A few months ago, before Vince Russo and Eric Bischoff regained control of WCW, I presented an arguement that ECW could claim #2 status in wrestling. Sure, ECW's TV ratings were below WCW's, but ECW was outdrawing WCW at live events and besting WCW's PPV buy-rates. And the lower TV ratings could be explained away due to TNN's incompetence in scheduling and promoting their highest rated show.

Circumstances have changed, huh.

The 6/2/2000 ECW on TNN show last night was an abomination. For those of you who don't know, ECW promised it's most controversial episode ever. By controversial, ECW meant tearing to shreds any chance they have of being on another cable network. The show contained Paul Heyman's ten-minute "TNN is a bunch of assholes because they've screwed us, if you don't like it cancel us, and I'm going to sue" shoot as well as a Joel Gertner poem about TNN executives smuggling underage farm animals over state lines for sexual gratification. TNN requested that Heyman edit those comments from the broadcast. Heyman refused, saying he was done toning down his program for TNN, and called them a bunch of schmucks.

So what happened? Paul Heyman's promised ten-minute rant against TNN turned into five minutes of TNN making ECW and Heyman look bush league. TNN put a mute on his comments, and blocked any closed captioning (if there is any). TNN ran "Please excuse this man's temper tantrum. Perhaps he's been through too many tables?" crawlers during it, as well as a few lines about respecting ECW's good qualities. TNN then cut to a previously seen video of Dawn Marie in different outfits. Hey, TNN knows a star when they see one. TNN also put the mute to Gertner's poetry (which included a close-up dis from Paul), with a "We're experiencing technical difficulties" tag.

Who's the schmuck now?

ECW came across as extremely bush league and petty in my minds. And TNN just laughed at 'em. What did Heyman expect? "Uh, well, since Paul ain't gonna do nutin, I guess we'll just a run it?" IT'S A TAPED SHOW, FOR GOD'S SAKE. TNN can fuck with it all they want.

Yes, I know ECW's intent is to get the show canceled by TNN, so that some other network can be its new savior. But the lengths to which they're going are, in fact, too extreme (pun intended), and is going to cost them a chance at another network.

TNN don't need ECW anymore, and everyone knows it. TNN has no reason to protect their brand name, as Viacom plans to change the network entirely. In my book, TNN has allowed ECW to make them look like asses. TNN has only muted the strongest insults: Joey Styles still ripped TNN (again) in his opening welcome, Heyman insulted them (again) in his hotline number, and the evil "Network", TNN's number one angle, dominated the show as always.

ECW, after a short honeymoon and willingness to try to fit-in (remember the promos for RollerJam?), has attacked TNN relentlessly. Hell, they've turned it into their number one angle, with Cyrus representing "The Network" as an evil, xenophobic empire. Remember, it wasn't ECW that pulled the World TV title from RVD, it was "the Network's threat to cancel the show". Funny, if that was a shoot, ECW would have said F-You, RVD keeps the belt, we're walking. Cyrus has also threatened to cancel ECW on other occasions and replace it with Rock-N-Bowl or RollerJam, letting ECW fans know that it ain't cool to support TNN's other shows. That's always a sure-fire way to make cable executives want your product on their network.

Heyman has become so consumed with TNN and his legal battles (XPW, Sabu, Mike Awesome) that his company is starting to suffer. He has no tag-team champions, when he has about six tag teams who could use something to do. He's pushed Rhino down our throats, yet has done nothing with the very over Roadkill and Nova. Balls has been non-existant lately. Simon Diamond, who I thought was funny as all shit, hasn't been seen in months until last week. RVD hasn't had a match on TNN since his return. What ever happened to Spike Dudley? Why wasn't Shawn Michaels' TWA brought in? And, worst of all, he has a World Heavyweight Champion that no one thinks is worth the belt.

(On a personal note, I met Justin Credible at an autograph session, and I thought he was a hell of a guy. He sneaked around a curtain, right next to where I was enjoying a beer, to eat a piece of pizza quickly. I offered to be Justin's Personal Security for him, kinda of like Ralphus, and he chuckled. Once he was finished, he took the initiative to set up a place where the fans could take a picture with him, away from the clusterfuck of the main floor. He's a young kid with a load of potential, and I hope he makes it big.)

Heyman really needs to take a step back and look at what he's doing. Forget about the TNN situation, and concentrate on what would be best for his company. Or hire somebody else to handle the creative side, and fight the legal battles himself. Or sell the company to a money mark who will give him complete creative control. Or give us, the fans, a chance to be the money mark. Turn the company public, and let us, the fans, buy 40%. ECW fans are considered the most brand loyal, so why not give us a chance to back-up that claim with cash? I'd gladly spend $1,000 for a tiny stake in the company, as long as Paul had a detailed plan for how the money would be used to benefit ECW and I get a few perks (one backstage pass a year, naked pictures of Dawn Marie, etc).

So, consider this the official start of the ECW Pledge Drive. Let me know what you think of the idea - the email address is below. I'm tempted to forward it along to Scherer and the StrictlyECW guys to get their opinion. If I do and they respond back, I'll share it with you in my next column. Hopefully, it won't be another three weeks before I write it.