Update on WWE ECW “Free Agents”
Zack Ryder and Rosa Mendes are now officially on WWE’s RAW roster, coming over from ECW. The stars left from ECW who have yet to be put on a brand include Trent Baretta, Caylen Croft, Vance Archer, Vladimir Kozlov, Tiffany, Goldust, Byron Saxton, Abraham Washington and Tony Atlas.
Christian & Ezekiel Jackson Both Set ECW Records
Christian's ECW Title defense on this week's final episode of ECW was his 65th defense of the belt, the most in the history of ECW, dating back to the beginning. Taz defended his ECW Title 61 times in an eight-month reign back in 1999.
As reported earlier, Ezekiel Jackson's title reign is the shortest ECW title reign in history, coming in at just under 3 minutes from the pin to the end of the last episode of ECW.
Tommy Dreamer Compares WWE ECW to the XFL
The following is an excerpt from the latest WWE Universe blog of ECW original Tommy Dreamer:
Well with tonight marking the last episode of ECW. I will stick to my guns. I have one more blog after this and I am done. My friend Joey Styles has a great blog on WWE Universe about ECW and he addressed many of my thoughts(you think that guy knows how to tell a story of something almost like he was an announcer). I suggest you give it a read. He left out that on WWE Classics that I am his co host and I have a great time doing that. As a follower of the old ECW you get some deep insight into the insane behind the scenes of crazy ECW. We also have a ton of fun and make alot of jokes at everyones expense.
The Internet is a buzz about WWE dropping the ECW ball. Well lets look at what the world likes to call the WWE's greatest blunder the XFL. It looked like a great idea on paper. It had great network support but after the first week and great ratings, those ratings started to fall. Why? I feel the level of play. Many die hard football fans realized that there was a reason the players were not in the NFL. Maybe they just did not belong. That could also hold true to the tv show ECW, no matter how hard we all worked, it could never be what it was, for so many reasons, I do not want to get into. However everyone wants to knock Vince McMahon for the XFL, but look at this many aspects of the XFL have been stolen by the NFL. The field camera view. The behind the scene lockeroom stuff. Having the viewer be almost on the field at all times, was what the XFL was all about. The NFL Network and every channel that carries football now does what that XFL tried to bring. So instead of blaming Vince. He deserves some credit for shaping the NFL the way it is today. As well as having the grapefruits for taking on the task.If you think about it Vince McMahon's vision good or bad has us all talking about his actions.
ECW Title Has Been Retired
WWE's website has confirmed that the ECW Title is retired. There was speculation last week that it may be kept around as a mid-card draw for some PPVs but it looks like that idea was shot down.
More News on the End of ECW
- Chris Jericho wrote the following about ECW on his Twitter earlier: "Goodbye WWECW. But as those of us who were there know, ECW really died in 99."
- There were some rumblings within WWE yesterday of the company doing another ECW DVD later in the year but it's not something that's confirmed.
Reason Why Ezekiel Jackson Won the ECW Championship
Ezekiel Jackson is not only the final ECW champion, but is technically the shortest reigning ECW champion ever. At Guilty as Charged 2001, The Sandman won the Title, and held it for 6 minutes, 32 seconds, before losing it to Rhino. From the three count to the credits rolling and fading to black, Jackson's reign was 2 minutes, 59 seconds.
The reason Ezekiel Jackson won the title is because Vince McMahon wanted Jackson to have momentum as he will be heading to the Smackdown brand. There was a thought of Christian retaining, to give the crowd a happy ending, but that was shot down.
Some wanted to honor the old ECW on the show, including some old names coming back for cameo appearances, but the thought was that it was more important to get WWE NXT over, while closing out ECW as quickly as possible.
ECW Spoilers for the Last Episode of ECW
- Dark Match: Jimmy Wang Yang defeated Tyler Reks. Tyler Reks cut a heel promo before the match.
- ECW starts off with a video promo showing the brand's history.
- Big Show & The Miz defeated Goldust & Yoshi Tatsu to retain the WWE Unified Tag Team Championship.
- Two of the pairings for WWE NXT are announced. Chris Jericho will mentor Wade Barrett while Matt Hardy will be paired with Justin Gabriel.
- Tiffany comes out but is interrupted by Zack Ryder. Ryder is upset that he didn't get the last ECW title shot against Christian.
- It is announced that MVP will mentor Skipp Sheffield on WWE NXT.
- Abraham Washington is the guest on his own show. Shelton Benjamin and Vance Archer interrupt, having words with each other. Trent Baretta & Caylen Croft come out, soon followed by Vladimir Kozlov, who takes out everybody except for Shelton Benjamin. Vladimir Kozlov & Shelton Benjamin shake hands.
- Three more WWE NXT pairings are announced. Carlito will be paired with Michael Tarver, The Miz will be paired with Daniel Bryan and ECW Champion Christian will be paired with Heath Slater.
- Christian cuts a promo on ECW. He talks about his ECW championship reigns and about Tommy Dreamer. Christian says he's fighting for the ECW Originals and that he's proud to be the last ECW Champion.
- CM Punk is announced as Darren Young's mentor for WWE NXT.
- Ezekiel Jackson defeated Christian for the ECW Championship in an Extreme Rules match. Both Zack Ryder and William Regal try to run in, but Christian takes care of both of them.
- The final WWE NXT pairing is announced. R-Truth will be paired with David Otunga.
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