John Philapavage is putting together a documentary about Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) and is seeking funding on Kickstarter. For most of the organization’s existence, it was a small, regional wrestling promotion with limited television exposure. However, the workers had a passion that connected with the fans in a unique way. Much of what made ECW different and popular was later mimicked by WWE and WCW. The group helped one of the biggest pro-wrestling stars of all time — “Stone Cold” Steve Austin — find his voice. It gave many North American wrestling fans their first looks at Eddie Guerrero, Dean Malenko, Chris Benoit, Chris Jericho, and many other fantastic wrestlers. For a small promotion, ECW’s contributions to the wrestling business were huge.
Check out the video below to learn more about Philapavage’s ECW documentary:
Here’s an excerpt from the Kickstarter page that lists the talent involved:
Our approach to telling the story of Extreme Championship Wrestling and giving you proper context has been holistic in nature. We’ve interviewed journalists, wrestlers, referees, ring announcers, security staff, company staff and production, all the way to fans and fan organizers. The wrestlers range from mainstays like Sandman, Raven, Shane Douglas, Balls Mahoney, Axl Rotten, New Jack, Mikey Whipwreck, The Blue Meanie, Stevie Richards, Nova, Ted Petty, and Johnny Grunge, to wrestlers from later years like Jerry Lynn, Angel and Devito of Da Baldies, Chris Chetti, Danny Doring, and Steve Corino.
I loved ECW back in the day. It was just different and refreshing. It had a mix of crazy hardcore action, edgy storylines, and outstanding technical wrestling. Allowing fans to bring weapons for wrestlers to use was an awesome touch. I fondly remember watching a show where a SNES was used as a “foreign” object.
I’m going to try to contribute to this Kickstarter project when I have some extra money. Any of you interested in backing this ECW documentary?
Yeah I’ll give them some money. Loved ECW.
Why’s it gotta only be for EXTREME wrestlers? Why can’t it support ALL wrestlers fair and equally?
All joking aside, I mark out a little bit everytime I see Paul Heyman on Raw.
Ha after reading about this and visiting their kickstarter i went to youtube to see some Sabu clips and then got lost watching the Dudleys and RVD. I do miss being 18 and watching ECW.