Brian Damage
The year 2000 was an (pardon the pun) extremely tumultuous time for ECW. Their TV deal with TNN did not pay off for either side. TNN felt that ECW did not deliver the ratings they initially anticipated, and ECW complained that TNN did not properly promote their TV show. To make matters worse, TNN then went out and secured a deal with the WWF to jump ship from the USA network. The writing was on the wall that ECW’s time on TNN would be short lived.
Indeed it was, because TNN would announce the cancelation of ECW after winning the broadcast rights for Monday Night Raw citing disappointment in ECW TV’s ratings. ECW owner Paul Heyman was now a wrestling promotion without a national television deal. Granted, they still had their shows airing in syndication, but to really survive and thrive, Heyman knew he needed a solid TV deal. Without it, ECW would not survive for long.
Money was a serious issue, as Heyman was behind several weeks paying his talent. He not only needed to secure a new television deal but somehow convince that network to invest money into the promotion to keep it afloat. Heyman had negotiations with two notable networks to air ECW. One was FOX, who seemingly wanted to somehow get involved in the wrestling business and the second was the WWF’s former home the USA network. In fact, after the WWF secured their TNN deal, Vince McMahon personally called USA network president Stephen Chao and recommended that USA bring ECW to their network.
As to why Vince McMahon would do that, Paul Heyman stated that Vince always appreciated ECW as a business model. In the last couple of years of the promotion’s existence, Vince helped Heyman out financially and provided some talent for ECW to use. Heyman also said that with WCW was near collapsing and McMahon realized that without WCW and potentially ECW out of business, the wrestling industry would suffer a great deal.
In the case with FOX, Rupert Murdoch’s networks were very interested in acquiring the WWF when they were available. When the WWF signed with TNN, FOX apparently had some talks with Eric Bischoff and Hulk Hogan about starting a whole new wrestling promotion. In the end, while ECW was already an established product, FOX executives just didn’t see it as recognizable and profitable as having Monday Night Raw or a wrestling show highlighted by a name like Hulk Hogan.
That really left only the USA network as a viable landing spot for ECW. The two sides talked and talked and talked and at some points, it looked as if a deal might happen. Reportedly, there were talks of having ECW as a one hour program, a 90 minute program or possibly two hours. There was talk of having ECW air on Saturday evenings between 6 and 8pm. If it could have been worked out, essentially, ECW would fill a void which occurred when Turner and TBS moved their Saturday night show to Saturday mornings. The idea was changed to possibly air ECW on USA Saturday evenings between 11pm and 1am.
The reasoning was due to concerns by USA of ECW’s “hardcore content.” Granted, the network was able to turn a blind eye many times with the WWF’s Attitude Era content, but ratings helped ease those concerns. Heyman realizing that the USA network would have a very tight and short leash on ECW with their type of programming, decided to change how the promotion was booked. The violence was toned down a great deal and there was more of an emphasis on just wrestling. Plans were discussed of making ECW into a hybrid type of show. One half would focus on wrestling, and the other half would be a type of reality show.
At one point, a production company called Bunim-Murray would be involved in producing this potential new ECW show. Bunim-Murray were perhaps best known for creating MTV’s ‘The Real World.’ According to Heyman, before the ECW show on USA would launch, they would produce a 90 minute show with a series of stylistic vignettes produced by Bunim-Murray to introduce various stars of ECW to the USA audience.
Talks between ECW and USA stalled when the network went to court to try and block the WWF/TNN deal from happening and have Raw remain on USA. When USA network lost the case, talks with ECW resumed. As ECW’s final TNN broadcast was approaching and talks with USA were in slow motion…Vince McMahon agreed to waive his exclusivity clause with TNN to allow ECW to remain on TNN until they could secure a new TV deal. The problem was, there was so much bad blood between the two sides that an extension was not possible.
Another serious wrinkle happened in the middle of ECW’s negotiations when the PTC (Parents Television Council) got word that ECW were in talks with the USA network. The PTC were huge adversaries of Vince McMahon and the WWF, who pressured several companies to stop advertising with the WWF. The PTC sent a letter to USA CEO Barry Diller and threatened to boycott the network if ECW was aired. They cited that ECW glorified violence against women and urged fans to bring weapons with them to shows.
Not long after that, Barry Diller conducted an interview and stated that while losing Monday Night Raw hurt the network, it was a niche audience. Meaning they didn’t watch any of USA’s programming before or after Raw was on the air. Diller then said that he was no longer interested in pro wrestling on his network. Years later, it was revealed that Diller felt that if the USA network accepted another lower tiered wrestling promotion to air after losing the top tiered WWF, it would make the network look bad.
So what if ECW did in fact sign a deal with USA? What would the show and future storylines look like? Paul Heyman revealed that the new influx of money would improve the look of the show with production and lighting improvements. The major story arc would involve Rob Van Dam chasing Rhino for the ECW world title. The one championship that alluded RVD during his ECW career. Rob Van Dam would ultimately win the world title. It was all for naught. ECW never got another television deal and as predicted folded in 2001.
