Eastern Championship Wrestling
The company we now know as ECW was originally created in 1990 under the name Tri-State Wrestling Alliance. In 1992, the company was sold to Tod Gordon, who renamed the promotion Eastern Championship Wrestling. Gordon brought Paul Heyman onboard a year later after Heyman was fired from World Championship Wrestling. The promotion became a part of the National Wrestling Alliance shortly after.
Separation from the NWA
It didn’t take long for tensions to form between Tod Gordon and the NWA President, Dennis Coralluzzo. During a tournament for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship hosted by Tod Gordon, Coralluzzo overstepped some professional boundaries. This led Gordon to officially secede from the NWA.
Heyman convinced Gordon that ECW should go out with a bang. They instructed the winner of the tournament, Shane Douglas, to throw the NWA World Heavyweight Championship belt aside and raise the Easter Championship Wrestling belt in its place. The official announcement that ECW was leaving the NWA came shortly after. Eastern Championship Wrestling was pronounced dead. In its place was now a promotion unlike any the world had ever seen: Extreme Championship Wrestling.
Paul Heyman Takes Charge
The new ECW immediately began to make a name for itself in the wrestling business. The promotion featured a unique mix of styles from across the globe, including lucha libre, Japanese strong style, and ECW’s bread and butter, hardcore wrestling.
ECW found its home base in South Philadelphia in a warehouse under Interstate 95 dubbed the ECW Arena. The audience sat on bleachers and metal folding chairs, adding to the promotion’s gritty, underground feel.
In 1995, Gordon sold ECW to Paul Heyman. The promotion’s notoriety began to rise, even catching the attention of the WWE chairman, Vince McMahon. On April 13, 1997, ECW held its first PPV, Barely Legal. In the main event of the show, Terry Funk defeated Raven to become ECW World Heavyweight Champion.
Financial Troubles And Sale To WWE
Unfortunately, ECW’s success would not last forever. In October 2000, ECW’s television deal with TNN was canceled as TNN chose to air Raw is War instead. Heyman was unable to secure another TV deal in its place, which he cites as a central reason ECW went under.
Financial troubles also began to pile up for Heyman and ECW. The promotion became unable to pay its performers and could no longer afford to put on shows. On April 4, 2001, ECW closed its doors. The company was purchased by WWE almost two years later and revived as a weekly television show, but very few ECW fans acknowledge WWE’s ECW as authentic.
Legacy And Lasting Influence
Several icons in the wrestling business first made names for themselves in ECW, including Rob Van Dam and Taz. Additionally, several luchadors broke into the American wrestling scene via ECW, including Rey Mysterio, Psychosis, and Eddie Guerrero.
ECW’s lawless, ultraviolent style attracted a cult following that continues to express their love for the promotion to this day, decades after ECW closed down. The ECW Arena is still standing under Interstate 95, a brick-and-mortar monument to the capital of hardcore wrestling.
