ECW on TNN
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| ECW on TNN | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Hardcore wrestling |
| Camera setup | Multicamera setup |
| Running time | 60 minutes (with commercials) |
| Creator(s) | Paul Heyman |
| Starring | See Extreme Championship Wrestling alumni |
| Opening theme | "This Is Extreme!" by Harry Slash & The Slashtones |
| Country of origin |  United States |
| Original channel | TNN |
| Original run | August 27, 1999–October 6, 2000 |
| No. of episodes | 59 |
| IMDb profile | |
| TV.com summary | |
ECW on TNN was a weekly professional wrestling TV show that aired on The Nashville Network (now Spike TV) on Friday nights. It was the flagship broadcast of Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW).
This was ECW's first national broadcast for what was initially a three year contract with TNN. However, TNN didn't give ECW much money to produce their program, yet expected ECW to have high-quality production values like WCW Monday Nitro and WWF RAW Is WAR. This was a problem within itself because ECW owner, Paul Heyman, didn't want to change the look or compromise the integrity of the ECW brand anyway. The only times that TNN advertised ECW television shows were during TNN's NASCAR broadcasts and during the ECW program itself.
TNN also censored a great deal of the program even though the violence and raunchiness were what made ECW so unique in the first place. TNN didn't want the ECW theme song (Thunder Kiss '65 by White Zombie) because according to Paul Heyman, it sounded "too demonic." TNN also didn't want any references to "hate" (they preferred "intense dislike") and wanted no music videos on the ECW program. During the first edition of ECW on TNN, Paul Heyman was so unsatisfied with the shoot that he did for TNN that he instead showed a replay of a match between Rob Van Dam and Jerry Lynn from the 1999 Hardcore Heaven pay-per-view.
Paul Heyman was so frustrated with the way TNN treated ECW that he went as far as cutting a shoot promo and addressed his utter hatred for TNN (or The Network as Heyman called it on television). Heyman believed that TNN used ECW as simply a guinea pig to see if professional wrestling could work on the network. That and the fact they wanted to see if another show, RollerJam, would work as well, as it was right after ECW shows.
Heyman decided to recruit Don Callis, who played the part of Cyrus, to serve as an onscreen metaphor for the real problems between ECW and TNN at that point. Callis played a representative for TNN/The Network, who constantly criticized the violent nature of ECW programming.
Even though ECW became TNN's highest rated show, TNN was at the time of Heyman's "shoot" publicly negotiating with Vince McMahon's World Wrestling Federation product. ECW on TNN was cancelled in October 2000 (with the final episode airing on October 6, 2000) in favor of RAW Is WAR moving to the network.
To this day, Paul Heyman strongly believes that the lack of a national television deal (especially after the TNN trial) was the main cause of ECW's demise.
