruce Tharpe, sued Trobich, Baucom, the NWA, and its then-parent company, Trobich's Pro Wrestling Organization LLC, claiming insurance fraud regarding the NWA's liability insurance policy. A settlement was negotiated that transferred the rights to the NWA name and trademarks from Trobich's company to Tharpe's. The new organization moved from
756-507: A larger audience than ever before. Rising demand and national expansion made wrestling a much more lucrative form of entertainment than in decades previous. This era would go on to be known as the "Golden Age" of professional wrestling. From 1948 to 1955, each of the three major television networks broadcast wrestling shows; the largest supporter being the DuMont Television Network . In 1956, allegations were made that
864-503: A local, up-and-coming promotion on the air. The following night on WWF Monday Night RAW , broadcast on September 23, 1996, at the onset of a match between The Bodydonnas vs. The British Bulldog and Owen Hart, Bill Alfonso, and Taz could be seen invading the program. Both Taz and Alfonso were able to successfully jump the security rails, and Taz was able to prominently display a bright orange sign with black lettering that read " Sabu Fears Taz-ECW". On February 24, 1997, ECW "invaded" Raw from
972-748: A member of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), though it joined the alliance on September 3 1993 at the behest of its lead booker "Hot Stuff" Eddie Gilbert . Gilbert, through his position as lead booker of ECW, managed to secure television time on SportsChannel Philadelphia starting in April 1993. Gilbert, after a falling out with Tod Gordon, was replaced in September 1993 by then-28-year-old businessman Paul Heyman . Heyman, known in professional wrestling as Paul E. Dangerously, had just been fired by World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and
1080-459: A membership model to a licensing model and significantly reduced the amount of territory some of the members held, which caused many promotions to immediately cut ties with the NWA. On September 9, 2012, Championship Wrestling from Hollywood (CWFH) announced it had left the NWA. CWFH was the unofficial home promotion of both the then-current NWA champion ( Adam Pearce ) and the most recent previous champion ( Colt Cabana ), both of whom publicly left
1188-463: A new distribution agreement with FITE TV . As part of this agreement, the NWA would remove content from their YouTube channel. On January 5, 2022, the NWA announced the launch of the NWA All Access subscription package on FITE TV, including past and upcoming pay-per-view events (PPV), new episodes of Powerrr on Tuesdays, and the newly announced NWA USA weekly series. In addition, it
SECTION 10
#17327801764401296-545: A new national television contract, and World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. purchased the assets of the company from bankruptcy in January 2003. The company would nominally remain active until 2007. Following the success of the One Night Stand tribute show in 2005, WWE relaunched the ECW franchise as a third brand in 2006 alongside their existing Raw and SmackDown brands. It debuted on June 13, 2006, on Sci Fi in
1404-666: A new promotion called NWA: Total Nonstop Action (NWA:TNA). NWA:TNA was given creative control over the NWA World Heavyweight and World Tag Team championships through an agreement with the NWA. This would last until March 2007, when the NWA terminated its agreement with TNA. TNA would lose control over the NWA World Heavyweight and World Tag Team championships by the morning of the 2007 Sacrifice pay-per-view event on May 13. On September 17, 2010, KDOC-TV Los Angeles premiered NWA: Championship Wrestling from Hollywood . In August 2012, International Wrestling Corp.,
1512-646: A number of issues. At the time Quinn walked out, a wrestler of his named Édouard Carpentier was involved in an angle where he and Lou Thesz were both being presented around the NWA as world champion after Carpentier had a disputed win over Thesz on June 14, 1957. As the 1950s came to a close, professional wrestling was losing television ratings, and soon TV stations dropped most wrestling shows from their lineups. The remaining televised wrestling promoters had small, local syndicated shows, which aired as late-night filler programming. Promoters started using localized television by purchasing airtime from rival territories, at
1620-575: A professional wrestling promoter from the U.S. Midwest , founded the National Wrestling Alliance with the backing of six other promoters: Al Haft , Tony Stecher , Harry Light , Orville Brown , Don Owen , and Sam Muchnick . The concept of the NWA was to consolidate the championships of these regional companies into one true world championship of professional wrestling, whose holder would be recognized worldwide. The newly formed NWA Board of Directors decided that Brown would become
1728-608: A recently established promotion which imitated the style and presentation of ECW. Six members of the XPW roster purchased front-row tickets to the PPV and attended the show. Prior to the start of the main event, a legitimate out-of-character brawl broke out between the XPW contingent and members of the ECW roster, which spilt out into the parking lot of the venue. Although ECW and XPW as organizations were considered to have great dislike for each other, several ECW talent would perform for XPW following
1836-514: A result of the World Wrestling Federation 's (WWF, now WWE) national expansion . In September 1993, the largest remaining member promotion, World Championship Wrestling (WCW), left the NWA. The NWA would continue as a loose coalition of independent promotions, with NWA: Total Nonstop Action (NWA:TNA) given exclusivity over its World Heavyweight and Tag Team championships from June 2002 to May 2007. In August 2012,
1944-465: A reunion event that featured ECW alumni . Shane McMahon had the idea of an online, low budget show, but they asked television stations and PPV producers and they were interested in ECW. Due to the financial and critical success of the production, WWE produced the second ECW One Night Stand on June 11, 2006, which served as the premiere show of the relaunch of the ECW franchise as a WWE brand , complementary to Raw and SmackDown . On June 13, Heyman,
2052-514: A singular world champion who defended his title across all the territories, participated in talent exchanges, and collectively protected the territorial integrity of member promotions. Prior to the 1960s, it acted as the sole governing body for professional wrestling in the United States . It remained the largest and most influential body in wrestling until the mid-1980s by which time most of the original member promotions went out of business as
2160-593: A stable as part of the World Wrestling Federation's (WWF, later WWE) Invasion storyline. On the July 9, 2001, edition of Raw is War , Heyman, who had been hired by the WWF as Raw color commentator while ECW was still in bankruptcy proceedings, joined several former ECW alumni on the WWF roster (including the debuting Rob Van Dam and Tommy Dreamer) and claimed that he was bringing ECW back to participate in
2268-475: A wrestling event. Within the convention of the show , the company is a sports governing body which sanctions wrestling matches and gives authority to the championships and is responsible for maintaining the divisions and their rankings. In truth, the company serves as a touring theatre troupe , as well as event promotion body for its own events. Most promotions are self-contained, organized around one or more championships and do not acknowledge or recognize
SECTION 20
#17327801764402376-606: A wrestling promotion named after the ECW wrestling school and inspired by the hardcore style of wrestling. Since then, HOH has held numerous wrestling events mainly in areas where ECW was held such as the ECW Arena. Throughout its existence, ECW cultivated an image of a rebellious organization that lived on the edge and "pushed the envelope". Not only did ECW engage in a wrestling style considered more dangerous than its larger competitors, but it also performed riskier and more controversial angles (storylines) as well. This culture within
2484-567: Is War moving to TNN. Paul Heyman stated he believed that the inability to land another national television deal was the cause of ECW's demise. ECW struggled for months after the cancellation, trying to secure a new national television deal. On December 30, 2000, ECW Hardcore TV aired for the last time and the January 7, 2001, broadcast of Guilty as Charged was ECW's last PPV. ECW's January 13, 2001 show in Pine Bluff, Arkansas would prove to be its final event of any kind. Living Dangerously
2592-579: Is War that February (replacing Jerry Lawler , who quit the WWF in protest after his then-wife, Stacy Carter , had been fired by McMahon), had supposedly never told his wrestlers that ECW was on its last legs and was unable to pay them for a while. Heyman also noted in later years that he had made an effort to put ECW on the USA Network (then the former home of Raw is War ) unsuccessfully, despite McMahon having sent an email encouraging USA Network executive Steven Chau to add ECW to their programming. ECW
2700-458: Is a documentary series chronicling the journey and career of the current NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion as well as others in the division. Debuting on October 20, 2017, on the NWA's YouTube channel, it was the first series to be produced after the organization's acquisition. NWA Shockwave was a web television program that aired on the NWA's YouTube channel and Facebook page. The series debuted on December 1, 2020. On August 10, 2020, it
2808-403: Is an American professional wrestling promotion and governing body owned by Billy Corgan and operated by its parent company Lightning One, Inc. Founded in 1948, the NWA began as the governing body for a group of regional promotions, the heads of which made up the board of directors. The group operated a territory system which sanctioned their own company championships while recognizing
2916-645: Is the flagship program of the NWA which currently streams on Tuesday nights on The CW 's app. The series debuted on October 8, 2019, originally airing on the NWA's YouTube channel. From 2021 to the end of 2022, the show had a first airing on Tuesday at 6:05 pm ET on FITE TV , with the episode debuting on the NWA's YouTube channel later in the same week in Friday at 6:05 pm ET. A companion series, titled NWA Power Surge (stylized as NWA Powerrr Surge ), premiered on April 13, 2021, and features wrestler interviews, unseen matches, and Powerrr recaps. Ten Pounds of Gold
3024-523: The 2300 Arena , is host to the Hardcore Hall of Fame , which recognizes its history with hardcore wrestling. Professional wrestling promotion 1970s and 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s and 2020s A professional wrestling promotion is a company or business that regularly performs shows involving professional wrestling . "Promotion" also describes a role which entails management, advertising and logistics of running
3132-559: The DVD documentary Forever Hardcore was released by the same production crew as a counterpart to WWE's Rise and Fall of ECW. Following Tommy Dreamer 's June 2010 debut in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), a new stable was formed called EV2.0 consisting of former ECW alumni. TNA President Dixie Carter agreed to give the stable their own reunion show at TNA's annual Hard Justice pay-per-view. Billed as
3240-518: The Golden Dome in Monaca, Pennsylvania . In June 1997, the company's Wrestlepalooza '97 event featured Raven's final ECW match before leaving for WCW. In this match, Tommy Dreamer finally beat Raven, his longtime nemesis. Dreamer's celebration was short-lived, though, as Jerry Lawler , along with Sabu and Rob Van Dam showed up to attack Dreamer. This set up a match between Dreamer and Lawler at
3348-576: The Manhattan Center . They advanced a storyline, plugged their first ever pay-per-view and worked three matches in front of the WWF audience while McMahon called the action with both Jerry "The King" Lawler and Paul Heyman. The Manhattan Center in New York was peppered with a large number of ECW fans, who gave the WWF wrestlers "Boring!" chants when they felt it was warranted. Likewise, when the ECW performers arrived, they popped and introduced
Extreme Championship Wrestling - Misplaced Pages Continue
3456-521: The NWA World Heavyweight Championship . The match took place on November 12 and saw Storm retain the title. This was the first title match under the new NWA regime headed by Corgan. On December 9, Aldis defeated Storm in a rematch at Cage of Death 19 to become the new NWA World Heavyweight Champion, making him the second British-born champion after Gary Steele . In 2018, the NWA briefly allied with Impact Wrestling ,
3564-465: The U.S. , ranging from Mexican lucha libre to Japanese puroresu . Heyman's creative direction created new stars, and established ECW as the third major national wrestling promotion in the United States in the second half of the 1990s, competing with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) and World Championship Wrestling (WCW). HHG folded ECW in 2001 when it was unable to secure
3672-562: The 1950s, the National Wrestling Alliance oversaw many wrestling territories such as Mid-Atlantic Wrestling and NWA San Francisco , in a business model known as the "territory system". This is a list of the most notable past and present professional wrestling promotions. Active Defunct Active Defunct Active Defunct Active Defunct Active Defunct Active Defunct (Modern-era) Defunct (Territory-era) Active Defunct National Wrestling Alliance The National Wrestling Alliance ( NWA )
3780-587: The 1970s, the NWA once again took over as the top promotion and gained huge dominance with their program, Georgia Championship Wrestling , which would become the first nationally broadcast wrestling program on cable television through then-superstation TBS in 1979. They brought in Gordon Solie , dubbed "The Walter Cronkite of Professional Wrestling," from former NWA President Eddie Graham's Championship Wrestling from Florida territory to be lead commentator and host. Videotape trading and cable television paved
3888-777: The 1970s. They changed their name from the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) to the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in 1979. At some point during the decade, Muchnick reportedly declared Atlanta, Georgia as the "leading wrestling city" for its "drawing capacity and near-capacity crowds at the City Auditorium or the Omni every Friday." While the American Wrestling Association (AWA) and World Wide Wrestling Federation/World Wrestling Federation (WWWF/WWF) both faltered during
3996-688: The 1995 King of the Ring event in ECW's home base of Philadelphia. During the match between Mabel and Savio Vega , the crowd suddenly started to chant, "ECW! ECW! ECW!". On September 22, 1996, at the In Your House: Mind Games event in Philadelphia, ECW stars The Sandman , Tommy Dreamer , Paul Heyman, and Taz were in the front row with Sandman even interfering in one match (when he threw beer on Savio Vega during his strap match with Bradshaw ). McMahon acknowledged ECW's status as
4104-543: The 2001 Survivor Series when Kurt Angle attacked Stone Cold Steve Austin , allowing The Rock , who had himself gotten attacked by Chris Jericho during the match (trying to help The Alliance in the process), to get the winning pinfall. The WWF's victory also marked the end of the Invasion storyline and WCW and ECW wrestlers were reintegrated into the WWF. On January 28, 2003, World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. purchased ECW's assets from HHG Corporation in court, acquiring
4212-462: The American audience. Based in the working-class city of Philadelphia, ECW had its origins in 1989 under the banner Tri-State Wrestling Alliance (TWA) owned by Joel Goodhart. In 1992, Goodhart sold his share of the company to his partner, Tod Gordon , who created his own promotion from TWA's remnants, Eastern Championship Wrestling (ECW). When Eastern Championship Wrestling was founded, it was not
4320-877: The CW executives didn't have a problem with the spot, and that "it was a completely invented story by either a troll inside the company, a leaker or something.” Following Samhain, episodes of Powerrr were later added to The CW's app in November. In January 2024, NWA announced that new episodes of Powerrr would be available on The CW app from February 6. The same year, NWA included new territories: NWA Chicago in Chicago , Illinois , Kross Fire Wrestling (KFW) in Sevierville, Tennessee , World League Wrestling in Missouri as NWA's developmental system, and NWA Texas. Powerrr
4428-607: The ECW Arena. Throughout the 2000s, ECW's home base of Philadelphia was considered a highly potent source of fans for Independent wrestling promotions. Following the release of commercially successful ECW retrospectives by WWE in the mid-2000s, WWE tapped into the legacy of ECW with reunion shows before attempting to fully revive ECW. This move was mirrored all across American professional wrestling, with several independent revivals springing up and several established promotions pivoting their content to incorporate hardcore wrestling and former ECW stars. The former ECW Arena, now known as
Extreme Championship Wrestling - Misplaced Pages Continue
4536-701: The ECW World Championship belt in the trash can on television, as had been done previously with the WWF Women's title by Madusa when she jumped from the WWF to WCW. After Paul Heyman filed an injunction, WCW refrained from having Awesome appear on Nitro with the belt, but did acknowledge him as the champion. Eventually, a compromise was reached. Awesome (a WCW employee and the reigning ECW World Heavyweight champion) appeared at an April 13, 2000, ECW event in Indianapolis, Indiana , where he lost
4644-438: The ECW to challenge for that belt. This is the ECW, Extreme Championship Wrestling, changing the face of professional wrestling. Douglas' metaphorical and literal casting down of the NWA and Gordon's subsequent renaming of the promotion were later considered the definitive beginning of Extreme Championship Wrestling as not just an independent promotion, but a prominent player in American professional wrestling. ECW's primary venue
4752-686: The Invasion by themselves (at the time, however, the ownership of ECW, including the use of its name on-air, was disputed despite Heyman still technically owning ECW when he jumped ship to the WWF. In addition, WWF faced legal action by Harry Slash & The Slashtones for the use of the song "This Is Extreme!" which was eventually settled). Before Raw is War was over that evening, Heyman and Shane McMahon , who had ( kayfabe ) purchased World Championship Wrestling (WCW), revealed that they were in cahoots with each other and that Heyman had (also kayfabe) sold ECW to Stephanie McMahon , forming The Alliance to try and wrestle power from Vince McMahon. At that time,
4860-488: The NWA World Heavyweight Championship title upon winning it, stating that he did not want to be champion of a "dead promotion" that "died seven years ago." He then raised the Eastern Championship Wrestling title belt and declared it to be a World Heavyweight Championship – calling it the only real world title left in professional wrestling. When recalling this event years later, Paul Heyman stated
4968-426: The NWA World Heavyweight Championship was featured at All In , with Cody defeating Aldis for the title, becoming the first second-generation NWA World heavyweight champion. After All In, the NWA would return to hosting its own events. The NWA 70th Anniversary Show , which took place on October 21, 2018, was the first to be produced directly under Lightning One, and was co-produced with Global Force Entertainment ;
5076-552: The NWA World Heavyweight, World Tag Team and World Junior Heavyweight Championships all changed hands at NJPW events. In September 2016, NWA signed a deal with the new Japanese Diamond Stars Wrestling (DSW) promotion to promote shows in not only Japan, but also other parts of Asia. As part of the deal, DSW chairman Hideo Shimada was appointed the NWA Vice President of the Asian Pacific region while Jimmy Suzuki
5184-604: The NWA and ROH. This would be the last event to be co-promoted with ROH; on July 24, 2019, the NWA announced that had ended their partnership. Subsequently, it was announced the following month that the NWA would host tapings in Atlanta on September 30 and October 1 for a new television series, later revealed to be titled NWA Powerrr . In January 2020, Marty Scurll , and other Ring of Honor characters, began to appear at NWA events once again as part of an inter-promotional angle. In addition to re-signing with ROH, Scurll would join
5292-521: The NWA and relaunch ECW as its own standalone entity. Gordon and Heyman had lost faith in the NWA to provide any value to them as wrestling promoters. Additionally, instead of offering cooperation and mutual support, other member promotions of the NWA were undermining ECW's business with underhanded tactics, something Gordon and Heyman wanted revenge for. At the NWA World Title Tournament held on August 27, 1994, Douglas threw down
5400-553: The NWA discontinued its memberships and started licensing its brand to wrestling promotions. In 2017, it was purchased by Billy Corgan through his Lightning One, Inc. company. By late 2019–2023, the NWA had transitioned into a stand-alone, singular promotion. In October 2023, the NWA re-established its territory system, with Michael Hutter's NWA Exodus Pro Midwest being the first promotion sanctioned. Mid 20th Century 1970s and 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s and 2020s In 1948, Paul "Pinkie" George ,
5508-408: The NWA reestablished itself as a governing body, with EC3 's NWA Exodus Pro Midwest being the first territory to be sanctioned. On December 4, NWA welcomed Joe Cazana Promotions (JCP) to their territory system. On October 18, it was reported by news blog Haus of Wrestling that NWA had signed a deal with The CW to air Powerrr and a reality show documenting behind the scenes footage. However,
SECTION 50
#17327801764405616-692: The NWA was an illegal monopoly blocking competition. An investigation led by the US Department of Justice resulted in the NWA Consent Decree of 1956 ( United States v. National Wrestling Alliance ). Several promoters would leave the organization during this time, with some managing to find niches in the United States. In 1957, Montreal promoter Eddie Quinn walked out of the August NWA meeting in St. Louis, having fallen out with Muchnick over
5724-505: The NWA's Bunkhouse Stampede . The NWA responded by creating Clash of the Champions on TBS to counterprogram WrestleMania IV . By 1988, Jim Crockett Promotions was facing bankruptcy. On October 11, under the direction of owner Ted Turner , TBS bought the assets of JCP and renamed it World Championship Wrestling (WCW) after the TV show of the same name. Originally incorporated by TBS as
5832-550: The NWA, Corgan would also purchase Tharpe's stake in the NWA's "On Demand" VOD service and licensing of the Paul Boesch wrestling library. Corgan's ownership of the NWA took effect on October 1, 2017. All licenses granted by Tharpe to use the NWA branding expired the previous day, putting Corgan in complete control of both the brand and its championships. On September 23, 2017, Nick Aldis made his debut for Championship Wrestling from Hollywood and challenged Tim Storm for
5940-480: The NWA, rechristening the promotion as Extreme Championship Wrestling. In 1998, the World Wrestling Federation reached an agreement to use the likeness of the NWA titles, branding, and its history, to create a storyline. It would be later claimed that WWE still owned the rights. Despite the NWA receiving international television publicity during the angle, it was considered a failure due to low viewer interests. In June 2002, Jeff and Jerry Jarrett launched
6048-477: The NWA, with Pearce vacating the NWA World Title while exiting. Other major NWA territories like NWA Pro/NWA Pro West , NWA Georgia , NWA Pro East , NWA Southwest and NWA Midwest folded. In 2013, the NWA re-established a relationship with New Japan Pro-Wrestling, where Bruce Tharpe became an on-screen character, portraying a villainous manager of wrestlers representing the NWA. Over the next two years,
6156-570: The NWA. On September 5, 2020, Rosa unsuccessfully challenged AEW Women's World Championship Hikaru Shida at All Out . On October 27, 2020, Serena Deeb defeated Rosa during the United Wrestling Network's Primetime Live event to become the new NWA World Women's Champion. On March 2, 2021, the NWA announced their return to promoting events, with the Back For The Attack and new Powerrr episodes as part of
6264-497: The United States and ran for close to four years until it aired its final episode on February 16, 2010, on the rebranded Syfy . Mid 20th Century 1970s and 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s and 2020s Following the lead of the World Wrestling Federation, the majority of American professional wrestling promotions in the 1980s and early 1990s orientated their style and presentation towards catering to mainstream audiences, families and casual fans. However, under
6372-585: The United States. That same year, Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP) and the NWA created its primary supercard , Starrcade , the first to be broadcast via closed-circuit networks and was regarded as their flagship event. On Saturday, July 14, 1984, in what would become known as Black Saturday , McMahon bought NWA member Georgia Championship Wrestling (GCW) and merged it into the WWF. The WWF would take over GCW's TV slot on TBS , which had been home to GCW's World Championship Wrestling program for 12 years. This move proved disastrous as ratings would plummet, and
6480-548: The Universal Wrestling Corporation, Turner promised fans that WCW would retain the athlete-oriented style of the NWA. The sale was completed on November 2, 1988, with a television taping of NWA World Championship Wrestling that very same date in WCW's hometown of Atlanta. By September 1993, WCW would withdraw completely from the NWA. On August 27, 1994, NWA: Eastern Championship Wrestling (ECW) held
6588-496: The WWF Monday night audience to some trademark ECW group chants. This invasion sparked an inter-promotional feud between ECW and Lawler's United States Wrestling Association . Lawler disparaged ECW on-camera and convinced wrestlers such as Rob Van Dam and Sabu to join him in an anti-ECW crusade. Throughout 1997, ECW wrestlers appeared on USWA television programs, and vice versa. As part of the working relationship between ECW and
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#17327801764406696-580: The WWF throughout 2001 that pitted the WWF against the "invading" WCW and ECW. The storyline began proper at the WWF Invasion pay-per-view, which received 775,000 buys and became one of the highest-grossing wrestling pay-per-views of all time. The storyline ran until November's Survivor Series , and thereafter former ECW talent were integrated into the WWF without being directly tied to the ECW branding. Former ECW talent such as Rob Van Dam would be prominent parts of WWF/WWE programming thereafter. Outside of
6804-486: The WWF would end up losing money on the deal. Then-NWA President Jim Crockett, Jr. , the owner of JCP, would buy the World Championship Wrestling program from McMahon for $ 1 million and returned NWA programming to TBS. By 1985, JCP would become the flagship territory of the NWA by acquiring more time slots on TBS and merging with other NWA territories in an attempt to compete with the WWF. With
6912-494: The WWF, a number of WWF-contracted wrestlers were sent to ECW for seasoning in 1997, including Droz and Brakkus . After approximately 18 months of negotiating with pay-per-view providers, ECW broadcast their first pay-per-view (PPV) wrestling card Barely Legal on April 13 1997, highlighted by Terry Funk defeating Raven to win the ECW World Heavyweight Championship. Gaining access to PPV
7020-423: The WWF, former ECW talent were integral in helping new promotions find their feet. Alumni such as Raven were important figures during the startup phase of NWA: Total Nonstop Action and Ring of Honor . Many promotions, such as Combat Zone Wrestling and Xtreme Pro Wrestling , attempted to directly imitate ECW and capture its audience once it folded, to the point that these companies directly competed for control of
7128-644: The Wonderland Ballroom in Revere, Massachusetts . 17-year-old Erich Kulas, an aspiring professional wrestler who used the ring name "Mass Transit," was seriously injured in a tag-team match against The Gangstas ; the most severe injury occurred when Kulas was bladed too deeply by New Jack (Jerome Young), severing two of his arteries . Further controversy arose when it came to light that Kulas had lied to ECW owner and booker Paul Heyman about his age and professional wrestling training. The incident led to
7236-848: The air in 1997, the show moved to WPPX-TV 61 . It later moved to a former independent broadcast station ( WGTW 48) in Philadelphia on either Friday or Saturday night, and at 1:00 a.m. or at 2:00 a.m. Shows were also aired on the MSG Network in NYC on Friday nights (early Saturday morning) at 2:00 a.m. Due to the obscurity of the stations and ECW itself, as well as the lack of FCC oversight at that late hour, many times expletives and violence were not edited out of these showings, along with extensive use of copyrighted music and music videos. In 1995, Tod Gordon sold Extreme Championship Wrestling, to his head booker , Paul Heyman , trading as HHG Corporation. Afterward, Gordon remained in ECW as
7344-481: The attack, a wooden cross was brought from under the ring and the members of Raven's Nest proceeded to "Crucify" Sandman with it, and enforced the use of religious iconography by placing a "crown" made out of barbed wire on his head in a direct allusion to the Crucifixion of Jesus . ECW's normally rowdy crowd was shocked into silence and the angle was immediately considered to have backfired. That same night, Raven
7452-672: The brand's former owner and newly appointed figurehead for the ECW brand , recommissioned the ECW World Heavyweight Championship to be the brand's world title and awarded it to Rob Van Dam as a result of winning the WWE Championship at ECW One Night Stand 2006. During the first few months of ECW on Sci Fi , the show operated under the creative direction of Paul Heyman and was supervised by Vince McMahon. The ECW brand initially retained many elements of
7560-486: The company sometimes led to major controversies within the professional wrestling industry. One such instance was the "Sandman Cruxification angle" at ECW High Incident . As part of a long-running storyline between Raven and the Sandman, Sandman was attacked by Raven's Nest , which included The Sandman's real-life wife Lori Fullington and their young son Tyler, who in the storyline had become devotees of Raven. As part of
7668-540: The company's booking team, enabling him to appear for both the NWA and ROH. However, in the fallout of the Speaking Out Movement , Scurll was accused of having intercourse with a 16-year-old female who was inebriated. After an investigation, Scurll would be removed from his position as booker, and by the following January in 2021, would be no longer under contract. Nick Aldis was scheduled to face PCO at Supercard of Honor XIV on April 4, 2020, before
7776-585: The company's history, with the other disc featuring 7 matches from the promotion. The documentary proved to be one of the most popular pieces of media ever produced by WWE, with DVDs of the documentary selling in the 100,000s. In June 2005 an unauthorized DVD called Forever Hardcore was written, directed and produced by Jeremy Borash in response to The Rise and Fall of ECW . The DVD featured interviews with ECW alumni who were not employed by WWE telling their side of ECW's history. The success of Rise and Fall of ECW and Forever Hardcore led to WWE reassessing
7884-455: The concept of "hardcore wrestling" (a style of professional wrestling associated with the use of objects as weapons) did not originate with ECW, they were widely credited with popularizing the style in the United States and were intimately associated with it. Although hardcore wrestling became the calling card of the promotion, ECW has also been credited with helping to introduce other professional wrestling styles such as lucha libre and puroresu to
7992-547: The consequence of putting some of them out of business. On January 24, 1963, at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, Lou Thesz defeated Buddy Rogers in a one-fall match and was declared NWA World Heavyweight Champion for the third and final time. However, after the event, Vincent J. McMahon and Toots Mondt of the Capital Wrestling Corporation (CWC) refused to recognize the title change since Thesz
8100-414: The creative direction of Paul Heyman, ECW rebranded itself as "Extreme Championship Wrestling" in 1994 and orientated its entire style and presentation towards a gritty, counter-cultural, underground-style presentation directly inspired by the emerging cultural forces of grunge music , hip-hop and extreme sports . In contrast to clean-cut wrestling shows centred around "superhero" archetypes, ECW pioneered
8208-486: The creative end of the promotion from Eddie Gilbert . Under Heyman, the promotion was rechristened as Extreme Championship Wrestling. The promotion was known for highlighting a " hardcore wrestling " style, with matches regularly featuring weapons (including the frequent use of tables and fire) and revolving around adult-themed storylines. Though the hardcore style was the main focus, ECW also showcased various international styles of professional wrestling not usually seen in
8316-774: The event was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On June 18, 2020, Dave Lagana resigned as Vice President of the NWA after allegations of sexual assault were made public. The promotion would go into hiatus as a result of this and the pandemic. During this time, several wrestlers would also leave the NWA, including former Tag Team Champions James Storm , Eli Drake , Marti Belle , and Royce Isaacs , former Women's Champion Allysin Kay , former Television Champion Ricky Starks , former Television Champion Zicky Dice . NWA World Women's Champion Thunder Rosa would make appearances for All Elite Wrestling (AEW) while under contract with
8424-452: The event was streamed live on FITE TV . The main event saw Aldis defeat Cody to recapture the NWA World Heavyweight Championship and Willie Mack winning a tournament for the vacant NWA National Championship , which became the main secondary title. The Fourth Crockett Cup , an eight-team, single-elimination tournament that was revived to crown new NWA World Tag Team Champions , took place on April 27, 2019, as another collaboration between
8532-462: The first ever NWA World Heavyweight Champion . In 1950, Sam Muchnick , one of the original promoters of the NWA and Lou Thesz 's booker, was named the governing body's President, a position to which he was unanimously re-elected and held until 1960, making him one of the longest-tenured presidents in the organization's history. Following the advent of television , professional wrestling matches began to be aired nationally during this time, reaching
8640-421: The folding of ECW in 2001. ECW was very influential within professional wrestling in the 1990s and several elements innovated and introduced by ECW would continue to be used in professional wrestling decades after its closure. In the immediate aftermath of ECW collapse, a significant portion of ECW's active roster was brought into the WWF. These former ECW talents would be used as part of a storyline that ran in
8748-452: The following in a 1998 chat: The National Wrestling Alliance was old-school when old-school wasn't hip anymore. We wanted to set our mark, we wanted to breakaway from the pack, we wanted to let the world know that we weren't just some independent promotion. NWA representative Dennis Coralluzzo was interviewed after the event and declared that Douglas would be the world champion of the NWA "whether he likes it or not", calling Douglas' actions
8856-594: The former NWA:TNA, to hold an Empty Arena match at Universal Orlando in Orlando, Florida. It was contested by Tim Storm and Jocephus and served as a qualifier to challenge then-NWA World Heavyweight Champion Nick Aldis. The match was recorded on January 14, 2018, and uploaded to YouTube the next day. Starting in 2018, NWA allied with Ring of Honor (ROH). NWA wrestlers such as Aldis, James Storm , and Eli Drake appeared at several ROH events, with ROH-contracted talent even winning NWA titles. On September 1, 2018,
8964-506: The last ECW reunion show, Hardcore Justice aired on August 8, 2010. EV2.0 remained on the active roster for the remainder of the year. In 2012 Shane Douglas led a project called Extreme Reunion, later renamed Extreme Rising . The concept of the promotion was to produce shows in the style of ECW and feature new and upcoming talent, rather than strictly only feature ECW alumni. The promotion ran several shows in 2012 but folded soon thereafter. In 2012, Dreamer founded House of Hardcore (HOH),
9072-492: The legitimacy of other promotions' titles unless they share a working agreement. Governing bodies, such as the CyberFight , United Wrestling Network , WWNLive , Allied Independent Wrestling Federations , Union of European Wrestling Alliances, Pro Wrestling International and, previously, the National Wrestling Alliance , act as an umbrella organization which governs titles that are shared among multiple promotions. During
9180-601: The original inter-promotional feud devolved into another internal power struggle among the McMahon family. The defection of WWF superstars to The Alliance continued the shift as less focus was placed on WCW and ECW performers – in fact, with rare exceptions such as Van Dam, the ECW alumni in The Alliance were given even less focus than WCW's performers, with WCW's logo even representing the entire stable. The feud lasted six months and concluded with WWF defeating The Alliance at
9288-614: The pay-per-view, 1997 Hardcore Heaven , on August 17, which was won by Dreamer. ECW continued through 1998 and early 1999 with a string of successful pay-per-views. In August 1999, ECW began to broadcast nationally on TNN (for what was initially a three-year contract) as ECW on TNN . Despite very limited advertising, a minimal budget, and disputes with TNN (reflected in The Network stable), ECW became TNN's highest rated show and bolstered TNN's Friday night slot, both in ratings and line-up. However, within weeks of debuting on TNN ECW
9396-411: The power to force NWA-Eastern Championship Wrestling not to recognize The Franchise, Shane Douglas, as a world heavyweight champion. Well, as of noon today, I have folded NWA-Eastern Championship Wrestling. In its place will be ECW- Extreme Championship Wrestling - and we recognize The Franchise, Shane Douglas, as our World Heavyweight Champion. And we encourage any wrestler in the world today to come to
9504-459: The rights to ECW's video library. HHG would nominally remain active until it became defunct on January 31, 2007. Following World Wrestling Entertainment Inc.'s purchase of ECW's assets in January 2003, they used the video library to put together a two-disc DVD titled The Rise and Fall of ECW , which was released in November 2004. The main feature of the DVD set was a nearly three-hour documentary on
9612-658: The same weekend as the ECW One Night Stand 2005 event another reunion show was held at the ECW Arena . Booked and promoted by Shane Douglas , Cody Michaels and Jeremy Borash , Hardcore Homecoming was held on June 10, 2005. The show featured former ECW performers who were not contracted to work the WWE produced event. Because of the success of the initial event, three additional shows were held in Autumn 2005 and later
9720-477: The success of WrestleMania III in 1987, the WWF would schedule another pay-per-view, Survivor Series , on Thanksgiving night to compete directly with NWA's Starrcade event, and demanded exclusivity from cable providers on carriage of the event. As a result, Starrcade was moved to December the following year, with the show now held around Christmas Day beginning in 1988. The WWF then scheduled their first Royal Rumble event in January 1988 to counterprogram against
9828-521: The temporary cancellation of the inaugural ECW pay-per-view Barely Legal, and legal action against New Jack. Due to Kulas's deception, however, Barely Legal was reinstated and the legal action ended in Young's favor. In July 2000, ECW made its West Coast debut, holding its annual summer pay-per-view Heat Wave in Los Angeles, California. At the time Los Angeles was home to Xtreme Pro Wrestling (XPW),
9936-489: The title to Taz (who was working for the World Wrestling Federation). Taz would then lose the title to Tommy Dreamer at CyberSlam 2000 to return the title to ECW's possession, ending what is considered to have been one of the more peculiar arrangements in professional wrestling history. By October 2000, ECW on TNN was cancelled (with the final episode airing on October 6, 2000) in favor of WWF Raw
10044-545: The use of adult-orientated shows featuring high levels of violence, vulgarity, and sexuality centred around anti-hero characters to develop a niche separate to that of its peers. ECW further accentuated the ruckus atmosphere of its shows through the use of contemporary chart music instead of using stock music ; the performers in ECW would make their entrances accompanied by the music of artists such as Metallica , Alice in Chains , Pearl Jam , Dr. Dre and Ice Cube . Although
10152-442: The value of the ECW brand and directly resulted in WWE hosting ECW One Night Stand 2005 to further test how much strength remained in the ECW fandom. By 2005, WWE began reintroducing ECW through content from the ECW video library and a series of books, which included the release of The Rise and Fall of ECW documentary. With heightened and rejuvenated interest in the ECW franchise, WWE organized ECW One Night Stand on June 12,
10260-456: The way for the decline of the NWA's inter-regional business model, as viewers could now see plot holes and inconsistencies between each territories' storylines. The presence of stars like Ric Flair on TV every week made their special appearances in each region less of a draw. The WWF left the NWA for good in 1983, as Vincent K. McMahon , who bought the WWF from his father in 1982, worked to get WWF programming on syndicated television all across
10368-546: The wild and ruckus original ECW promotion, but gradually over the following months these were scaled back at the behest of McMahon and the show was brought in line with other WWE productions. This caused considerable discontent with Heyman, who walked off the project and left WWE entirely in December 2006, beginning a six-year hiatus from professional wrestling. WWE's ECW brand would continue to operate until February 16, 2010, when it became defunct and replaced with NXT . On
10476-513: Was announced that Powerrr would return to YouTube, airing on Fridays after the FITE premiere, and that NWA USA would air on Saturdays on the platform before moving to Sundays on FITE. Finally, it was announced that the NWA would expand their PPV schedule to six events per year, as part of a new deal with FITE TV. Though the partnership ended in 2023, with NWA's programming returning to YouTube, FITE still carries NWA PPV events. On October 9, 2023,
10584-494: Was announced that the NWA will partner with the United Wrestling Network (UWN) to produce a live, weekly pay-per-view (PPV) series named UWN Primetime Live . Matches from this series would also be featured as part of Shockwave . NWA USA is a weekly program that debuted on January 8, 2022, on YouTube and focuses on the NWA Junior Heavyweight Championship division. The last episode
10692-565: Was appointed senior NWA consultant. On May 1, 2017, it was reported that Billy Corgan , lead singer of the Smashing Pumpkins , had agreed to purchase the NWA, including its name, rights, trademarks and championship belts. The report was confirmed by Tharpe that same day. Over the following weeks, the NWA trademarks were moved from Tharpe's International Wrestling Corp. over to Corgan's Lightning One, Inc. production company. According to multiple sources, as part of his acquisition of
10800-567: Was forced to make an out-of-character apology to the live audience. The footage of the "crucifixion" was never aired on ECW television. Olympian wrestler Kurt Angle, who was in attendance for the show and who had been considering wrestling for ECW in future - immediately left the ECW Arena in disgust due to the incident. Another instance of a high controversy that occurred in ECW was the Mass Transit incident . The Mass Transit incident took place during an ECW house show on November 23, 1996, at
10908-831: Was listed as having assets totalling $ 1,385,500. Included in that number was $ 860,000 in accounts receivable owed ECW by In Demand Network (PPV), Acclaim ( video games ) and Original San Francisco Toy Company ( action figures ). The balance of the assets were the video tape library ($ 500,000), a 1998 Ford truck ($ 19,500) and the remaining inventory of merchandise ($ 4). The liabilities of ECW totalled $ 8,881,435.17. Wrestlers and talent were listed, with amounts owed ranging from $ 2 for Sabu and Steve Corino to hundreds, and in some cases, thousands of dollars. The highest amounts owed to talents were Rob Van Dam ($ 150,000), Shane Douglas ($ 145,000), Tommy Dreamer ($ 100,000), Joey Styles ($ 50,480), Rhyno ($ 50,000), and Francine Fournier ($ 47,275). A few months after ECW's 2001 demise, ECW resurfaced as
11016-492: Was looking for a new challenge. Heyman's creative influence had an immediate impact on ECW, and throughout 1993 and into 1994 the terms "Hardcore" and "Extreme" were increasingly used to characterize both the in-ring style and the general presentation of the promotion. Instead of relying on former WWF stars such as Jimmy Snuka , Heyman pivoted the promotion to centring around local up-and-coming talents such as Shane Douglas , Sabu , The Sandman and Tommy Dreamer . By 1994 ECW
11124-638: Was not a strong draw in their Northeastern territory. They then withdrew the CWC from the NWA. As a result, McMahon and Mondt formed the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF, later to be known as WWE ) with Rogers as its first world champion in April 1963. Although both Gagne and McMahon promoted their own world champions, their promotions continued to have representatives on the NWA Board of Directors and regularly exchanged talent with NWA promotions during this time. Wrestling's popularity continued to decline in
11232-416: Was proving to be the strongest member of what remained of the National Wrestling Alliance. It was therefore decided by consensus between ECW and the rest of the NWA that ECW's main star, Shane Douglas, would win a tournament to win the vacant NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship . However, unbeknownst to the NWA, ECW operators Tod Gordon and Paul Heyman secretly planned to use the occasion to publicly break from
11340-538: Was raided by the WWF, who hired away reigning ECW World Champion Taz as well reigning ECW Tag-team Champions the Dudley Boyz. Furthermore, in April 2000 reigning ECW World Heavyweight Champion Mike Awesome jumped ship to WCW in a move completely unforeseen by ECW. It has been suggested that Awesome refused to sign a new contract with ECW until Paul Heyman paid him overdue wages. There were rumors that WCW Executive Vice-President Eric Bischoff wanted Awesome to drop
11448-609: Was scheduled to air on March 11, 2001, but because of financial trouble it was canceled in February. Heyman could not get out of financial trouble, part of this was because the PPV Distributors would not pay the money that was owed to ECW due to them by that point still not being able to have found a TV Network / Distribution by which time they then would have had their money released to them, Subsequently, ECW closed on April 4, 2001. Heyman, who became color commentator for Raw
11556-436: Was seen both internally and externally as a major milestone for ECW as it added a major revenue stream to the company in addition to greatly expanding the size of the company's audience. Although Barely Legal was broadcast from the ECW arena, ECW's transition to PPV would see ECW gaining access to much larger venues. For example, ECW's November to Remember 1997 PPV just months later saw the company perform before at 4,634 fans at
11664-519: Was the ECW Arena , a former warehouse secluded under a section of Interstate 95 . Seating comprised simple folding chairs and four sets of portable bleachers , with the unconventional scene reflective of the gritty style of the promotion itself. It was from this venue that ECW's TV show ECW Hardcore TV was filmed for broadcast on a Philadelphia local cable sports station ( SportsChannel America 's local affiliate, SportsChannel Philadelphia ) on Tuesday evenings. After Sports Channel Philadelphia went off
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