ECW: Hardcore History
ECW: Hardcore History
Forget the theatrics of World Wrestling Entertainment; this is where the real wrestling is. With a truly no-holds-barred code, the matches that take place during Extreme Championship Wrestling fights are just that — fights — and plenty of blood is shed in these borderline violent but classic match-ups. Included are Chris Benoit and Dean Malenko vs. Sabu and Taz, Raven and Stevie Richards vs. The Pitbulls, Shane Douglas vs. Pitbull 2 and more
ECW was started in 1992 as Eastern Championship Wrestling as part of the NWA. On August 27th, 1994 during the N.W.A Heavyweight Title tournament after Shane Douglas won he threw down the NWA title and held up the ECW title instead. That same day ECW broke away from the NWA and changed it’s name to Extreme Championship Wrestling. ECW was owned by Todd Gordon until 1996 when he sold it to Paul Heyman, who had been very involved in the organization since it’s start. ECW ran shows mostly in Philadelphia and was syndicated on television by various stations before it was brought to TNN in 1999. ECW also ran bi-monthly pay per views from 1997 to it’s close in 2001