TSC's Official WWE Network Thread
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guys pop into ECWBeen running a lot of these 02 Raws & SDs recently.
Couple things stand out:
-That Hogan Red & Yellow face run was inevitable. Dude was on FIRE!
-HHH was champ but it was clear as day that he needed to be heel again and was uncomfortable as a face.
-Rock was still over but the fans were getting tired of him.
-nWo was fukked once Hogan left. Creative did them dudes no favors as legit threats then they took Nash off TV and the writing was on the wall.
Couple things stand out:
-That Hogan Red & Yellow face run was inevitable. Dude was on FIRE!
-HHH was champ but it was clear as day that he needed to be heel again and was uncomfortable as a face.
-Rock was still over but the fans were getting tired of him.
-nWo was fukked once Hogan left. Creative did them dudes no favors as legit threats then they took Nash off TV and the writing was on the wall.
Maaaaaan Brock Lesnar from his debut you just knew was different. Especially with Heyman talking that shyt for him unlike now where its the same shyt over & over.
When dude was hitting them Triple Powerbombs
When dude was hitting them Triple Powerbombs
The Edge and Christian show is the closest folks will get to “Attitude Era”, ALOT of innuendo on here.
You know, I think Paul E. self sabotaged the TNN deal, possibly because of the extra work and expansion that came from it that he wasn't ready for or wanting to do. Before they even air their first show they've positioned it as a battle between the Network and ECW, the first real show has frequent insults towards the network, viewers of the network, and other shows on the network, it's about 4 months before they start running TV angles as opposed to just chopping up 3 hours shows into TV like they had been doing for years, and then at the start of 2000 (about 6 months into the deal), they're openly hostile and comparing TNN to a terrible spouse who you hate.
In retrospect it's obvious it was doomed to fail, because Paul and therefore his talent never saw it as a partnership, but something closer to indentured servitude. All the excitement and good vibes that came from the announcement of getting a national TV deal was gone and replaced with resentment within a few weeks. It's not really surprising since Paul's whole thing was always Us vs Them, so it makes sense that it'd be a rocky go when ECW got to a level where they could no longer be the rebel underground ragtag group of guys doing it for the culture and had their identity challenged and changed.
But in reality TNN let them get away with EVERYTHING. All the lewd Gertner shyt, all the catfights and panty shots, all the blood and violence, all the F bombs. The only thing that changed was entrance set and Joey/Joel had a new backdrop to stand in front of. Everything else was exactly the same ECW you got on Hardcore TV and PPV. At most it forced them to be more structured and plan things out a little more. Basically I think the whole deal went sour because Paul didn't realize the extra work it was going to bring and was doing his "fukk you, dad" rebellion shyt.
In retrospect it's obvious it was doomed to fail, because Paul and therefore his talent never saw it as a partnership, but something closer to indentured servitude. All the excitement and good vibes that came from the announcement of getting a national TV deal was gone and replaced with resentment within a few weeks. It's not really surprising since Paul's whole thing was always Us vs Them, so it makes sense that it'd be a rocky go when ECW got to a level where they could no longer be the rebel underground ragtag group of guys doing it for the culture and had their identity challenged and changed.
But in reality TNN let them get away with EVERYTHING. All the lewd Gertner shyt, all the catfights and panty shots, all the blood and violence, all the F bombs. The only thing that changed was entrance set and Joey/Joel had a new backdrop to stand in front of. Everything else was exactly the same ECW you got on Hardcore TV and PPV. At most it forced them to be more structured and plan things out a little more. Basically I think the whole deal went sour because Paul didn't realize the extra work it was going to bring and was doing his "fukk you, dad" rebellion shyt.
Bob Loblaw
Superstar
Scott Hall was 6’6 and Nash was 6’10. These days if cena were to switch he’d be with two guys who are kayfabe 5’10 
Living Dangerously 2000 is a disaster lmao. The whole card was reshuffled once RVD broke his leg, as they were building up a champion vs champion match with Mike Awesome. The ECW vs THE NETWORK feud, which while actually fairly entertaining tbh, is now the MAIN angle going on in the company, and there can never really be much of a pay off since Cyrus isn't a wrestler and no one wants Cyrus vs Joel Gertner in a real match. There's also no way this angle could ever lead to anything other than ECW getting kicked off of TNN even if WWE didn't jump to TNN later in the year. 50% of any show is devoted to shytting on the network that is airing their programming. What the fukk did they think was going to happen?
So the show starts with 20 minutes of promos, one being Sinister Minister sitting in the empty arena doing a Crypt Keeper recap, one being an extended Cyrus/Joel angle, the other being Steve Corino rambling to fill time for another 10 minutes, including calling Sandman's wife a whore in front of her kids and Rhino goring her through a table. Then a 10 minute Corino/Dusty Rhodes bullrope match which you can be assured was a 5 star classic. THAT is followed by Doring/Roadkill vs New Dangerous Alliance, Kid Kash was supposed to have a match with Simon Diamond that turned into Mike Awesome coming out and having a short match with Kash. Nova and Chetti have a bad match with Jado and Gedo, also unadvertised, where there were constant miscommunications due to the language barrier. ELEKTRA gets a like 5 minute promo in the back, this is the show where Grimes landed on New Jack's head, Cyrus and Joey are openly reading from the script every time they're on camera, and there are multiple production errors.
The semi main is Impact Players vs Raven/Awesome vs Dreamer/Tanaka for the tag titles. Raven kept trying to do the right thing and kept getting fukked for it, Francine turned on Tommy, and now they're feuding over a woman. Again. And the match itself is barely 9 minutes. In fact, the longest match on the show is Dusty/Corino, which was just over 10. In general the tag division has been absolute trash for years. When it was the Dudleys running shyt, all the teams were thrown together challengers just to give them something to do and there was no tag division to speak of. Since they've been gone, the titles have only been held by super teams who won't even defend against the real teams, who are all low card shytstains like Roadkill/Doring and Nova/Chetti having endless matches against each other, and now there's the New Dangerous Alliance added to the group. That's literally the entire division. None of them have any shot at the titles until they're vacated when Justin wins the world title.
There was a tournament for the TV title on the show, Rhino got a bye, Super Crazy had a short match with Guido, and then Rhino/Crazy had another short match in the main event that also came with another 10 minutes of Cyrus ranting, Paul Heyman bytching about TNN, and Joel Gertner returning for another promo with Cyrus. The crowd was loudly chanting for Sandman in the main event despite Super Crazy being quite over with the ECW fans. There was also an extended promo for the video game at one point, and the PPV itself is 2 hours and 6 minutes.
I'd say this is the show where the wheels were starting to come off and they'll only get worse from here as in about a month Mike Awesome jumps to WCW, they lose Lance Storm a month after that, Raven is gone not long after that, RVD ends up feuding with...SCOTTY RIGGS THE AMERICAN MALE lmao
Despite Super Crazy winning the title, the end of the PPV is all about Sandman and RVD, Super Crazy could have left and no one would have even noticed.
So the show starts with 20 minutes of promos, one being Sinister Minister sitting in the empty arena doing a Crypt Keeper recap, one being an extended Cyrus/Joel angle, the other being Steve Corino rambling to fill time for another 10 minutes, including calling Sandman's wife a whore in front of her kids and Rhino goring her through a table. Then a 10 minute Corino/Dusty Rhodes bullrope match which you can be assured was a 5 star classic. THAT is followed by Doring/Roadkill vs New Dangerous Alliance, Kid Kash was supposed to have a match with Simon Diamond that turned into Mike Awesome coming out and having a short match with Kash. Nova and Chetti have a bad match with Jado and Gedo, also unadvertised, where there were constant miscommunications due to the language barrier. ELEKTRA gets a like 5 minute promo in the back, this is the show where Grimes landed on New Jack's head, Cyrus and Joey are openly reading from the script every time they're on camera, and there are multiple production errors.
The semi main is Impact Players vs Raven/Awesome vs Dreamer/Tanaka for the tag titles. Raven kept trying to do the right thing and kept getting fukked for it, Francine turned on Tommy, and now they're feuding over a woman. Again. And the match itself is barely 9 minutes. In fact, the longest match on the show is Dusty/Corino, which was just over 10. In general the tag division has been absolute trash for years. When it was the Dudleys running shyt, all the teams were thrown together challengers just to give them something to do and there was no tag division to speak of. Since they've been gone, the titles have only been held by super teams who won't even defend against the real teams, who are all low card shytstains like Roadkill/Doring and Nova/Chetti having endless matches against each other, and now there's the New Dangerous Alliance added to the group. That's literally the entire division. None of them have any shot at the titles until they're vacated when Justin wins the world title.
There was a tournament for the TV title on the show, Rhino got a bye, Super Crazy had a short match with Guido, and then Rhino/Crazy had another short match in the main event that also came with another 10 minutes of Cyrus ranting, Paul Heyman bytching about TNN, and Joel Gertner returning for another promo with Cyrus. The crowd was loudly chanting for Sandman in the main event despite Super Crazy being quite over with the ECW fans. There was also an extended promo for the video game at one point, and the PPV itself is 2 hours and 6 minutes.
I'd say this is the show where the wheels were starting to come off and they'll only get worse from here as in about a month Mike Awesome jumps to WCW, they lose Lance Storm a month after that, Raven is gone not long after that, RVD ends up feuding with...SCOTTY RIGGS THE AMERICAN MALE lmao
Despite Super Crazy winning the title, the end of the PPV is all about Sandman and RVD, Super Crazy could have left and no one would have even noticed.
Tbh ECW on TNN, once it starts being written like a weekly tv show instead of monthly show cut up for tv, it has a solid run. There's a good amount of good wrestling if you can look past endless rematches, and the angles are nothing special at all but entertaining enough. Definitely better than the trash heap that was wcw at the time.
The problem is it took 4 months for it to be written like a weekly tv show and then the main angle was bytching about TNN.
The problem is it took 4 months for it to be written like a weekly tv show and then the main angle was bytching about TNN.
Dog Based Gremlin
Veteran
Re-watched that "RAW is OWEN" (May 1999) when he died for the first time as an adult 
Re-watched that "RAW is OWEN" (May 1999) when he died for the first time as an adult
I taped it on VHS when it aired
Must have watched it 50 times as a kid
Occasionally I've watched it as an adult. Still tough
I'm eventually going to do an in depth thread/discussion on ECW as I near the end of their run here, but some quick hits
Justin Credible is the 1999-2000 Jeff Jarrett of ECW
RVD's absence for 3 months at the start and end of 2000, and his complete waste of time feuds he was in when he was active, is a lesser talked about problem in the demise of ECW
Even if ECW had stayed in business, their "next gen" group was fukking terrible and they basically would have had to raid the indies for the original ROH roster ahead of time to have anything good in terms of the future because the House of Hardcore guys were worse than Power Plant guys
Paul had a terrible habit of debuting guys as comedy characters or getting demolished and then deciding he sees something in them and super pushing them and expecting everyone to buy it immediately because he said so
Rhino and Justin, despite their super pushes, just weren't that good and always killed the crowd with chin locks to pass the time
The mid card got booked to hell worse than current WWE, there are 20+ Tajiri/Super Crazy matches in a year on TV/PPV for example.
There's not a single ECW PPV where the main event is the best match of the night, and more often than not it's among the worst on the show, the semi-main is also usually overbooked nonsense as well
Justin Credible is the 1999-2000 Jeff Jarrett of ECW
RVD's absence for 3 months at the start and end of 2000, and his complete waste of time feuds he was in when he was active, is a lesser talked about problem in the demise of ECW
Even if ECW had stayed in business, their "next gen" group was fukking terrible and they basically would have had to raid the indies for the original ROH roster ahead of time to have anything good in terms of the future because the House of Hardcore guys were worse than Power Plant guys
Paul had a terrible habit of debuting guys as comedy characters or getting demolished and then deciding he sees something in them and super pushing them and expecting everyone to buy it immediately because he said so
Rhino and Justin, despite their super pushes, just weren't that good and always killed the crowd with chin locks to pass the time
The mid card got booked to hell worse than current WWE, there are 20+ Tajiri/Super Crazy matches in a year on TV/PPV for example.
There's not a single ECW PPV where the main event is the best match of the night, and more often than not it's among the worst on the show, the semi-main is also usually overbooked nonsense as well