This entry is about a specific promotion in Professional wrestling, and is not intended to explain professional wrestling itself. Pro Wrestling would be more helpful for information on pro wrestling in general, and possibly to better understand this entry.

The Beginning

The wrestling promotion ('promotion' refers to a wrestling organization that promotes or puts on and advertises wrestling matches) currently known as Extreme Championship Wrestling began as Eastern Championship Wrestling in 1992, when Philadelphia pawn broker Tod Gordon began promoting wrestling cards in local bars. Thanks to a television arrangement with SportsChannel Philadelphia, ECW attracted a small fan base in the north-eastern United States, and became the strongest promotion in the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA).

Jim Crockett, who was about to return to wrestling promoting for the first time since selling his stake in the NWA to Ted Turner in 1990, went to Gordon in 1994 and asked him to host a tournament to crown a new NWA World Heavyweight Champion. However, since Crockett and Gordon had not paid NWA membership dues in some time, NWA promoter Dennis Corraluzo was able to work his way into some booking power in the tournament, under the threat of withdrawing NWA support for the tournament.

On the night of 27 August, 1994, Shane Douglas, who at the time was ECW champion, defeated 2 Cold Scorpio in the finals of the tournament to become the new NWA World Heavyweight Champion. However, after receiving the belt, Douglas threw the belt down and proceeded to give a long interview, claiming the NWA was dead and that the ECW title was the only title that meant anything in wrestling. Tod Gordon then withdrew his promotion from the NWA and renamed it Extreme Championship Wrestling.

It was an incident which generated a lot of publicity for ECW, and damaged an already weak NWA. ECW continued to slowly build on its success by promoting a wrestling product much different from what World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE; at the time known as World Wrestling Federation or WWF)and World Championship Wrestling (WCW) were offering at the time. In addition to de-emphasising the traditional 'good guys vs bad guys' element of wrestling, ECW focused on creating quality, crisp matches inside the ring, and also attracted many fans with its 'hardcore' style of chair swinging and table breaking.

Paul Heyman, who had been brought into ECW as a booker shortly after its creation, bought the promotion from Tod Gordon in 1996. Gordon would remain in ECW portraying the on-air 'ECW commissioner' until 1997 when, in a wrestling-tinged slice of reality, it was revealed that he had been helping ECW wrestlers secure better contracts with WCW.

But 1997 was the year that ECW made its biggest strides in terms of popularity, as they ventured into the world of pay-per-view for the first time. Despite drawing significantly fewer buys than WWE or WCW pay-per-views, ECW's lower production costs still insured the company's profits. In addition, ECW also co-promoted with the WWE during the first half of the year, including a memorable episode of the WWE's flagship show, Monday Night Raw, in which Heyman and ECW stars 'invaded' the show and ran several matches.

In 1999 ECW signed a national television deal with The Nashville Network (TNN; now known as SpikeTV), providing the company with its largest exposure to date. Finally in March, 2000, ECW overtook WCW in the area of pay-per-view buys

The End... Almost

Since the beginning of ECW on TNN there were problems. TNN wanted less violence and less vulgarity. ECW wanted TNN to promote their top rated show a little more (receiving almost no promotion except when the show was on). These problems were even manifested by an on air story line with Cyrus (a non wrestling character) portraying 'The Network' and coming down on the ECW product. But all these problems, coupled with WWE Monday Night Raw jumping to TNN, resulted in ECW being taken off air in October 2000.

This was not quite the end of ECW yet though as they continued put on live shows and , pay-per-view with its last pay-per-view entitled 'Guilty as Charged' on 7 January 2001. At the end of this pay-per-view the champions were as follows

• ECW world Champion: Rhyno
• ECW Television Champion: Ryhno
• ECW Tag Team Champions: Danny Doring and Road Kill

Then in April 2001, Paul Heyman and ECW filed for bankruptcy, officially ending ECW forever, or so it would seem.

Former ECW stars include:

• 'The Whole F'n Show' Rob van Dam
• Mike Awesome
• The Sandman
• 'The Innovator of Violence' Tommy Dreamer
• Lil' Spike Dudley
• 'The Extreme Luchador' Super Crazy
• 'The Japanese Buzzsaw' Yoshihiro Tajiri
• 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin
• Cactus Jack (Mick Foley)
• Tazz
• Chris Jericho
• Chris Benoit
• Dean Malenko
• Perry Saturn
• Eddy Guerrero
• The Dudley Boys
• Konnan
• Rey Mysterio Jr
• Raven
• Stevie Richards
• The Blue Meanie
• Al Snow
• 'The Homicidal, Suicidal, Genocidal, Death Defying Maniac' Sabu

Soon Paul Heyman was hired by the WWE as a writer and character. This resulted in ECW showing up in a storyline on WWE in the summer of 2001. ECW and WCW (both of which were owned now by WWE) both 'invaded' WWE trying prove they were the better promotions. This was the main storyline in WWE throughout that time, but actually did very little to help ECW or WCW wrestlers who were made to seem second rate compared to WWE wrestlers. After the culmination of this storyline in November 2001, ECW could only be found in the memories of the loyal fans and the occasional 'E-C-Dub' chant when wrestlers in Philly and New York area did something 'hardcore'.

ONE LAST CHANCE

Soon though, ECW would get its one final chance at glory. WWE (who owned the entire ECW video rights) released 'Rise and Fall' an ECW double-disc DVD. One disc contained a three-hour documentary on the inception and demise of ECW. The other contained classic matches that highlighted some of the better moments in ECW. But this was not to be all. 'Rise and Fall' was the second best selling DVD WWE ever had. This lead to WWE heads deciding there was still enough interest in ECW to have the ECW reunion pay-per-view entitled 'One Night Stand' on June 12th 2005 at Hammerstein Ballroom, New York, New York.

'One Night Stand' was billed as ECW’s last chance to redeem themselves, with matches from many of the ECW all time greats. Many incredible matches were held, including some classic rivalries and matches ECW never got to see. It also featured two very heartfelt and emotional shoot promos (unscripted live interviews) by RVD and Paul Heyman. WWE also sent in 'crusaders' from both Raw and Smackdown!, to show that ECW were 'nothing but violent out of shape losers'. The end of the night culminated with the ECW locker room and WWE crusaders brawling in the ring with ECW routing WWE. Then Steve Austin came out and lead an ECW a** whooping of Eric Bischoff. This officially ended ECW forever. Although many fans still hope hat the success of 'Rise and Fall' and 'One Night Stand' will lead to an ECW resurrection, WWE says they have no plans for it at this time.