XPW VS ECW

[ROB_BLACK]

At heart I'm a die hard ECW fan and I always will be. But when ECW died and XPW continued, it filled the hardcore wrestling hole that ECW's death had left me with.

Of course, XPW was nothing but an ECW clone and a bad rip off at that but looking back now, in many ways XPW was pretty entertaining and created some great talent - Supreme, Kaos, The Messiah etc. XPW was a lot more "Extreme" then ECW in some ways, that has to be said what with its Death Matches and what not. Even though I know ECW's perspective of "Hardcore" didn't mean going through a barbwire table every night.

So here's my question.

XPW VS ECW - Who gets your vote and why?!

[Big Red Machine]

ECW by a mile. Better matches, better booking. No stupid sh*t. Even XPW knew that it was a thrid-rate ECW knockoff.

[ROB_BLACK]

I was always fascinated by XPW's original characters.

I think ECW will always be everyone's pick because ultimately it was the first and anyone seen after that is inevitably going to be called a copy cat, but at the same time I think XPW's efforts to really push the boundaries further after ECW closed deserve some credit. Yes, it was terrible production but so was ECW in the very early years.

XPW's booking was typically the same as ECW though, they had virtually all the same guys :p

[Big Red Machine]

I was always fascinated by XPW's original characters.

I think ECW will always be everyone's pick because ultimately it was the first and anyone seen after that is inevitably going to be called a copy cat, but at the same time I think XPW's efforts to really push the boundaries further after ECW closed deserve some credit. Yes, it was terrible production but so was ECW in the very early years.

XPW's booking was typically the same as ECW though, they had virtually all the same guys :p

Having the same guys doesn't make the booking the same. As for XPW pushing the limit- wreslting (and I use that term loosely)-wise, they didn't do anything that CZW hadn't done before. IMO, the only limits that XPW pushed were the limits of good taste.

[ROB_BLACK]

I was always fascinated by XPW's original characters.

I think ECW will always be everyone's pick because ultimately it was the first and anyone seen after that is inevitably going to be called a copy cat, but at the same time I think XPW's efforts to really push the boundaries further after ECW closed deserve some credit. Yes, it was terrible production but so was ECW in the very early years.

XPW's booking was typically the same as ECW though, they had virtually all the same guys :p

Having the same guys doesn't make the booking the same. As for XPW pushing the limit- wreslting (and I use that term loosely)-wise, they didn't do anything that CZW hadn't done before. IMO, the only limits that XPW pushed were the limits of good taste.

Really? Because I'd assume that if the same guys from ECW where facing each other in XPW in similar matches that'd they'd already had in ECW that'd make it the same booking. You mean to say Douglas and Funk facing each other in both promotions isn't anything to do with the booking?

[Big Red Machine]

I was always fascinated by XPW's original characters.

I think ECW will always be everyone's pick because ultimately it was the first and anyone seen after that is inevitably going to be called a copy cat, but at the same time I think XPW's efforts to really push the boundaries further after ECW closed deserve some credit. Yes, it was terrible production but so was ECW in the very early years.

XPW's booking was typically the same as ECW though, they had virtually all the same guys :p

Having the same guys doesn't make the booking the same. As for XPW pushing the limit- wreslting (and I use that term loosely)-wise, they didn't do anything that CZW hadn't done before. IMO, the only limits that XPW pushed were the limits of good taste.

Really? Because I'd assume that if the same guys from ECW where facing each other in XPW in similar matches that'd they'd already had in ECW that'd make it the same booking. You mean to say Douglas and Funk facing each other in both promotions isn't anything to do with the booking?

Booking isn't just who is on the card and in what match. Booking is the angles, the finishes, and a few other things as well.

Also, East Coast XPW and West Coast XPW are much different. When Douglas bought the company, he brought in all of his ECW buddies and cut out some of the sleazy crap. Still, it doesn't compare to ECW.

[Lynas]

ECW by a mile. Better matches, better booking. No stupid sh*t. Even XPW knew that it was a thrid-rate ECW knockoff.

This. XPW attempted a ride on the ECW glory train and it just didn't work out quite as they imagined.

[ROB_BLACK]

ECW by a mile. Better matches, better booking. No stupid sh*t. Even XPW knew that it was a thrid-rate ECW knockoff.

This. XPW attempted a ride on the ECW glory train and it just didn't work out quite as they imagined.

I don't think so. At least not at the time both companies were around. XPW wasn't so much riding the coat tails of ECW, it was more challenging the company and making its presence felt - Take the XPW Invasion for example. A testament to XPW's notoriety can be found in the several come back shows and DVD releases they've had years after it folded. Ok, so ECW those had those as well on a much larger scale, but we all now how that turned out - ECW's legacy was tarnished. Ruined in fact. If anything XPW went out the way ECW should have.

Is CZW riding ECW's coat tails? Many people would consider CZW the new ECW, but I wouldn't say just because they're a hardcore company that they're heavily influenced by ECW! Zandig had never even seen Funk and Sabu's barbwire match before CZW started doing theirs!

[yourcrapsweak]

CZW.

[Big Red Machine]

ECW by a mile. Better matches, better booking. No stupid sh*t. Even XPW knew that it was a thrid-rate ECW knockoff.

This. XPW attempted a ride on the ECW glory train and it just didn't work out quite as they imagined.

I don't think so. At least not at the time both companies were around. XPW wasn't so much riding the coat tails of ECW, it was more challenging the company and making its presence felt - Take the XPW Invasion for example. A testament to XPW's notoriety can be found in the several come back shows and DVD releases they've had years after it folded. Ok, so ECW those had those as well on a much larger scale, but we all now how that turned out - ECW's legacy was tarnished. Ruined in fact. If anything XPW went out the way ECW should have.

The promotion of XPW's comeback shows are a great example of how much they both overestimated their own importance, and how much of an ECW wanna-be rip-off they were.



Vince wants to kill off "Xtreme." This is all of the stuff that we have heard from people on the internet for years about Vince's treatment of ECW. They have to appeal to people's hatred for Vince and what he has done to ECW to sell their own tickets. If Vince thought ECW mattered, he would have bought it when it went under. He didn't.

Is CZW riding ECW's coat tails? Many people would consider CZW the new ECW, but I wouldn't say just because they're a hardcore company that they're heavily influenced by ECW! Zandig had never even seen Funk and Sabu's barbwire match before CZW started doing theirs!

Did CZW ride ECW's coat tails? A little bit, but in the same way that pretty much EVERY indy at the time did (CHIKARA excluded). But CZW and XPW are very different. CZW didn't try and make its name at ECW's expense. What they did was so ridiculously unprofessional (one reason I have very little respect for XPW and JCW), and that they got their asses kicked afterwards is just another level of suckage.

[badnewzxl]

XPW is the worst wrestling promotion to ever get considerable exposure and they only got that exposure because they were a ripoff of ECW (much more so than TNA is a ripoff of WCW). Supreme and Messiah are the ONLY names worth mentioning when you talk about home-grown "talent" (Homeless Jimmy doesn't count, and Kaos sucks. Damien Steele was trash. Johnny webb retired didn't he?). And when they got all the ECW guys, NONE of them even worked a decent match! Sabu and Terry Funk were the only guys who wrestled at an entertaining level. Douglas, Candido, Axl, New Jack, Grimes, Kronus, and the others REALLY illustrated how much better ECW was; none of them worked nearly as good in XPW as they did in ECW, which has to have a lot to do with the differences between the two promotions.

As far as CZW goes, I've never liked them and I don't think they're much like ECW. CZW reminds me a lot of Big Japan and FMW; LOTS of deathmatches and EXTREME ultraviolence.

[yourcrapsweak]

XPW is the worst wrestling promotion to ever get considerable exposure and they only got that exposure because they were a ripoff of ECW (much more so than TNA is a ripoff of WCW). Supreme and Messiah are the ONLY names worth mentioning when you talk about home-grown "talent" (Homeless Jimmy doesn't count, and Kaos sucks. Damien Steele was trash. Johnny webb retired didn't he?). And when they got all the ECW guys, NONE of them even worked a decent match! Sabu and Terry Funk were the only guys who wrestled at an entertaining level. Douglas, Candido, Axl, New Jack, Grimes, Kronus, and the others REALLY illustrated how much better ECW was; none of them worked nearly as good in XPW as they did in ECW, which has to have a lot to do with the differences between the two promotions.

As far as CZW goes, I've never liked them and I don't think they're much like ECW. CZW reminds me a lot of Big Japan and FMW; LOTS of deathmatches and EXTREME ultraviolence.

The first paragraph I agree with 100%.

The second? Not so much. CZW does have the ultraviolence, but they only have about 1 or 2 ultraviolent matches per show. The rest is really good wrestling, and juniorheavyweights. There are usually over twice as many juniorheavyweight matches on each show than there are deathmatches.

[badnewzxl]

XPW is the worst wrestling promotion to ever get considerable exposure and they only got that exposure because they were a ripoff of ECW (much more so than TNA is a ripoff of WCW). Supreme and Messiah are the ONLY names worth mentioning when you talk about home-grown "talent" (Homeless Jimmy doesn't count, and Kaos sucks. Damien Steele was trash. Johnny webb retired didn't he?). And when they got all the ECW guys, NONE of them even worked a decent match! Sabu and Terry Funk were the only guys who wrestled at an entertaining level. Douglas, Candido, Axl, New Jack, Grimes, Kronus, and the others REALLY illustrated how much better ECW was; none of them worked nearly as good in XPW as they did in ECW, which has to have a lot to do with the differences between the two promotions.

As far as CZW goes, I've never liked them and I don't think they're much like ECW. CZW reminds me a lot of Big Japan and FMW; LOTS of deathmatches and EXTREME ultraviolence.

The first paragraph I agree with 100%.

The second? Not so much. CZW does have the ultraviolence, but they only have about 1 or 2 ultraviolent matches per show. The rest is really good wrestling, and juniorheavyweights. There are usually over twice as many juniorheavyweight matches on each show than there are deathmatches.

I'm sure they are now, but back around the turn of the millenium when the ECW v. XPW debate was truly relavent, CZW was straight up hardcore all the way. It was (and still is) the only American promotion that is more violent than ECW was; XPW TRIED to run the same exact product ECW did (I guess minus truly good actual wrestling matches) and they came off as a total ripoff, even before they picked up all the ECW guys

[The Apocalypse]

Sorry Rob, but I have to say ECW as well.

As a child, my father took me to wrestling shows all over PA, a few of them being ECW shows in Philly, Reading, Whitehall, Wilkes-Barre, Hazleton...just to name a few. ECW was where my love for wrestling began in the late 90s. I don't remember too much from back then, but I do remember thinking that it could never be duplicated. I'll never forget the summer of 98 (at least I think it was in the summer) when the match ended up outside the ring and Sabu, living up to his death-defying character, landed in my and my father's laps. His opponent grabbed my chair and damn near took Sabu's head off with it...ah good times...

And especially after Vinnie Mac took the world's largest crap on top of those letters by "resurrecting" ECW, I swore that the original would always be superior.

As for CZW, I love their interpretation of hardcore wrestling. I love the pure violence of it. However, some may argue that CZW is a little too extreme.

I will always be a die-hard ECW fan. No matter what hardcore promotion tries to gain my fancy, ECW will always hold a special place in my mind. There's no duplicating such an extreme legacy.

Hopefully, now that TNA has wrapped up their EV2 storyline, those three letters can rest in peace and the Extreme Originals can regain their glory.

ECW! ECW! ECW! ECW! ECW! ECW! ECW! ECW! ECW!!!!

OH MY FRIGGIN GOOOODDD!!!!!!

[Big Red Machine]

I'll never forget the summer of 98 (at least I think it was in the summer) when the match ended up outside the ring and Sabu, living up to his death-defying character, landed in my and my father's laps. His opponent grabbed my chair and damn near took Sabu's head off with it...ah good times...

Lucky! The only thing I have is almost being run over by Jimmy Jacobs and the Necro Butcher at Injustice II.

[ECWFlairfan]

When you look at both promotions, you see both had homegrown talent... how many of each made it to WWE or WCW? ECW had several... XPW had none that I know of... ROH & TNA have more former people in WWE than XPW ever did... (ECWs list is too long to even make)

[yourcrapsweak]

The only XPW Original I think is worth mentioning is Messiah. Supreme is eh, because he's pretty much worthless in anything that isn't some messy weird deathmatch. Homeless Jimmy sucks. GQ Money sucks. Was Luke an XPW original? I don't know, he's not really that good, but he's been in other places.

I can't think of anyone else.

[The Apocalypse]

I'll never forget the summer of 98 (at least I think it was in the summer) when the match ended up outside the ring and Sabu, living up to his death-defying character, landed in my and my father's laps. His opponent grabbed my chair and damn near took Sabu's head off with it...ah good times...

Lucky! The only thing I have is almost being run over by Jimmy Jacobs and the Necro Butcher at Injustice II.

Yes, very lucky! And a few of Taz vs. Sabu matches as well, I recall. There was one show in Philly where everyone's favorite pain in the butt (Bill Alfonso) interfered and was blowing that stupid whistle in Taz's face. I don't think this was a part of the show, but Taz suplexed Alfonso out of his freaking shoes!!! That was great...