I just read this via my PWTorch.com email membership and thought you might enjoy it.
[quote name='James Cadwell @ PWTorch.com']SUMMARY ON THE ECW BRAND. Bringing back the ECW brand has been discussed off-and-on and informally since the success of the ECW One Night Stand PPV in June 2005. The right time to strike seemed to be right after the PPV, but WWE opted to focus on building John Cena and Batista as the champions of Smackdown and Raw. Around the time of the April European tour, WWE management had formal discussions on revitalizing the ECW brand.
The deciding factor involved the potential to turn the ECW brand into additional revenue through various avenues under the Raw and Smackdown models. In 2001 when WWE bought the ECW brand, the company paid over $3.0 million for the intellectual property and video tape library. WWE decided it was time to earn a return on the investment.
ECW will operate under the WWE umbrella and have various marketing and production teams assembled to handle ECW-specific operations. TV shows and talent bookings will be approved by management in WWE. On the road, WWE will utilize current Raw and Smackdown agents to handle talent and put together matches. WWE booked the 12,000-seat Nutter Center in Dayton, Ohio for the first ECW-specific show with Raw and Smackdown talent also booked for the show. Afterwards, ECW will debut as a single brand at the ECW Arena on June 24. The current plan is to book smaller venues until they build more market awareness and there is more demand for the product.
WWE is currently seeking a late night timeslot for ECW on the USA Network or another cable network within the Universal family of networks. There are currently no plans to seek a head-to-head timeslot against TNA on Thursday nights or against the Saturday night replay.
Regarding the content, WWE will be keeping a close eye on the ECW product if the brand lands on a TV network. WWE does not want ECW to be kicked off the network for airing questionable content. Of course, if Vince McMahon groping a diva on camera and Lita and Edge performing various sex acts isn't grounds for getting kicked off TV, ECW will have to push the envelope very far to find any lines Vince McMahon hasn't crossed already.
As we have reported over the previous two weeks, WWE has already offered contracts to former ECW talents including Sabu, who wrestled his last match for TNA at the April 23 Lockdown PPV. WWE does not believe signing a talent roster will be an issue considering they will paid on time, which wasn't the case in ECW, and they will be paid a fair wage. Wrestlers from Raw and Smackdown who are not being utilized on the main two shows will be used on ECW, possibly at least at first as the heel antithesis to ECW. Prime candidates are wrestlers normally featured on Smackdown's Velocity show, which is being replaced by ECW online.
The ECW re-start is not expected to affect OVW, which will continue to be WWE's "Triple A affiliate," other than Paul Heyman switching over to the ECW brand. The ECW re-start will actually benefit OVW wrestlers, who have the opportunity to be called up sooner than before the ECW re-start because WWE will be looking for OVW talent to fill slots on the ECW brand shows.
Although plans can change, I have been told the current plan is John Cena vs. RVD for the WWE Championship at the ECW PPV. However, based on WWE's booking on Raw Monday night, Cena is being positioned as a strong babyface. Wrestling RVD, who is also a babyface, in front of an ECW crowd would hurt his babyface push, although WWE completely ignored ECW on Raw the night after the first ECW PPV. Cena could play heel on the PPV then return to his normal character on Raw, although it would be difficult to ignore a title switch if that is also part of the plan.
JC: Taking a wait-and-see attitude is the best approach when trying to sort out the combinations and impending decisions. However, the real challenge begins when WWE lays the groundwork for the ECW PPV with a main event of Cena-RVD while trying to keep Cena strong as a babyface and preparing to launch ECW all in one motion.[/quote]
ing creepy, and he's a "classic" in his own right, and certainly not representative of a "younger" product. Plus his shirts are all 1996 and shit.
