1 00:00:03,500 --> 00:00:06,980 The CCW audience here again booing both competitors. 2 00:00:07,480 --> 00:00:12,740 I think the entire relaunch of ECW is doomed from the start. 3 00:00:15,680 --> 00:00:16,680 That's good. 4 00:00:16,800 --> 00:00:20,040 He's got himself disqualified because of his non -extreme rules. 5 00:00:20,540 --> 00:00:24,160 It was crap. And it was a horrible workplace. 6 00:00:26,120 --> 00:00:31,600 Dude, I don't want to be wrestling anymore. I'm so over pro wrestling right 7 00:00:34,380 --> 00:00:39,200 My mistake was taking on the project to begin with. I remember talking to Tommy 8 00:00:39,200 --> 00:00:42,040 Dreamer and telling him up front, I want to let you know that within one year, 9 00:00:42,080 --> 00:00:47,220 this is going to be an absolute nightmare and it's going to collapse on 10 00:00:47,220 --> 00:00:48,220 heads. 11 00:00:55,720 --> 00:01:01,060 We're more than 25 years past when I took over the creative for the original 12 00:01:01,060 --> 00:01:07,020 ECW, and still to this day, I can't find the words to convey 13 00:01:07,020 --> 00:01:10,340 what that opportunity meant to me. 14 00:01:11,040 --> 00:01:12,220 It was 15 00:01:12,220 --> 00:01:19,140 the greatest 16 00:01:19,140 --> 00:01:23,980 time of my life, and even today. 17 00:01:24,720 --> 00:01:27,640 I attribute to ECW everything I have in my life. 18 00:01:27,840 --> 00:01:29,140 That company was amazing. 19 00:01:29,340 --> 00:01:32,760 It was a bunch of men and women who were literally changing the business, and we 20 00:01:32,760 --> 00:01:34,120 didn't realize it at the time. 21 00:01:34,720 --> 00:01:39,840 In ECW, from the time you got to the building, you were having fun. 22 00:01:40,120 --> 00:01:44,240 You were being with your boys. You were being with your girls. You were all one 23 00:01:44,240 --> 00:01:51,020 big family. The industry itself needed a disruptor, and we came along looking to 24 00:01:51,020 --> 00:01:52,080 disrupt the business. 25 00:01:59,180 --> 00:02:05,180 And in doing so had the most passionate fan base 26 00:02:05,180 --> 00:02:11,660 because they were our army. They were our cult. They were our 27 00:02:11,660 --> 00:02:12,920 rallying cry. 28 00:02:20,310 --> 00:02:27,030 ECW was not run in terms of a business. It was 29 00:02:27,030 --> 00:02:28,270 run like a religion. 30 00:02:28,610 --> 00:02:35,570 See, physical pain can be blocked out, but mental pain lasts a lifetime. 31 00:02:36,170 --> 00:02:42,610 The Monday Night Wars were going on, and if we had the money that a WCW had, or 32 00:02:42,610 --> 00:02:47,430 if we had, you know, the television that a WWE had, we would have taken over. 33 00:02:55,370 --> 00:03:00,270 Well, the death of ECW was an inevitable death because, as a product of its 34 00:03:00,270 --> 00:03:02,370 time, its time had come due. 35 00:03:02,850 --> 00:03:06,990 ECW didn't have to go out of business. They didn't trust Paul, and they wanted 36 00:03:06,990 --> 00:03:09,490 to keep the show on syndication until they found the network. 37 00:03:09,790 --> 00:03:14,730 There was a lot of money in it, and Paul no -showed the meeting. 38 00:03:16,390 --> 00:03:21,030 It was something that I really wanted to beat him up for for a lot of years, but 39 00:03:21,030 --> 00:03:23,910 I let it all go because you can't dwell on the past. 40 00:03:24,480 --> 00:03:30,920 Had we been able to secure a national TV outlet, the product itself was going to 41 00:03:30,920 --> 00:03:36,760 have to evolve into something else. We couldn't secure a national TV outlet. We 42 00:03:36,760 --> 00:03:39,500 were dead in the water. That was it. The game was over. 43 00:03:40,280 --> 00:03:46,720 After ECW went away, we got a lot of credit for the changes that we helped in 44 00:03:46,720 --> 00:03:47,529 the business. 45 00:03:47,530 --> 00:03:52,950 I don't know any other ending that would have made sense historically other than 46 00:03:52,950 --> 00:03:57,570 the fact that we accomplished our tasks and it was time for us to go. And that's 47 00:03:57,570 --> 00:04:00,790 the only way that I can look at it because any other way is just too 48 00:04:10,870 --> 00:04:12,410 I worked in talent relations. 49 00:04:12,950 --> 00:04:16,290 It was Rob Van Dam who went to Vince and said, hey. 50 00:04:16,680 --> 00:04:22,079 All these players were here, and it became from the success of the DVD 51 00:04:22,200 --> 00:04:24,960 the rise and fall of ECW, that, hey, what if we did this? 52 00:04:26,120 --> 00:04:32,940 ECW One Night Stand in 2005 was really our last chance to experience each 53 00:04:32,980 --> 00:04:39,420 And by that, I mean the audience and ECW and ECW along with its audience. 54 00:04:52,780 --> 00:04:59,720 to see one of my most genuine smiles is when they hit Sandman's music because I 55 00:04:59,720 --> 00:05:04,580 was just so happy. And to me, it was what ECW should have been, could have 56 00:05:04,680 --> 00:05:06,120 It was giving me closure. 57 00:05:06,440 --> 00:05:09,800 I was at the first One Night Stand show. So I was like sitting there. I wasn't 58 00:05:09,800 --> 00:05:13,020 quite backstage, but I wasn't in a seat. Does that make sense? I was just like 59 00:05:13,020 --> 00:05:15,280 standing in the audience watching the show. 60 00:05:15,880 --> 00:05:19,380 I have goosebumps right now just talking about it. It was one of the best shows 61 00:05:19,380 --> 00:05:21,640 I've ever seen live. And I think that was the last. 62 00:05:21,980 --> 00:05:22,980 ECW show. 63 00:05:23,920 --> 00:05:30,500 And had we 64 00:05:30,500 --> 00:05:37,080 stopped right there, it would have been an ending for ECW and closure for 65 00:05:37,080 --> 00:05:43,900 both us in ECW and for the audience as well that none of us could have ever 66 00:05:43,900 --> 00:05:44,900 even craved. 67 00:05:46,220 --> 00:05:49,000 I got two words for you. Shane McMahon. 68 00:05:49,240 --> 00:05:50,700 Shane McMahon was. 69 00:05:51,160 --> 00:05:56,800 the guy who I guess was kept on being in Vince's ear and saying, we can do this, 70 00:05:56,860 --> 00:05:57,860 we can do this. 71 00:06:04,720 --> 00:06:10,140 At the end of 2005, it was Shane McMahon that came to me. 72 00:06:10,380 --> 00:06:15,500 And Shane had the concept of an online -only presentation. 73 00:06:16,120 --> 00:06:19,900 which was pretty forward -thinking now that you think about it, because that's 74 00:06:19,900 --> 00:06:20,960 what streaming is. 75 00:06:21,640 --> 00:06:25,640 DCW was always a very interesting play. 76 00:06:25,860 --> 00:06:27,860 They had a lot of talent. 77 00:06:28,100 --> 00:06:29,420 It was different. 78 00:06:30,160 --> 00:06:34,840 They were more niche. The thinking behind it was it's a place where talent 79 00:06:34,840 --> 00:06:41,820 be developed and come up, and also as talent needs to be refreshed or veterans 80 00:06:41,820 --> 00:06:46,560 need to help younger guys, et cetera, it could be for other talent on the way 81 00:06:46,560 --> 00:06:48,800 down. They still have marquee names they can draw. 82 00:06:49,460 --> 00:06:53,160 As this evolved, there had become interest. 83 00:06:53,920 --> 00:06:58,940 from networks to actually carry this product, which of course took it out of 84 00:06:58,940 --> 00:07:02,160 Shane's hands and placed it on Vince's desk. 85 00:07:02,440 --> 00:07:08,100 And once Vince understood that there was a serious profit to be made, it was 86 00:07:08,100 --> 00:07:13,900 completely taken out of Shane's hands. And Vince wanted to maximize this new 87 00:07:13,900 --> 00:07:17,420 third brand of WWEs as much as he could. 88 00:07:17,840 --> 00:07:24,060 And in order to maximize that concept, It had to stop being the authentic ECW 89 00:07:24,060 --> 00:07:30,560 and had to become a third brand under the umbrella of World Wrestling 90 00:07:30,560 --> 00:07:31,560 Entertainment. 91 00:07:32,000 --> 00:07:37,640 The reason we wanted to go digital was because you are allowed far more freedom 92 00:07:37,640 --> 00:07:41,180 from a digital standpoint than you are from a network standpoint. 93 00:07:41,560 --> 00:07:47,000 And it would have done two things. One, it would have kept the ECW moniker and 94 00:07:47,000 --> 00:07:49,260 brand a little more edgy. 95 00:07:50,430 --> 00:07:55,190 You know, from a business standpoint, you're also then getting into where 96 00:07:55,190 --> 00:07:56,950 want to watch it on their own time. 97 00:07:57,230 --> 00:08:01,910 It was all kind of rumors and all that stuff. And then all of a sudden I was 98 00:08:01,910 --> 00:08:06,290 brought into John's office and, hey, we're going to go full boat with this. 99 00:08:15,510 --> 00:08:17,550 I had about two months of really, really. 100 00:08:17,850 --> 00:08:22,090 cool hopes and expectations, and then all of a sudden it's, we're going to 101 00:08:22,090 --> 00:08:25,090 more of a WWE influence, and we had different writers involved. 102 00:08:25,410 --> 00:08:29,990 From that moment, there was just things where that wasn't ECW. 103 00:08:30,470 --> 00:08:35,090 And Tommy calls me, he's like, yo, WWE wants you to sign this. I'm like, get 104 00:08:35,090 --> 00:08:36,069 of here, dude. 105 00:08:36,070 --> 00:08:42,030 None of us expected for it to be ECW in WWE. 106 00:08:42,990 --> 00:08:45,370 And, you know, here we come with another one. 107 00:08:46,940 --> 00:08:50,800 The type of extreme has risen again! 108 00:08:53,260 --> 00:08:59,820 The second ECW One Night Stand was built around Rob Van Dam pursuing the 109 00:08:59,820 --> 00:09:02,940 WWE title from John Cena. 110 00:09:03,180 --> 00:09:09,480 And that match was the only time on the show that you had that authentic 111 00:09:09,480 --> 00:09:10,800 ECW feel. 112 00:09:11,000 --> 00:09:12,180 What the hell is that? 113 00:09:19,240 --> 00:09:21,960 As soon as that show ended, I knew it wasn't going to be the same. 114 00:09:28,320 --> 00:09:31,540 We're starting on Sci -Fi Network that night. 115 00:09:31,780 --> 00:09:37,120 They had an alien all booted up. They had this dude in an alien costume. 116 00:09:37,540 --> 00:09:41,820 You know, nobody knows what's going on. And then literally like 20 minutes 117 00:09:41,820 --> 00:09:46,540 before I'm supposed to go to the ring, they changed the alien dude to the 118 00:09:46,540 --> 00:09:47,660 or whatever dude. 119 00:09:49,689 --> 00:09:51,070 What is it? 120 00:09:51,830 --> 00:09:55,230 Ladies and gentlemen, the following contest is scheduled for one fall. 121 00:09:55,970 --> 00:09:58,490 Introducing first, the zombie! 122 00:09:59,090 --> 00:10:00,510 A zombie? 123 00:10:00,790 --> 00:10:01,790 The zombie? 124 00:10:02,410 --> 00:10:07,170 The network wanted something for the sci -fi thing, so that's where they came up 125 00:10:07,170 --> 00:10:08,170 with the ECW. 126 00:10:08,190 --> 00:10:12,910 Zombie. Nobody knew what was going on until it almost happened back there. It 127 00:10:12,910 --> 00:10:13,910 was crazy. 128 00:10:13,930 --> 00:10:15,210 Oh, my God. 129 00:10:15,690 --> 00:10:18,310 Oh, welcome to the world of extreme. 130 00:10:19,010 --> 00:10:20,450 ECW rules, Stiles. 131 00:10:20,670 --> 00:10:23,970 Do it any way you want. Look at that. The white Russian leg sweep. 132 00:10:24,630 --> 00:10:25,630 That's my comment, 133 00:10:27,930 --> 00:10:31,850 Zombie. Hey, the first official match on ECW is over. 134 00:10:32,230 --> 00:10:34,230 The Jam Man. 135 00:10:35,050 --> 00:10:37,310 That's just an example, Stiles. 136 00:10:37,710 --> 00:10:42,830 of the new breed of ECW. The company wanted to establish that there were 137 00:10:42,830 --> 00:10:44,050 in this ECW. 138 00:10:44,310 --> 00:10:47,370 I think it was one of the first TV tapings that I was on. We were in 139 00:10:47,370 --> 00:10:50,010 Minneapolis. I think it was Just Incredible versus Sabu. 140 00:10:50,530 --> 00:10:54,870 And during the match, Sabu put Just Incredible through a table, and I had to 141 00:10:54,870 --> 00:10:58,370 call for his call of attention because we wanted to establish there's rules 142 00:10:58,910 --> 00:11:04,670 And fans didn't really like that new thing. You know, on live events, I'd get 143 00:11:04,670 --> 00:11:06,050 heckled all the time because... 144 00:11:06,280 --> 00:11:09,160 I'm calling for hair breaks, you know, different things. 145 00:11:09,360 --> 00:11:12,440 And I was hearing all the time, this is ECW. There's no rules. 146 00:11:12,680 --> 00:11:13,720 Why are you counting? 147 00:11:14,200 --> 00:11:20,340 You know, it became much more locked down, much more cookie cutter, if you 148 00:11:20,440 --> 00:11:25,480 because it fit more into the mold of our distribution partner. 149 00:11:26,000 --> 00:11:30,960 That's why it changed. And it might have started not to work because you're 150 00:11:30,960 --> 00:11:31,960 getting rid of these. 151 00:11:41,890 --> 00:11:45,550 Sandman, he smartened me up to something one time at one of the shows. He says, 152 00:11:45,590 --> 00:11:47,030 I want to show you something. Come here, kid. 153 00:11:47,330 --> 00:11:50,510 So we went up to the promenade, the main deck, where all the fans are before 154 00:11:50,510 --> 00:11:51,670 they go down into the arena. 155 00:11:52,450 --> 00:11:57,050 And all the merchandise that was put up was all WWE merchandise. 156 00:11:57,590 --> 00:11:59,810 There wasn't any ECW merch. 157 00:12:00,350 --> 00:12:06,070 It was funny that, you know, Sandman went on to explain to me that, you know, 158 00:12:06,070 --> 00:12:08,990 this is a lot of why ECW will never be the same. 159 00:12:09,290 --> 00:12:16,190 The attempt to resuscitate the product as it was could not 160 00:12:16,190 --> 00:12:17,350 work in 2006. 161 00:12:17,610 --> 00:12:24,410 But to present a different product would only cause the fan base that had come 162 00:12:24,410 --> 00:12:30,680 to... create a myth that was larger than life to feel alienated. 163 00:12:30,820 --> 00:12:35,400 So you're damned if you do and you're damned if you don't. It's just damned. 164 00:12:39,060 --> 00:12:45,780 I remember Rob Van Dam and Sabu getting pulled over and there were 165 00:12:45,780 --> 00:12:47,620 suspensions after that. 166 00:12:48,160 --> 00:12:54,940 You people are the reason that I had to suspend Rob Van Dam for 30 167 00:12:54,940 --> 00:13:00,880 days. Rob had to drop the title right away, and now it's on Big Show, and 168 00:13:00,880 --> 00:13:05,840 started to turn right around then. For this brand that had so much hope, it 169 00:13:05,840 --> 00:13:10,100 seemed to kind of turn a sharp corner, and it didn't take long to get there, to 170 00:13:10,100 --> 00:13:10,959 be honest. 171 00:13:10,960 --> 00:13:14,980 Things would have been better if RVD and Shabu didn't get caught. 172 00:13:15,290 --> 00:13:17,810 I think the storyline would have changed a little bit. 173 00:13:18,390 --> 00:13:24,590 I know the ECW fans weren't happy about me taking the ECW championship from RVD. 174 00:13:24,710 --> 00:13:27,150 As things happen, fans cycle out. 175 00:13:27,430 --> 00:13:31,350 They're intense fans, and they fade away, and they come back. 176 00:13:31,670 --> 00:13:37,550 And I think just after a while, that ECW loyal fan kind of faded out. 177 00:13:40,180 --> 00:13:46,560 ECW is live and sold out from the Hammerstein Ballroom in Midtown 178 00:13:46,560 --> 00:13:47,700 York City. 179 00:13:47,980 --> 00:13:54,940 I remember that night really, really happy. We got the old school 180 00:13:54,940 --> 00:13:57,160 loyal fans. 181 00:13:57,560 --> 00:14:02,480 We really didn't have two original ECW guys in their house. 182 00:14:07,610 --> 00:14:13,970 That's the worst feeling in the world when people start, you know, on your 183 00:14:13,970 --> 00:14:17,230 because you've lost them somewhere in your match. 184 00:14:17,870 --> 00:14:19,630 Back then, I didn't know how to get them back. 185 00:14:20,090 --> 00:14:24,030 I didn't know how to get them in. I just was like, oh, crap, here we go. 186 00:14:24,430 --> 00:14:25,970 How much time do we have left? 187 00:14:26,410 --> 00:14:27,810 Can we just go home now? 188 00:14:28,310 --> 00:14:29,350 Like, you're embarrassed. 189 00:14:44,680 --> 00:14:49,000 I didn't say, hey, put me in this match, and hey, book me in the main event of 190 00:14:49,000 --> 00:14:51,720 this. You know, I'm doing the best I can. Like, why is it boring? 191 00:14:52,500 --> 00:14:55,100 It's boring because they're not interested. They're not emotionally 192 00:14:55,660 --> 00:14:59,600 The two guys that they want to see in that match is not Dave Bautista, and 193 00:14:59,600 --> 00:15:00,600 not me. 194 00:15:05,940 --> 00:15:11,840 December 3rd, 2006, ECW's next pay -per -view, the December to dismember. 195 00:15:12,280 --> 00:15:14,500 If December to dismember happens, it was crap. 196 00:15:15,040 --> 00:15:19,060 I actually had asked for my release from WWE after that. 197 00:15:19,460 --> 00:15:21,120 It was a lot of turmoil. 198 00:15:21,840 --> 00:15:25,840 We were all really excited about December to dismember because our jobs 199 00:15:25,840 --> 00:15:28,780 the line. We all felt that way, and we were fighting hard to make this thing 200 00:15:28,780 --> 00:15:31,500 work, even though there were so many obstacles we had to overcome. 201 00:15:32,020 --> 00:15:36,480 I remember going into it, and everybody was like, well, there's only really one 202 00:15:36,480 --> 00:15:39,700 match that's being advertised, and what's on the rest of the card? No one 203 00:15:39,700 --> 00:15:40,880 if they were going to be on or not. 204 00:15:41,390 --> 00:15:46,450 But still, we were very optimistic, hoping that maybe if this does well, 205 00:15:46,450 --> 00:15:49,250 it's going to kind of turn things around for us. 206 00:15:49,650 --> 00:15:54,290 I was at that December 20th member as well as part of the company in 207 00:15:54,290 --> 00:15:55,290 developmental. 208 00:15:55,370 --> 00:15:57,910 OK, so I was at one night stand. It was awesome. I was at this show and it 209 00:15:57,910 --> 00:16:01,070 sucked. You know, I was sitting there and I'm like, wow, this sucks. 210 00:16:01,350 --> 00:16:06,530 Like this is not ECW. And I think the fans knew it. I think, you know, all the 211 00:16:06,530 --> 00:16:07,810 pay -per -view buy rates showed it. 212 00:16:08,650 --> 00:16:15,050 I had actually resigned as the lead writer for ECW twice within two and a 213 00:16:15,050 --> 00:16:16,990 weeks before the December to dismember. 214 00:16:17,830 --> 00:16:21,630 And Stephanie would not accept my resignation. 215 00:16:21,890 --> 00:16:26,450 So by the time we got to the December to dismember, it was fait accompli. 216 00:16:26,830 --> 00:16:28,090 I had to go. 217 00:16:28,350 --> 00:16:35,230 When we got to the actual event, and Vince and I were on completely 218 00:16:35,230 --> 00:16:37,490 different pages. 219 00:16:38,190 --> 00:16:40,250 I think the choice was very easy. 220 00:16:40,910 --> 00:16:42,290 Paul Heyman had to leave. 221 00:16:44,950 --> 00:16:47,010 Everything changes. We have new writers. 222 00:16:47,970 --> 00:16:50,890 Thankfully, the American Dream Dusty Rhodes comes in. 223 00:16:51,190 --> 00:16:54,450 And he kind of said, hey, this is going to be a fresh start for a lot of guys, 224 00:16:54,550 --> 00:16:57,130 and a lot of guys are going to get their opportunities now. 225 00:16:57,590 --> 00:17:00,350 We had, like, the new superstar initiative after that. 226 00:17:11,829 --> 00:17:15,470 Without ECW, I don't think I would have, you know, taken off. I started my new 227 00:17:15,470 --> 00:17:20,790 character, the woo -woo -woo, the broski, like on ECW when Hawkins and 228 00:17:20,790 --> 00:17:24,109 split up. I got drafted ECW. I would have never got that shot and that 229 00:17:24,109 --> 00:17:28,430 opportunity and that time to talk and to have long matches on Raw or SmackDown 230 00:17:28,430 --> 00:17:30,890 at that time. So I owe it all to my time in ECW. 231 00:17:31,450 --> 00:17:34,990 Like, you look at ECW, yeah, it was just, like, this one -hour show. 232 00:17:35,230 --> 00:17:39,330 But for me, like, I was becoming a star and I was building confidence and I was 233 00:17:39,330 --> 00:17:43,090 having matches against guys like Christian. You know, like, ECW title 234 00:17:43,090 --> 00:17:45,390 and the main event of the show against Christian. I would never be in the main 235 00:17:45,390 --> 00:17:46,970 event of Monday Night Raw at that time. 236 00:17:48,350 --> 00:17:52,790 As time progressed, I think right away John Morrison and I were put in a tag 237 00:17:52,790 --> 00:17:57,090 team. And so I'll never forget, like, getting one of the producers saying, 238 00:17:57,110 --> 00:17:59,650 this is your last chance. Like, it's either... 239 00:18:00,400 --> 00:18:04,380 Go now and become something or you're going to get fired. It was never going 240 00:18:04,380 --> 00:18:08,220 be the original ECW. And going into it, you knew it wasn't going to be that. But 241 00:18:08,220 --> 00:18:10,900 what it was going to be is our own niche, our own thing. 242 00:18:11,120 --> 00:18:14,840 We didn't have NXT back in the day. We didn't really have that platform. Being 243 00:18:14,840 --> 00:18:19,620 on the roster of ECW, I was definitely grateful for it because we were actually 244 00:18:19,620 --> 00:18:20,620 highlighted. 245 00:18:20,920 --> 00:18:25,720 So the point of ECW was it was a great place for Kofi to cut your teeth, to get 246 00:18:25,720 --> 00:18:29,080 comfortable in that ring, to know where the cameras were, and how to relate to 247 00:18:29,080 --> 00:18:29,739 the audience. 248 00:18:29,740 --> 00:18:32,700 It was crazy, too. Kofi actually spoke with a Jamaican accent. 249 00:18:35,240 --> 00:18:37,520 Unreal, you know, Kofi King. 250 00:18:37,940 --> 00:18:40,420 Right there, the bitch, you know what I'm saying? 251 00:18:40,640 --> 00:18:43,320 Boom, boom, looks like trouble in paradise. 252 00:18:43,820 --> 00:18:45,500 I still got it, you know? Yeah, man, yeah. 253 00:18:45,840 --> 00:18:46,840 Fooled everybody. 254 00:18:48,040 --> 00:18:53,060 I would like to proudly announce that in three weeks' time, ECW will be going 255 00:18:53,060 --> 00:18:54,120 off the air. 256 00:18:57,600 --> 00:19:02,280 I would like to thank all of the technicians, cameramen, directors, 257 00:19:02,640 --> 00:19:07,840 everyone, certainly the superstars who made ECW the success that it truly was. 258 00:19:18,000 --> 00:19:20,540 I would say the legacy of WWE and ECW. 259 00:19:23,320 --> 00:19:29,720 For me, I think WWE was passionate about the opportunity to try to recreate that 260 00:19:29,720 --> 00:19:30,960 ECW spirit. 261 00:19:31,700 --> 00:19:33,420 Eventually, it lost its chance to bleed. 262 00:19:33,740 --> 00:19:37,560 It definitely holds a special place in my heart because that was my start. 263 00:19:37,760 --> 00:19:39,120 That's what got me hired. 264 00:19:39,520 --> 00:19:44,560 And to this day, in my office, I have an ECW ref shirt hanging out because it 265 00:19:44,560 --> 00:19:47,040 means that much. That was where I started with this company. 266 00:19:47,770 --> 00:19:51,650 I think it was a lot of people that had a chip on their shoulder that said, you 267 00:19:51,650 --> 00:19:56,690 know what, even though you put us here on the third show, on the C show, if you 268 00:19:56,690 --> 00:20:00,550 will, we're going to fight as hard as we possibly can to give you the best 269 00:20:00,550 --> 00:20:06,550 product that we can possibly give you. I don't know if the new ECW deserves 270 00:20:06,550 --> 00:20:12,850 the credit for launching the careers of CM Punk and The Miz and 271 00:20:12,850 --> 00:20:16,090 Sheamus, et cetera, et cetera, because... 272 00:20:16,540 --> 00:20:20,480 Those were talents that were going to be launched within the system no matter 273 00:20:20,480 --> 00:20:27,300 what. It just so happens that they were launched within this abomination of 274 00:20:27,300 --> 00:20:29,800 a product called the new ECW. 275 00:20:30,400 --> 00:20:37,300 If a legacy has to be attached to the new ECW, there is the one 276 00:20:37,300 --> 00:20:40,080 bright light the project offers. 277 00:20:40,560 --> 00:20:43,680 Besides the first one -night stand, 278 00:20:44,600 --> 00:20:47,640 and Rob Van Dam versus John Cena in 2006. 279 00:20:48,240 --> 00:20:53,080 But these talents were so extraordinary. They were going to become stars no 280 00:20:53,080 --> 00:20:54,460 matter where you launched them. 281 00:20:54,820 --> 00:21:01,280 It just so happens that the breeding ground was this diseased product that 282 00:21:01,280 --> 00:21:06,640 needed to be put out of its own misery, and certainly put out of my misery as 283 00:21:06,640 --> 00:21:09,460 well. Well, we've recreated the brand. 284 00:21:10,240 --> 00:21:15,380 that we were trying to do a long time ago with ECW and the business model, 285 00:21:15,380 --> 00:21:21,680 it's now a developmental system under Paula Beck, Triple H's leadership, is 286 00:21:21,680 --> 00:21:25,200 turned into NXT, and so we've now created our own. 287 00:21:26,520 --> 00:21:30,040 It's going to be talked about until the end of time, and I feel that's because 288 00:21:30,040 --> 00:21:34,160 people love ECW so much. There were some good things about it. There were some 289 00:21:34,160 --> 00:21:35,220 bad things about it. 290 00:21:35,560 --> 00:21:39,620 But everything happens for a reason, and I was happy to be a part of it. I'm 291 00:21:39,620 --> 00:21:45,120 happy to be a historical note in the sense of the only person to hold the 292 00:21:45,120 --> 00:21:51,900 original ECW title and WWE's ECW title. I was happy that I got to be on 293 00:21:51,900 --> 00:21:53,600 WrestleMania with my friends. 294 00:21:53,860 --> 00:21:59,720 And it's almost like people forget the new ECW happened. It's just because they 295 00:21:59,720 --> 00:22:03,360 want to remember it in the best of times as opposed to the worst of times. 296 00:22:03,960 --> 00:22:07,600 I always say, I was in ECW. People try to correct me. No, you were. You were in 297 00:22:07,600 --> 00:22:08,740 WWCW. Me? 298 00:22:09,040 --> 00:22:11,520 Yeah. You know what? F**k it. I was in ECW. 299 00:22:12,920 --> 00:22:19,660 The big thinker mindset attached to ECW doesn't work. 300 00:22:20,080 --> 00:22:24,760 ECW was a revolution, indeed an evolution of the industry. 301 00:22:25,180 --> 00:22:29,680 But when the rebel becomes the establishment, it's no longer the rebel. 302 00:22:29,900 --> 00:22:31,660 It's the thing you rebel against. 303 00:22:33,400 --> 00:22:39,900 We called this new promotion anything but ECW. It would have succeeded. 304 00:22:40,060 --> 00:22:46,340 Look at the talent roster in and of itself. Look at the new stars that were 305 00:22:46,340 --> 00:22:53,000 being introduced on this show. But because it had both the cachet and the 306 00:22:53,000 --> 00:22:59,920 stigma of being ECW, there was no way it was ever going to work. ECW! 307 00:23:00,280 --> 00:23:02,180 ECW! ECW! 308 00:23:03,020 --> 00:23:04,020 We'll be right back.