ECW is coming back, WTF?

[Brett Hart]

PWInsider:

WWE has made the decision to bring back Extreme Championship Wrestling as a full time entity and has begun talking with former ECW talent about returning to work for the new version of the legendary promotion. As of right now, WWE is targeting a September return for the promotion. No decision has been made as to exactly how the company will be brought back yet. It's possible that it will take over the present OVW territory, that it will be a promotion that gets matches on the Raw and/or Smackdown promotions or possibly in some other manner. Sources have told us that Paul Heyman and Tommy Dreamer will be booking ECW when it starts up.

WWE has already contacted a number of ECW wrestlers and contracts will be sent out to them this week. The talents are being offered three year deals which consist of a series of one year contracts, with rollover clauses. A number of wrestlers have been contacts so far. We can confirm that WWE has talked with The Sandman, Francine and Balls Mahoney and will be sending contracts out to them this week.

We will have more information on this story later today or tomorrow.

Dave Meltzer:

In a story reported on earlier today by Pro Wrestling Insider, WWE is indeed bringing back the ECW brand name for merchandising purposes as well as some form of weekly television and house shows.

The decision appears to have been finalized in the past week as several former stars were offered three-year contracts.

Paul Heyman will be in charge of the brand. It is believed this will be a mix of both former ECW wrestlers and new WWE developmental wrestlers.

It is expected this will lead to some significant changes in the WWE television product as well. The company is not looking to add a third day of television taping. It would likely be handled similar to the Superastros deal in the late 90s, with weekly matches taped before either the Raw or Smackdown tapings.

Incase you missed it over the weekend, news broke that WWE plans to revive the ECW brand. The likely plan at this point is to transform OVW into ECW sometime around September. The roster will be a mix of former ECW stars and current OVW developmental talents. Paul Heyman and Tommy Dreamer will be heading up the ECW brand and booking it. Below are some new notes to add to the story.

- In addition to The Sandman, Balls Mahoney, and Francine, it appears that Lance Storm, Justin Credible, and Sabu have also been contacted by WWE to be part of the new ECW. Al Snow, Rob Van Dam, Kid Kash, Super Crazy, and Johnny Swinger are all also expected to be part of the brand.

- Joey Styles could be pulled from RAW and shifted to ECW while Jim Ross returns on RAW.

- The wrestlers being offered ECW deals are not being told much beyond the fact that WWE would keep them busy and the pay is basically in-line with the typical downside given to regular Raw or Smackdown wrestlers when they first sign with the company.

- There is a chance that ECW could have its own show that would be broadcast via WWE.com like how Velocity and Heat currently are. The most likely option remains that the brand will get airtime on RAW and/or Smackdown.

[Brett Hart]

Terry Brunk better known as Sabu has officially signed a WWE contract last night.

Sabu was currently working for TNA Wrestling and is better known for his appearances with ECW in the 1990’s.

The contract which Sabu signed with WWE will last for one year with an option to renew the contract at the end of the year’s deal.

This near enough confirms that Sabu will be appearing at the ECW One Night Stand II this year. More details will be available soon. Sabu’s website can be reached at www.officialsabu.com.

Sabu's agent Corey Phillips would also like to express that they are many former WWE/WCW/TNA/ and ECW talent that are available for bookings. To contact Corey about whom he represents and the details you can call him at: 270-846-7138 or email him at: [e-mail].

Credit: wrestlingexposed.com

Sabu already signed with WWE, damn!

[Matt Hare]

Ok, well I didn't see this thread until AFTER I posted the Sabu thread...

But you should post new threads for different topics. Sabu is a pretty big signing, therefore he deserves a thread.

[Brett Hart]

Yeah, but it kind is part from this tread. So I decided to post it here.

[Jonny Stripes]

Thats awesome news, Sabu is wicked...funnily enough I just had a couple of mates over (Dizzy was one) and we were watching John Safrans Music Jamboree and he appeared as a bodyguard of the Insane Clown Posse

[Brett Hart]

More news guys!

After several meetings today, Vince McMahon has decided that an ECW show will take the place of Velocity.

Basically what would happen is the show would be taped prior to SmackDown! every Tuesday until a new time slot is secured in the United States. For the time being it would emain an internet-only show. Negotiations are going on to attempt to get it on U.S. television.

[Matt Hare]

And according to WWE.com, there's going to be a WWE vs ECW head-to-head show. And thre main event will be a 20 man battle royal.

[Jonny Stripes]

I can't believe how unbelievably fucking stupid TNA management have been with this. Sabu is one of their best, he is in contention for the X Division title and they don't have him on a contract!!! TNA deserve to get hurt by this for not signing Sabu up to a contract that means he is a solely TNA star...morons

[Matt Hare]

TNA don't sign many people on contracts. And the only contracts they have (excluding Sing, I believe) are that they can work for pretty muh anyone, unless their name is Vincent KEnnedy McMahon.

[Brett Hart]

Jonny you are watching from the wrong side. TNA don't have the resorces to sign with everyone. To do that you needto pay him everything he can take from the other promotions, witch for Sabu and some oters is pretty much. Sofor themis easier and better to pay them for a show.

[Jonny Stripes]

Matt you are ignoring this...

"Sabu is one of their best, he is in contention for the X Division title and they don't have him on a contract!!!"

Matt, obviously for Sabu, this isn't the case. Therefore I am justified in saying that TNA management (namely, whoever does contracts) made a big mistake here

And Bret, I understand that TNA don't have anywhere near the amount of money to have everyone on an exclusive contract but they really should have the safeguards that Matt talked about on all of them

WWE is smart, they know what they are doing. McMahon got stung in the past by some contract faux pas but I don't know of any in the last 10 years...Hall and Nash in 96, Medusa in the early 90's and Lex Luger around that period but since then I can't name any

[Matt Hare]

jonhcena said:

Jonny you are watching from the wrong side. TNA don't have the resorces to sign with everyone. To do that you needto pay him everything he can take from the other promotions, witch for Sabu and some oters is pretty much. Sofor themis easier and better to pay them for a show.

danny said:

And Bret, I understand that TNA don't have anywhere near the amount of money to have everyone on an exclusive contract but they really should have the safeguards that Matt talked about on all of them

Apparently, TNA have a better financial backing than WWE since Dixie Carter and Panda Energy have taken over. But I am not sure.

[Pyro]

TNA is a solid company from the financial point of view. Panda Energy has much more money than Vince can ever dream of but Panda is smart enough and would never allow TNA to spend all of it's money. At this point Panda wants TNA to make some profits and it is normal. The fed is getting popular now and they had lost over 20 millions $ so it is final time for them to start paying what they had been given. Now TNA is cutting on the expenses which they don't need. Sting was brogh to TNA because Spike wanted one bigger star and actually the TV are paying him not TNA themselves. Same thing with Steiner but I think that TNA pays him.

Now for Sabu... Sabu was talented a couple of years back... Now he (just like all of the other former ECW stars) is old and can hardly ever make good matches. He is greedy so he accepted WWE's offer but it is a nice decision. I'm glad they didn't sign Cabana. Sabu can't really have exceptional matches anymore so he is not a big loss if you ask me.

[Jonny Stripes]

Colt Cobana wrestled on Raw a couple of weeks ago against Umaga. He got snapped, wrestled under the name Chris Guy or Chris Kelly or something like that. He was also on Velocity in another squash against someone. I dont think they have him on a permanent deal but he has wrestled on a couple of WWE brands, so perhaps a future in the WWE is on the cards

Pyro, Terry Funk is ancient and in the past few years he has still wrestled some great matches, including one against Sabu in ECW. Sabu may not be as spry as he once was but I am banking on him being ok to do some stuff that he used to do

[Lemmy Campbell]

OK, more news about ECW! From the horse mouth your Bret Hart (Lemmy Campble).

In a move that basically confirms ECW will be on the SciFi channel, the channel has added an "Extreme Championship Wrestling" section to their official website's message board.

The message board can be seen at SCI-FI.com. It is very possible that once WWE gets wind of this news, that the section of the board will be removed, as WWE has not made this partnership official yet.

There is also speculation that Tuesday at 10p.m could be the timeslot for the new ECW, however this is far from confirmed.

I think WWE could make something good with this ECW coming back. But they shouldn't make it so big. The people will expect something grate, something that will be remembered like the reall ECW and WCW. But latly WWE are not so grate whitch means they could waste their chances. And the ECW coming back could become WWE crush. Actually I like the idea. ECW finish WWE from the grave!

Edit:

Dave Meltzer of WrestlingObserver.com reports that WWE is very close to reaching a deal with the Sci-Fi Channel to air a weekly ECW program starting in mid to late June. According to Meltzer, Sci-Fi is waiting for Vince & Linda McMahon to approve the press release before officially releasing it. Sci-Fi Channel is owned by NBC Universal which also owns USA Network.

PWInsider.com also is reporting that a deal is being discussed but that a final decision by NBC Universal on whether to air the ECW show on USA Network or Sci-Fi hasn't been reached yet.

I should of put this too.