SPIN: WOULD "SUPERSTAR Steve Austin" made ECW a legit competitor to WWF and WCW

[Ed MOTHEREFFING G]

I was a huge wrestling fan thruout the whole 90s and I never in life heard of Superstar Steve Austin till WWE 2k16

superstar steve austin is in 2k16?

 

[Mikael Blowpiff]

Character wise I don't see him as that much different from their first "breakout" star Shane Douglas. He's almost the Oshy to Shane's Maxsh B. So no, I don't see him as a major draw in that environment in that context with that gimmick.

 

[Ed MOTHEREFFING G]

Character wise I don't see him as that much different from their first "breakout" star Shane Douglas. He's almost the Oshy to Shane's Maxsh B. So no, I don't see him as a major draw in that environment in that context with that gimmick.

ya know thats actually a good point.

 

[Da King]

i acknowledge that, but my point to the question was whether or not his drawing power would've been enough to move the ecw needle to improve revenue / venues / exposure.

His drawing power had a lot to do with the WWE machine behind him and GOATsso penning the classic stories

 

[El Poyo Loco]

No. ECW wasn't seen across the country at that time not enough eyeballs to watch

 

[Wacky D]

There likely would've been no TNA if ECW didn't fold when it did, along with WCW. Where would the talent have come from, and how much was anyone going to pay them? You are right though, but it is WWE and WCW castoffs that built it.

I think the marketplace was strong enough to keep WCW and WWE, if they were more careful with spending. Everything else would've been paying like house shows to try to get on TV.

Dixie would've never gotten Panda Energy (her dad) to try to jump into that shyt.

TNA & ECW arent in the same realm.

TNA is one of the promotions that came out aiming to fill the void that WCW left.

TNA wouldve existed regardless of what ecw was doing. and they'd be a bigger promotion as well. TNA was bringing in stars from day one that wouldnt have dealt with ecw.

 

[JQ Legend]

Edit: nvmind thought you meant Stone Cold in general

Lol nah I knew stunning Steve Austin and Stone Cold but never heard of superstar

superstar steve austin is in 2k16?

Yea

Stunning Steve Austin is too

 

[Ed MOTHEREFFING G]

whelp

i pretty much also agree with the replies


good work boys

 

[Reggie]

ECW wasn't known enough on the national level to compete with WWE and WCW back in those days. They had their nice little fanbase but it wasn't fukking with the big 2 when it came to spending money and the high production level of the shows that were on TV.

 

[MrSinnister]

TNA & ECW arent in the same realm.

TNA is one of the promotions that came out aiming to fill the void that WCW left.

TNA wouldve existed regardless of what ecw was doing. and they'd be a bigger promotion as well. TNA was bringing in stars from day one that wouldnt have dealt with ecw.

You missed my point, but nevermind.

 

[Wacky D]

You missed my point, but nevermind.

what did i miss?

correct me if im wrong, but you said that TNA wouldnt exist if ECW didnt fold.

thats not the case at all. ecw wouldve had no bearing on TNA business.

 

[MrSinnister]

what did i miss?

you said that TNA wouldnt exist if ECW didnt fold.

thats not the case at all. ecw wouldve had no bearing on TNA business.

So you're saying TNA could exist, as it is, with literally no TV time? WCW needs a dedicated station for broadcasts, and they would also have to compete with ROH and ECW for both exposure and wrestlers. Stone Cold staying with ECW likely would've caused WWE to fold without him.

The WWE roster wasn't really that impressive before Stone Cold blew up. Would TNA actually be able to poach the stars needed from WCW (the Kliq would've got HBK, HHH, and maybe NAO), while Billionaire Ted likely could snatch all the major players. The Rock would've just been a Miami beach bum failure and the Hart's would've soaked up everything the Kliq wasnt.

Who would be left to go to TNA then, and not to ECW (of still in business) or Cornette ran ROH? Two, how would they get paid. Three, what businessman worth their salt would jump into a saturated market that would be around then?

 

[Wacky D]

So you're saying TNA could exist, as it is, with literally no TV time? WCW needs a dedicated station for broadcasts, and they would also have to compete with ROH and ECW for both exposure and wrestlers. Stone Cold staying with ECW likely would've caused WWE to fold without him.

The WWE roster wasn't really that impressive before Stone Cold blew up. Would TNA actually be able to poach the stars needed from WCW (the Kliq would've got HBK, HHH, and maybe NAO), while Billionaire Ted likely could snatch all the major players. The Rock would've just been a Miami beach bum failure and the Hart's would've soaked up everything the Kliq wasnt.

Who would be left to go to TNA then, and not to ECW (of still in business) or Cornette ran ROH? Two, how would they get paid. Three, what businessman worth their salt would jump into a saturated market that would be around then?

youre basing this off of unrealistic hypotheticals.

- TNA did in fact exist without TV time back then. they were strictly on pay-per view. and they outlasted all the other promotions that came out during that period that tried to fill the wcw void.
- ROH? they were wrestling in pre-school gyms at the time. TNA stayed b*tchin them out over talent.
- ECW wouldve got b*tched out too. they had no bank. and as i said earlier, TNA had big stars coming thru there from day one that wouldnt have dealt with ecw.

as far as austin goes, he didnt bring the wwf back by himself. their machine played a big part in that and they survived the drought before they heated back up because of BRAND LOYALTY. they wouldve still had the rock. plus, other wrestlers wouldve made the jump. it was an all-around golden age for talent. they wouldve signed up a gang of people and eventually been alright without austin. they lasted years with that mediocre roster. just like they lasted years with a mediocre roster in the late 00s/early '10s.

 

[DocZulu]

Yes, but it involves a lot of ifs.

If you believe that Paul Heyman was indeed close to making a new network deal, then yes.

If you believe that, during the company's final run, that their sell out shows in Canada are indicators that America would remain interested, then yes.

And only if you believe that Austin's presence would have encouraged other ECW Originals to remain with the company, then yes.

But that's a lot of if's. By the time WCW died, it was putting out a horrible product. But most of their vibrant talent came from ECW.

The Young Radicals, as WWE called them, helped to rejuvenate Monday nights. They enabled WWE to boast strong products for the midcard as well as the Main Event.

In sum, money gives you more leeway to make mistakes. And I believe that Paul E is a better financial manager than Dixie Carter.

i acknowledge that, but my point to the question was whether or not his drawing power would've been enough to move the ecw needle to improve revenue / venues / exposure.

 

[DocZulu]

I disagree with these statement.

Again, Paul E did more with his money than Dixie Carter has with hers. The difference, obviously, is that Paul E had very little money to play with.

Dixie took over TNA from Jeff Jarrett, and since then, she's done nothing but undermine the brand.

(Again, these are just hypotheticals. History has been written.)

No. ECW could never have the money and talent to compete with the other two. They had a lot of fringe talent, and enough to stay viabke, like a better version of TNA, but they would have eventually went OOB when the wrestling boom period fell off in 2000's. WWE owned all the territories and WCW would've had the South.

Both would've just kept picking off talent, making them a better mining source than ROH. Video games were already eating into wrestling ratings.