By Sir Lawrence Alegdrop
³Itıs the end of the world as we know it.² I realize the last thing on Michael Stipeıs mind when he sang that song was professional wrestling, but no other words could better sum up the current status of this business. I suppose if professional wrestling were any other business, what happened over the past several months would not have come as any surprise. On the contrary, the only surprise would be that it took this long to complete the monopoly that Vincent K. McMahon began from an office in Greenwich, CT back in 1983.

After ten years, the sportıs system that had been successful for nearly fifty years known as the NWA was broken, and only three players remained. With corporate mergers being commonplace in the business world creating a homogenization of America, why should the world of professional wrestling be any different?

Of those three remaining players I mentioned earlier, the one that seemed most likely to survive to me was actually the smaller, ECW. In business, when corporations fight to either merge or put each other out of business, usually a few small niche operations are able to survive, and ECW was certainly a niche operation. It fed the bloodthirsty wrestling fan whose love for brutality could not be accepted by the rest of society.

To understand what the year 2001 means to the history of the sport of professional wrestling, we must first turn back to 1993, probably another of the most important years of the game. That was the year that World Championship Wrestling was born, and the NWA, as it stood for almost half a century died. The promotion owned by Ted Turner since 1988 was being operated by Bill Watts that year, the first time Turner turned to a man from the wrestling business to run his operation instead of the cable television world.

Watts withdrew WCWıs membership in the NWA to create a new World Title, and thatıs why there were suddenly two world title belts floating around the promotion for the next year and a half. Meanwhile, a brand new fledgling promotion was starting out of Philadelphia around the same time. Eastern Championship Wrestling was owned by Todd Gordon, a diamond store owner in the Phili area. The late Eddie Gilbert was assigned the duties of head booker, but in typical Gilbert fashion, he walked out on the promotion soon after it started.

At that time ECW was a member organization of the NWA. Then, in what today appears like an act of fate, Watts fired WCW manager Paul E. Dangerously over a minor dispute. Dangerously, later being recognized by his real name, Paul Heyman, became the new head booker of ECW. And Heyman built ECW on the blood and guts style of wrestling that was so popular in the 1970s under names like The Sheik and Abdullah the Butcher. One of the earliest feuds he implemented was a rekindling of the famous WWF blood feud between ³Magnificent² DonMuroco and Jimmy ³Superfly² Snuka.

When Heyman saw the heat this feud garnered, he followed suit and built the promotion around guys who were willing to take risks and have personas that no other promotion was ever willing to try. He had Sabu, the real life nephew of The Sheik; (a cheerful,well-balanced fellow--Dr. Mality), Sandman, the first man to drink beer in the ring and smoke cigarettes (an aspect of his gimmick that now seems forgotten); Tommy Dreamer, whose gimmick was take weapons from fans at ringside to use on his opponents.

Combined with these characters were a group who knew how to put on good exciting matches but seemed too small for the ³big two,² guys like Chris Benoit, EddieGuerrero, Dean Malenko, Chris Jericho, and 2 Cold Scorpio (don't forget the likes of Public Enemy and the Eliminators--Dr. Mality). The combination created a product so exciting and entertaining the promotionıs fans became loyal to the point of turning itıs nose up to the other ³major² promotions. Nearly every show at the famed ECW Arena, in reality a small bingo hall in a bad part of town, was like the magic seen at the NWAıs Music City Showdown at WrestleWar ı89.

Then the promotion took one step too many. Heyman and company decided that this niche product might have the potential to find a national home. On August 27, 1994 ECW participated in the NWAıs revival with a World Title tournament to decide their new World Champion.Gordon and Heyman talked the NWA board into giving the title to one of ECWıs biggest stars, Shane Douglas. On that hot, late summer night, Douglas won the tournament by defeating 2 Cold Scorpio, then did theunthinkable. He threw down the title belt and said he would never represent a dead organization.

Instead, he declared himself the first World Heavyweight Champion of Extreme Championship Wrestling, screwing the NWA out of its revitalization, an organization that had already been screwed more times than a Sorority girl at Homecoming. At that moment the promotion made the first move of stepping out of the curtain of being an independent organization and into the world of national recognition. Unfortunately, that move also spelled the downfall of ECW. Thatıs because it doesnıt matter if the promotion begins to receive slots on Pay Per View, or if they get a small one-hour weekly slot on a low rated cable channel. As soon as the promotion utters the words ³national promotion² it suddenly becomes a target.

Just a few years later, McMahon came to Heyman, ECWıs owner by this time, and offered him a spot on Monday Night Raw. He began a friendly relationship with Heyman, and let some of his own WWF wrestlers appear on ECW cards. All the while McMahon was setting up the fledgling ³national² promotion, even though it would never have the ability to challenge for the number one spot, to be a target. If ECW did not become a target, then why did key talent that the WWF previously had no interest in, suddenly become hot commodities?

Shane Douglas signed on with the WWF as early as 1995. Soon after 2 Cold Scorpio, Stevie Richards and Terry Funk signed on with the WWF. But never did it become so obvious as when they signed on Taz, who stands little over five feet, and lacks the major league look or ridiculous gimmick that McMahon loves. Now, I donıt blame the wrestlers for signing for the bigger money and the ability to travel by airplane instead of car, and see the rest of the world. Nor do I blame Heyman for signing on with the man who helped put him out of business. If I were in their shoes I would do the same thing. They have families to feed, children to take care of, and mortgages to pay.

But, in todayıs wrestling world, there remains one last organization; one last system; and one last World Champion in North America, who can deny ³Stone Cold² Steve Austin from being called ³The first undisputed World Champion since Lou Thesz.² That man is Steve Corino, and the organization is the National Wrestling Alliance.

Sir Lawrence Alegdrop is a disgraced member of the British royalty with an affinity for pro wrestling. He is assisted by Bill Camp, who writes a wrestling nostalgia column at http:www.kayfabememories.com. To contact this writer, send your email to: alegdrop@wormwoodchronicles.com