From the Podium IX: The Legacy of Championships (The ECW TV Edition)

[Leonard]

Stepping up to the podium wasn’t an easy task this week. As you all may or may not know, the majority of my professional wrestling viewing over the past 16 years or so has been WWF/E. Over the years, I have caught up on a lot of WCW/NWA action, as well as AWA and WCCW, and some other things in between. I am not so familiar, however, with the original ECW promotion, particularly the mid-card of the extreme company. Much like Edition II that featured the ECW World Championship, I was required to do a large amount of research and match viewing to beef up my knowledge on the second tier championship of ECW. For these reasons, I did not choose a favorite match, because many of them are first viewings for me, and I based my top/bottom selections on what I know about these guys as athletes, and how they would help the mid-card of a struggling promotion. I hope you enjoy.

Here we go…

The noticeable beat of a conductor’s pattern.

ECW Television Championship

First Champion: Johnny Hotbody (defeated Larry Winters)

Last Champion: Rhyno (defeated Kid Kash)

I think we would be all kidding ourselves if we didn’t recognize the long-lasting impact that the original ECW had on the wrestling world. After all, those initials are now the third “red-headed stepchild” brand of the WWE monopoly. While the lack of a national television deal would eventually lead to the bankruptcy and downfall of the organization, I think it is important to remember that Paul Heyman’s extreme promotion did feature some entertaining bouts, as well as some memorable moments in wrestling history (see “The Crucifixion Angle” or the “Mass Transit Incident”).

In every promotion, whether it is the mammoth WWE, the subpar TNA, the “wrestling for smart people” Ring of Honor, or any “two-bit training grounds” independent promotion, a mid-card title is needed to give those talents something to work towards that is realistic. For example, Santino Marella will most likely never hold the WWE or World Heavyweight Championships. The Intercontinental Championship is something that is clearly attainable for our kayfabe Italian friend (we’ve been there, done that, folks…don’t make me hate on Santino again). He’s not alone, however. Many athletes who are not ready for the main event championships can find these mid-card titles as an attainable achievement (for example, like Shawn Michaels did back in 1992). The ECW Television Championship was no different, and perhaps even more important because of the promotion of which it was a part.

Much like I did in the second edition of “From the Podium” for the ECW Championship (such a long time ago, it seems; this column resides only on my hard drive because of the “St. Valentine’s Day Reset” a while back), I will consider all champions from the promotion’s beginnings in 1992 to its withdrawal from the National Wrestling Alliance in mid-1994 as “lineage.” This, of course, coincides with Shane Douglas’s “the NWA is dead, and so is its championship” speech on August 27, 1994. Having said all of that, the early years, for me, anyways, is a hodgepodge of folks who needed the limelight, those who were fading from it and wanted one last shot at glory, and those who didn’t belong there in the first place. With those facing the twilight of their prime, such as Terry Funk and Jimmy Snuka, and flakes such as Glen Osbourne (although he’s not officially recognized by WWE’s records) and Jason Knight, the early days of the championship saw the whole spectrum (at least for ECW, which was essentially an independent promotion at the time). Regulars also had stints with the titles, including The Tazz, Sabu, and Mikey Whipreck, but if we’re comparing this to other mid-card titles, the first holders are less than stellar. Lineage=4/10

Looking at the list of champions since the inception of the Eastern Championship Wrestling Television Championship in 1992 to the promotion’s closing in 2001, here are the facts:

-21—Unique Champions
-31—Championship Reigns
-67.74—Percentage of First-Time Champions
-96.03—Average Title Reign (in days)
-4—Most Reigns (2 Cold Scorpio)
-700—Longest Reign (in days) (Rob Van Dam)
-<1—Shortest Reign (in days) (Taz, 2 Cold Scorpio)

As we saw in the second edition of “From the Podium,” ECW as a promotion had the redeeming quality of a high turnover of new and fresh athletes winning, defending, and fighting for the title. Compared to what we’ve seen so far in these nine editions, the 67 percent of first-time champions is well above average, which speaks to the nature of the booking at the extreme organization. For a decade of battles being waged over this championship, 31 reigns seems more like an old-school number than many of the other titles at this time. That amount of champions over the span of ten years would ideally be an average of about six months per title reign (of course, this is not true because of longer and shorter title reigns, but you get the idea). Four reigns by Mr. Flash Funk isn’t too extravagant (although it probably says that he had trouble at success outside of the promotion), and the “less than one day” reigns are something that is commonly seen with titles (pretty much) across the board. Additionally, the 96 day average reign is on average with, or is better than, all of those titles previously analyzed, and the epic nearly two year reign of Rob Van Dam surely cannot be ignored. For ECW (and even for second-tier titles in general), the statistics look surprisingly good. Statistics=8/10

I was afraid to get to this section, as this is where the “good luck” water spout for the ECW Television Championship may potentially run dry. The first thing to consider is if this title served its main purpose as a “stepping stone” or a title of an elevating nature. Of course, the best way to do this is to find out if any of these champions went on to hold the ECW World Championship. The prognosis is that ten of the 21 champions obtained “the big one” (the ECW World Championship) sometime in their career. Additionally, half of those men also won the ECW Tag Team Championship at some point (Johnny Hotbody, Sabu, Whipwreck, The Tazz, and Rob Van Dam). The additional stats that could be developed here are very favorable towards the “stepping stone” status of this title, more than the other two mid-card titles reviewed so far (okay…about 50 percent of these holders held the World Championship, and 25 percent of the title holders were “ECW Triple Crown Champions”).

Having said that, it can be argued that many of these champions, much like those who held the ECW World Championship, were generally unsuccessful at making a go in one of the “big two” promotions (WWF and WCW). And let’s face it, folks, the ECW roster was very limited in terms of “main event players.” The main event scene in ECW could be likened to the mid-card on one of WWE’s two major brands. This championship, for that reason, essentially represented the mid-card of the mid-carders, if that makes any sense. To prove my point here, only three ECW Television Champions have gone on to win a main event WWE championship (Chris Jericho, Eddie Guerrero, and Rob Van Dam). I appreciate ECW for what it was; an alternative. Unfortunately, with that, you got some pretty untalented and undeserving champions. On the other hand, you can’t discount those wrestlers who were very good athletes. Folks like Dean Malenko, Eddie Guerrero, and Yoshihiro Tajiri brought the wrestling to a promotion that was otherwise known for a hardcore (and sometimes campy) style of entertainment. Considering all that is mentioned above, the good points outweigh the bad to a slightly above a mid-level rating. History of Champions=5.5/10

Obviously, title vacancies should always be considered when thinking about how well a championship has been perceived over the years. In the span of five months, the title was vacated twice during its first two years of existence (once due to injury, once due to “undisclosed reasons”—this was Osbourne’s unrecognized reign). After that, the title was only vacated one other time, in 2000, when an injury ended Rob Van Dam’s insanely long championship reign.

Speaking of which, imagine how much longer that championship reign would have lasted had Van Dam not been injured. In many ways, this long reign (which, in terms of length of championship reigns in general, can be considered a “diamond in the rough”) caused the championship to somewhat overshadow the first-tier title. Is this a good thing? I think that question has to be looked at from two points. First, it is terrific that a second-tier championship can be looked at in such high esteem, especially in a promotion that was mostly considered at a distant third place in comparison to its competition (although one could make a case for second place). The problem is that the ECW World Championship did not keep up with the Television Title’s rise in the ranks. The supposed “first-tier title” then suffered as a result.

Regardless, the fact that Rob Van Dam had some very good battles with this championship, and kept it fresh for nearly two years, speaks volumes about the man, not necessarily the championship. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, though. Prestige=7/10

I was very surprised to see the final rating here. However, after thinking about what I said in the last section, it made sense. Especially during the second half of the title history, the ECW Television Championship overshadowed the first tier title of the promotion in terms of wrestling and entertainment. This speaks volumes for this second tier title, but reflects poorly on the promotion’s top accolade. Also, one must keep in mind that this is a rating for a second-tier title, and should more than likely not be compared to the first tier championship. After averaging my ratings:

LEGACY OF THE ECW TELEVISION CHAMPIONSHIP=6.12/10

“LEGACY” RANKINGS (NOTE THE CHANGES IN ORGANIZATION):

FIRST TIER:
1. World Heavyweight Championship=8/10
2. AWA World Championship=7.56/10
3. WCW World Championship=5/10
4. ECW Championship=4.75/10

SECOND TIER:
1. Intercontinental Championship=7.37/10
1. United States Championship=7.37/10
3. ECW Television Championship=6.12/10

OTHER (TEAM, GENDER, WEIGHT, GIMMICK):
1. World Tag Team Championship=6.62/10
2. Hardcore Championship=5.12/10


TOP THREE:

3. Tazz (2 reigns, combined 268 days)
As I’ve mentioned before, The Tazz was one of the most talented wrestlers that ECW had during its ten year existence. In addition to being an ECW World Champion, he helped elevate the Television Championship to above mid-card status. His battles with Bam Bam Bigelow (in my argument, one of the most agile “big men” in the history of professional wrestling) are the stuff of legend. “The Human Suplex Machine” also had the third longest individual reign in the title’s history, which is saying a lot also.

2. Rhyno (2 reigns, combined 340 days)
Rhyno was probably the last star that ECW produced. As the last ECW Television Champion, he was one of the athletes who stuck it out ‘til the bitter end in the promotion, then led a moderately successful career post-ECW. Had the company prospered, Rhyno would have likely led the mid-card division for quite a while (my guess would be at least as long as Rob Van Dam, in an attempt to recreate the magic that occurred in the later years of the 1990’s), to strengthen the entire mid-card division, and eventual make his jump up to the “big leagues.”

1. Rob Van Dam (1 reign, 700 days)



I would venture to say that Rob Van Dam’s monstrous 23-month Television Championship reign was one of the longest, as well as one of the most worthwhile, mid-card title reigns in the past ten or fifteen years. Rob Van Dam brought an unprecedented amount of prestige to the ECW’s second tier title. I think it needs to be remembered here that not just any “Joe Schmoe” could have pulled this off; Rob Van Dam is an incredible talent, and probably the most successful “ECW Original” (in this case, one who was a mainstay in the promotion) in terms of branching out to the other promotions (in this case, WWE). As I mentioned above, if he had not gotten injured, I imagine that he would have had an even longer run with the title, making it that much more prestigious.

HONORABLE MENTION: SHANE DOUGLAS, DEAN MALENKO


BOTTOM TWO:

2. Kid Kash (1 reign, 14 days)
Don’t get me wrong, Kid Kash is a pretty average wrestler, which certainly isn’t a bad thing. However, for him to defeat Rhyno for the championship, only to lose the strap two weeks later (to the same person) just seems ludicrous. While Rhyno was an up-and-coming athlete at the time, Kid Kash could have been molded in that spirit as well. My estimation is that Paul Heyman dropped the ball with this title reign, as it likely could have potentially been more than it was.

1. Jason (1 reign, 83 days)



The wrestler “Jason” was actually Jason Knight, who called himself the “sexiest man on Earth” in the original ECW. His most “mainstream” moment was wrestling against (and losing to) Lex Luger for his debut match. He was mostly known for his managerial skills, but tangled with Mikey Whipreck on occasion during the early days of the promotion. After losing the title, he mostly feuded with women for most of his remaining time in the promotion. A person that is primarily a manager or a non-wrestling personality has no business winning a championship (see Harvey Wippleman). Unfortunately, his reign stretched for almost three months, when an actual mid-carder could have been doing something useful with the championship.

And besides all of that, what the hell kind of name is "Jason" for a pro wrestler? At the very least, let him use his last name.

UN-HONORABLE MENTION: J.T. SMITH



APPENDIX: DOES ECW NEED A SECOND-TIER CHAMPIONSHIP?

This question has been argued for quite some time, even when ECW first started up as a brand. As a viewer, I just automatically figured that there would be a full “promotion-like” roster of athletes, and the Television and Tag Team titles would very soon show up. Almost three years later, here were are, and only one title is officially an ECW brand championship. So the above question practically begs to be asked. Let’s look at it from several viewpoints.

ROSTER: As of today, the roster on ECW only features twelve male superstars. Three of these are champions (Jack Swagger is the ECW Champion, and The Miz and John Morrison are the World Tag Team Champions). While the others are involved in quasi-feuds at the moment, most of the focus lately has been on the Money in the Bank Ladder Match to be featured at WrestleMania XXV. If there were a supplementary championship featured on this show, the likes of Evan Bourne and Tyson Kidd, among others, could vie for this accolade. However, with a roster only twelve males deep (as compared to 23 males on RAW and 26 on SmackDown!), I’m fairly certain that a draft would have to level the playing field a little bit more in ECW’s favor before a second-tier title would make sense on the quasi-extreme brand.

AMONGST OTHER CHAMPIONSHIPS: The WWE currently has nine championship titles (this number will be eight when the tag team championships are unified). As I’ve previously quoted from The Incredibles, “if everybody’s special, then no one is.” I think that a big problem with the current product (at least on the WWE side of things) is that there are too many titles, making them less meaningful. Of course this is a great big “catch 22,” because the WWE is essentially running two “mini-promotions” with a third as a “go-between,” and therefore all of these titles may be necessary. The point can be made here that a second tier championship on ECW would help create a “mini-promotion” feel for the brand.

BOOKING STRATEGIES: Nowadays, the bookers of the WWE have the stigma of poorly booking mid-card championships (although, if you ask me, they’re beginning to improve on the Intercontinental side of things…I just hope they give JBL a strong run with the championship to add to its credibility). Most of the time it seems like they forget that these second-tier titles exist until they just happen to notice someone carrying them around. The unfortunate part about the WWE (and also, sometimes the most exciting part) is the fact that there are many main event players that can entertain quite well. The bad news comes when multiple top-tier feuds overshadow the mid-card championships (and push them off the show). If the ECW brand would be successful with integrating a second-tier championship, it would have to be effectively booked to make it credible right from the start.

There are many options here for mid-card inclusion on ECW, including the Television, Cruiserweight, and Hardcore Championships. If I had to chose between the three (and others), I would recommend the Hardcore variety, because many fans lampooned (and some still do) the WWE for bringing in a bastardized version of ECW to the company. Perhaps this bit of hardcore-style wrestling is just what the brand needs to make that connection to the original company (although I do understand that this is not totally possible) while adding a mid-card championship and keeping the brand “WWE-friendly.”

Secondary gestures to signal certain moments or instruments in a piece of music.

Quoted from “From the Podium VIII: The Legacy of Championships (The AWA Edition)":

“Point two of business is in preparation of “From the Podium XI: The Legacy of Championships (The WWE Edition)” in which I will finally tackle the WWE Championship. For this special edition, I’d like to ask you all to vote for (in your opinion) the top three WWE Champions (keep in mind, I’m not looking for who is the best EVER period, but who was the best to be the torch-bearer for the WWE). Below I have a link to every WWE champion, along with days held, and any circumstances behind that victory (thanks, Wikipedia!) to help with your selections, followed by a “form” you can use to submit your choices, along with point values assigned to each choice. Feel free to validate your choices, if you so desire. You can leave your choices in feedback, or send them to me via Private Message.

List of WWE Champions (please click me)

1. [Your top choice, receiving 2 points]
2. [Your penultimate choice, receiving 1 point]
3. [Your third choice, receiving .5 point]

ONLY CHAMPIONS WHO HELD THE TITLE LONGER THAN A WEEK CAN BE CONSIDERED! This means no Andre the Giant, Kane, or Vince McMahon (I know, you were all dying to show your love for Vinnie Mac!). Results will be featured in “From the Podium XI,” and if successful, polling will take place for subsequent editions. Thanks for voting!”


I would love to see the “reader interaction” aspect of my WWE Championship analysis to go well, so if you could please take just a minute to give me your top three choices, I would be eternally grateful. Also, I will more than likely be asking for those in the WWE Forum to cash in their votes, but I’d really like my writing/reading comrades to participate, too!

The last additional note (mostly in marches) that signals the end of a piece.

The nine analyses that I’ve conducted on championship titles in professional wrestling have been fun, and I’ve learned a lot about myself and about the titles themselves along the way. However, the time is coming near to temporarily shift focus on something I’ve had in the works for at least two months now. Ladies and gentlemen, prepare yourselves for

"From the Podium VI+IV:


An Adamle Original.”

Until the next downbeat…

[Kano]

Quite an enjoyable read man, this was really good. I'm liking what your sticking to, as it works for you. RVD's 23 month reign is something unthinkable in this day and age now which sucks but as you said it shows the skill of RVD for keeping it fresh.

Looking forward to your next one man

[Martin Riggs]

Awesome stuff, bro. Really enjoyed it, your reseach is shining through and the whole thing was entertaining to read, all the way through.

Keep doing this, i'll keep reading them!

Oh, and

3. Triple H
2. Rock
1. Austin

[The Maz]

Len, branch out every now and again if you have to but if you not keep going back to this as you bread and butter column until you have discussed every title from every biggish company, I will be extremely pissed!!!

I've said it before and I'll say it again that this is for me, easily the most interesting series in the CF right now and it still has plenty of legs...

This was as good as ever but RVD sucks... yeah I said it.

[James_A]

Great stuff here Leonard. I was always one to think that the ECW TV Title overshadowed the promotion's top prize and a big part of that came from RVD doing an insanely great job of carrying the title. That second section you had was interesting as well. While I think that bringing back the TV/Hardcore title back would help add to the prestige of the ECW Championship and possibly make ECW worth watching again, sadly there just isn't enough talent on that roster (or even enough time in the show itself) to warrant a midcard title. As for your Top WWE/WWF Title carriers:

3) The Rock- He made a great champion (a people's champion if you will) and carried the belt with confidence. He would never fumble during his promos and put on really exciting matches for the belt. Not to mention that he was also the second torch bearer during the Attitude Era (and a little after the Attitude Era.)

2) Steve Austin- Really the second best "torch bearer" I can think of since he led the Attitude Era, sold a ton of merchandise, and is responsible for some of the most memorable moments in professional wrestling.

1) Hulk Hogan- As much as I hate this guy, the wrestling industry faced it's first boom and was brought to the mainstream while he was at the forefront. His constant politicking throughout his career made him the center of attention for different generations to remember.

[Jason Boy]

Another great job, this was way better than the AWA Column you last did, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it,
Edit- Btw can you vote in wjb awards?

[Cult Icon]

really enjoyed this. as an ecw fan, it was good to read about a title that was very important and i think due to rvds reign, more important than the heavyweight title. like mazza has said, this is a very interesting series and i hope you continue to keep doing these for awhile, even though the adamle original should be good.

good job. keep it up

[cicero]

Originally I had you marked down for an April of blazing glory floowed by your first, richly deserved, cotm. Suffice to say you've exceeded my expectations as this is good, damn good.

Like, damnnnnnn good.

You might want to think about using sub-headings for the sperate rating sections.

[Leonard]

Feedback to the feedback:

Kano--Thanks for the positive feedback. RVD was insanely good with that title.

JBoom--I bent over backwards doing a ton of research for this one, so I'm glad it shone through. Thanks.

Mazza--Yeah, I think it's time for me to justify my Adamle-love, now that I've built up a rapport with you folks. Don't worry, the title analyses aren't going anywhere. Thanks for the positive comments.

James--Thanks for your comments regarding the main piece as well as the appendix. A lot of things would have to change for a second-tier title to be effective on ECW.

Jason--Was this better because it was better written, or because the last one was the AWA? Just a thought. Regardless, thanks for the comments.

Cult--I was most worried about the die-hard ECW fans not enjoying this, so I'm glad you did. Thanks.

cicero--Thank you sir...that's something I will think about.

--Leonard

[Jason Boy]

Originally Posted by lenjr04

Feedback to the feedback:

Kano--Thanks for the positive feedback. RVD was insanely good with that title.

JBoom--I bent over backwards doing a ton of research for this one, so I'm glad it shone through. Thanks.

Mazza--Yeah, I think it's time for me to justify my Adamle-love, now that I've built up a rapport with you folks. Don't worry, the title analyses aren't going anywhere. Thanks for the positive comments.

James--Thanks for your comments regarding the main piece as well as the appendix. A lot of things would have to change for a second-tier title to be effective on ECW.

Jason--Was this better because it was better written, or because the last one was the AWA? Just a thought. Regardless, thanks for the comments.

Cult--I was most worried about the die-hard ECW fans not enjoying this, so I'm glad you did. Thanks.

cicero--Thank you sir...that's something I will think about.

--Leonard

It was better well written, I am interested in AWA so it wasn't that, just better well written