this fallowing post is a respones to someone who left a message on my board saying ECW made stars out of Benoit Edde and Rey jr. I thought some of you might be interested in reading it
first off you obviously didnt really pay attention to what i wrote.
the fact that the nick name The Cripple stuck with with Benoit through his years and came from ECW is true, but you are ignooring the fact that ECW didnt make him famous, did not make him a house hold name or big star. Do you know how many wrestlers over the years have gotten nick names before they hit a big company tons. when they hit a big company they will decided if they should keep the name or not. as for benoit cripple was a good nick name that worked for him. its like saying what ever **** hole indy fed cm punk started at before getting into wwe was responsable for making him a star. also when i say **** indy i am not talking about ROH, yes ROH got CM Punk noticed but WWE made him a star.
define famous. you state the guerreros were famous before wcw. the senoir members of the guerrero family were known and eddie and others were non on a small market, its like saying Colt Cabana or Bryan Danielson are big stars because they have names for themselves on the indy market. this is not true. the majority of wrestling fans are wwe and to a smaller scale tna viewers, if you are not on these shows people have close to no idea who you are or non at all.
the greatest example of all is Steve Austin. steve austin made a name for himself wcw not huge but known went to ECW brought some more attention to himself thanks to ECW giving him a chance to run his mouth on the mic, this got him a WWE contract. When Austin came to WWE he got no reaction because people had no idea who he was.
Benoit, Eddie, and Rey didnt show up on WCW and get a massive pop cause they were big stars they came out to silence. Eddie and Benoit were semi popular on a japanese market but in the US nothing. Sure if they went to a ECW show they would geta pop but the fact is when they first came to WCW no one knew who they were. If these men were already big stars then how come people didnt know them.
Over the years many of the ECW big name stars tried going to WWE or WCW and really only 2 wrestlers got massive pops on their debutes. those were RVD and Tazz. sadly for Tazz he couldnt stay over with the fans.
Sandman went to WCW as Hak with the same gimmick no one knew who he was or cared.
Mike Awsome went to WCW i will admit he got barried with stupid gimmick but he still had a shot in WWE after the purchase and still couldnt get over.
Lance Storm who WCW tried to push like crazy giving him 3 titles at one also couldnt get over the only reactions he could get were anti american stuff.
Tommy Dreamer no reaction when he came and still no reaction today.
Raven is one who might get a bit of credit but he falls under the same Crippler thing. he had a gimmick that work for him in ECW and WCW thought it would be good to use the same gimmick and once again no one knew him in WCW. If they did they were more framiliar with him being Johnny Polo from the WWF then Raven from ECW.
The Dudley became popular in the WWE but when they first arrived people couldnt stand them and lots felt they wouldnt be around long and that is because of the stupid studder gimmick.
The fact of the matter is when people think old ECW they dont think of the great stars such as Benoit, Eddie, Austin, Rey, or Jericho that spent a very small portion of their careers there. Instead they think of wrestlers like Tazz, Rvd, Sabu. Dreamer, Douglas, Sandman. and all the over the top violence. THe of the matter is ECW was more of a farm league for WWE and WCW. True ECW would get some attention to the wrestlers but would never make them big stars, this is the reason that pretty much every wrestler in ECW that ever got noticed jumped ship to one of the big two. The money just wasnt in ECW, in fact their was no money there for the wrestlers. If ECW had such big stars and was making such big stars do you not think that they would of been in a more better financial state?
Also on a last note the years the like of Benoit, Eddie and Jericho were in ECW it still wasnt at its total hardcore peak. Extreme Championship Wrestling. Origialy took that name from its former name of East Coast Wrestling , because the moves and matches in the shows were becoming more extreme. Extreme doesnt have to me violent but extreme in the fact that there was lots of lucha stuff that had never been seen before in the US on this scale and also lots of stiff japanese style. Websters Dictionary defines Extreme as exceeding the ordinary, usual, or expected. This was the original idea of ECW to bring a different style or wrestling to the stage, but slowly the company went towards another defintion of Extreme being relating to, or being an outdoor activity or a form of a sport (as skiing) that involves an unusually high degree of physical risk.
I want to high light a section of that definition and being the last bit ˝unusually high degree of physical risk.˝ After ECW lost pretty much all its truly talented wrestlers the company and its worker relied on real pain to be deliverd to each other in matches, doing this ECWs roster became a hell of a lot less talented. Pretty much any person with the littest bit of wrestling training or hell even non could step in the ECW ring as long as they were willing to spill blood and really hurt themselves or someone. this is not wrestling or atleast not what it is suppose to be. you call me a trick and claim i do not know anything about wrestling. The first rule when it comes to wrestling is to protect your opponent and yourself at all times. more then half the stuff that was pulled of in ECW in its peak of hardcore in no way shape or form was to protect the wrestlers.
Ok and just for the record this is Eddies history in ECW April 8, 1995 to August 5, 1995
wow thats a long time, here are the highlights of his ECW career
# April 8, 1995--Three Way Dance: Eddie Guerrero defeated Too Cold Scorpio to win the ECW Television title..
# April 15, 1995--Hostile City Showdown: Eddie Guerrero vs Dean Malenko ended in a DRAW (Guerrero retains TV title)..
# July 15, 1995--Heat Wave: Dean Malenko & Too Cold Scorpio defeated The Tazmaniac & Eddie Guerrero
# August 5, 1995--Wrestlepalooza: Too Cold Scorpio & Dean Malenko & Cactus Jack beat Eddie Guerrero & The Steiner Brothers.
Ok now lets look at Benoit who was with ECW from 1994 to 96ish
# Extreme Championship Wrestling
# Chris Benoit signed on with ECW and had strong matches there, including a match with Sabu, where Chris broke Sabu's neck..
# Chris Benoit went back to Japan before landing a permanent job with Extreme Championship Wrestling in 1994..
# Chris Benoit won the ECW Tag Team titles with Dean Malenko..
# Chris Benoit left ECW to do some more shows in Japan..
Keeping Busy
# 1994: Chris Benoit defeated The Great Sasuke in the finals of the Super J Cup Tournament..
# Benoit recieved several try-outs with the World Wrestling Federation..
World Championship Wrestling
# 1996: Chris Benoit & Eddie Guerrero both joined WCW full time and began a feud..
really sounds like Benoit was a big star here doesnt it. In no way shape or form was ECW making him a big name, did they help him get noticed by the likes of WCW yes they did but you people fail to see that ECW was nothing more then a stepping grounds to get to the next level.

