The Complete History Of ECW

EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ nordvpn.com/cu...
Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee!
Though ECW only existed for about nine years, its influence, and its cultivation of spectacle, has allowed for perpetual life post-mortem. Whatever wrestling you watch today is likely, in some small way, impacted by Paul Heyman's Extreme ethos. Decades after its demise, Extreme Championship Wrestling continuously finds itself in the contemporary conversations of fans and analysts alike. When one considers the promotion's total history and their defiant approach, that's not at all surprising.
This is The Complete History Of ECW.
JOIN US and hit SUBSCRIBE!
Support Cultaholic on Patreon: / cultaholic
Unlock Cultaholic badges & emojis on KZbin:
/ @cultaholic
Website: cultaholic.com/
Merch: www.cultaholic...
Twitch: / cultaholic
Twitter: / cultaholic
Facebook: / cultaholic
Instagram: / cultaholicwrestling
Discord: www.cultaholic...
Cameo: www.cultaholic...
Sign up to Wrestle Crate UK using code CULTAHOLIC and receive DOUBLE the merch with your first month's crate: www.wrestlecra...
Cultaholic provides video coverage of professional wrestling - including WWE (including WWE Raw, WWE SmackDown,, and NXT), AEW, IMPACT Wrestling (formerly TNA), NJPW, ROH, and more with daily news updates, reviews, lists, highlights, predictions, reactions, podcasts and much, much more.

[@honestreviewer7788]

ECW historian here. i own alot, read alot, talk to everyone i can about the original ecw. this is a VERY good history. obviously the whole history would be a 5 hour video and nobody is doing that. you did an amazing job my friend

[@BoxingLegends2024]

why not? he did 2hrs why not 3 more?

[@yoholmes273]

​​@@Tampafan33NO. If you're doing a proper history. You tell it like it is. Unfiltered & historically accurate. To state the actual history "didn't matter" is shortsighted

[@cult_of_odin]

​@@yoholmes273why don't you make it? Because you know as well as I that a handful of people would watch it. There is a balance. 5% of people would watch while the other 95% don't care enough. Videos have to be made so a larger portion of people will watch not the small minority.

[@arklife99]

​@@Tampafan33i guess thats why no 1 mentions americas histrory tbf 😂

[@HUNTERS_CRACKPIPE]

Taz was ghay, his kid is ghay!

[@r0bertf.949]

These documentaries are absolutely incredible

[@rodpjr21]

They're very good... can't even argue.

[@HoosierDaddy2a]

It's a nice break from the list videos. I think cultaholic should do a history of wrestling docu-series

[@FcukWitReiDay]

Wait how's your comment from 4 days ago? Special access?

[@r0bertf.949]

@@FcukWitReiDay haha no no. I watched the WWE Golden Years ones and had a hunch this would be great too

[@WillyKillya]

CORRECT OPINION

[@brianban110]

Honestly did not know that HBO was thinking about airing ECW. That would've been perfect considering shows like The Sopranos, Oz, The wire, boardwalk empire, true detective, detective,

[@mtgamateurnight]

It was way before all the shows you listed but hbo always showed more adult entertainment for sure.

[@GreatMewtwo]

@@mtgamateurnight Could you imagine ECW on HBO though? Time Warner would have had their wrestling programming on a premium channel as well as getting WCW programming from Turner.

[@mtgamateurnight]

I'm not sure how well it would have worked out in the long run. HBO had a HUGE fan base however HBO was expensive and I would argue the "average" wrestling fan did not have the channel due to the extra expense. If you have 2-3 wrestling shows on cable that you already pay for, are you really going to subscribe to a paid channel for another wrestling show? The other side of the coin is most companies don't keep two products that are aimed at the same target audience. I think eventually no matter what ECW would have been dropped by HBO/Warner. @@GreatMewtwo

[@TrevyTrev-andTheFunkyPets]

I remember my friend had a satellite dish and discovered ECW by accident. I was broke but was going to BestBuy to try to figure out how to buy one. Hadn’t watched wrestling since Mid-South went off the air. I’m surprised there isn’t some sort of catalog of episodes.

[@mtgamateurnight]

There is a catalog of episodes.@@TrevyTrev-andTheFunkyPets

[@TheWayneleadoff06]

These long form documentaries have been incredible. Can’t wait to get your take on ECW! One of my favorite time periods in wrestling.

[@reimixo]

?? ecw??

[@TheWayneleadoff06]

@@reimixo ECW was getting a lot of attention at the same time that the Monday Night War was raging hot. DX, NWO, the peak of the attitude era….

[@CheckmateFixit]

I thought this was about ECW... Lol

[@Jerome889]

Ecw😮...what what what?!

[@giants2k8]

I assume that OP wrote the comment before watching the video and was looking forward to it.

[@labbaby189]

It's ONLY 2 hours? Y'all are slipping over there. Seriously, thanks for these quality videos. Best wrestling channel on KZbin by far.

[@miguelnewmexico8641]

@@Former_Employee for fuckin what?

[@BoxingLegends2024]

@@miguelnewmexico8641 cursing now

[@HT97775]

Sam always brings the A game to these documentaries it’s so great to see how far he came from his first appearance in REDACTED COMPANY

[@JeffTullock-fs4de]

ECW made their own stars. I had no idea who any of them were. My brother saw a commercial on direct tv. He said..”I think you would like this wrestling. Watched 1 episode and was hooked. Easily as good talent as anywhere. Half the ECW roster are legends now. Great video.

[@TeeKoon]

Sick and tired of WWF TV monopoly in Canada, I bought a big dish, I still remember looking for wrestling shows, then a Saturday afternoon I saw my first show and was hooked for life.

[@B33FY2011]

Seriously these documentaries are amazing. I hope we see the same for the New Generation Era, Attitude Era, Ruthless Aggression Era, and the PG Era. These are absolute gold and hope they continue.

[@richardlaceyfield9]

Great video . I was at that ill fated first TNN taping in Toledo Ohio .Spike and Balls Mahoney beat the Turkey's for the tag titles. During the taping Paul Heenan was seen yelling at someone at TNN about the production . Another crazy thing to note was the fact that they let the people in first that they gave tickets to before the fans that actually paid for there tickets. The chant we paid money echoed the arena as the crowd filed in.

[@richardlaceyfield9]

Sorry I ment Dudley Boys not Turkey's.

[@CraigCarol]

​@@richardlaceyfield9we forgive you......😂but funny

[@mjdf122]

I went to all ECW Super Cards and PPVs from 1993-2001 in NY CT NJ and PA too many memories

[@ch1ckp1uxd56]

Thats wild, im jealous

[@JaimeD.]

ECW left an unforgettable legacy across professional wrestling that can't be ignored and is referenced plenty of times in podcasts, interviews, community documentaries, or promoted hardcore matches. The fire from *the Land of Extreme* will never die in people's hearts with its ups and downs.

[@emperortrevornorton3119]

How many other promotions that were damn near indie by scale had people so attracted that it felt like a cross between territory days of pro wrestling mixed with a sporting event riot not even the big leagues could find that feeling

[@howard9653]

Ohhhh fuck!!! I absolutely cannot wait to watch this you guys have been absolutely killing it with the documentary videos!!

[@ian3314]

This was great! Thanks Sam and the whole crew. I knew most of this, but it was great to hear little tidbits like why Benoit is The Crippler, and the origin of the Guerrero frogsplash. Thanks!

[@Lewandabski]

Wouldnt be surprised if Vice drops a “complete history of ECW” in the next month or so

[@marcm.8394]

You guys have been on fire this year with those documentaries. Thank you again for all the work you've put in making an other amazing one!

[@goatspeak3613]

I was at the last ECW Queens show and got a ride home from the person who stole the belt. I’d known them for a quite a while and they were a lifelong wrestling fan who saw an opportunity while Taz was in the ring talking about security not getting paid, and the locker room was empty, and they took it. Literally. Fun fact about them: Years later they worked in a film with one Phil “CM Punk” Brooks. Small world indeed.

[@zacharythomason7359]

Thanks for the info, Did not know that.

[@JaimeD.]

@goatspeak3613 Wow. Guess life works in its mysterious ways. 😎

[@Evan-qt3ep]

That’s so awesome

[@scottspencer5242]

Another stellar biography from the Cultaholic team. Much respect for utilizing "hagiopraphy" in the script. It's good to hear underused words getting thrown out there.

[@torganya]

I was there. I saw Snuka win the first match. Salvatore Bellomo was my dad. It's worth mentioning he won the belt 5 minutes earlier in the night during a Battle Royale

[@kerikson2779]

Got to see a number of shows live at the ECW arena when I was in high school. My older cousin lived in Philly. When I told him all about how much I liked it would would love to see a show, he was like “That place is 15 mins from here” I got yelled at by Terry Funk, saw New Jack get slammed through 3 stacked tables, Taz “break” Sabus neck, and a bunch of other memorable moments. It was an amazing experience each time.

[@shawnoandrew]

Heyman gets credit, rightfully so, for making ECW what it became that so many people enjoyed.

[@r2deetox813]

I didnt know Eddie's frog splash was a tribute to his former tag partner Art Barr (sp?) So when people do the frog splash they are really comemorating Eddie's friend, that's so cool

[@DavidBarton777]

Ya he still lives on 🙏🏻

[@_grimest]

My years of watching ECW are easily my favorite years as a wrestling fan, and its insane to realize that time was only 2 years long (if that) 😂 Great work! Loved every second of it!

[@michealhill7275]

This documentary was well done! You treated this with the love and respect it deserved. I felt a flood of emotions at your well written epilogue. Bravo!

[@joerosadini951]

I saw ECW at the Rosland Ballroom in NYC in 1997. I live in Connecticut so it's basically a 1 hour train ride away I was 15 years old and the show was absolutely outstanding and completely out of control. I will always love ECW

[@LeeShields11]

Cultaholic proving once again that they are the best in class at this kind of presentation. Thank you for another excellent, extreme, if you will, viewing experience

[@TheVeeOhla]

Tommy Dreamers sister is the VP of IT at my old job lol, DVon was from the same city as me, lived around the corner and was married to my friends sister.

[@taylorclouse7636]

Small world

[@stnr247]

This brought back so many memories from my teen years. I bought every ppv and got to see them live a few times. Brought a little tear to my eye reliving it.

[@thefiggamehunt6946]

THIS....IS EXTREEEEMMMMEEEEE-ly good content to look forward to

[@wyldchyld337]

Proud to say that I was at every ECW event held in Poughkeepsie, NY. Those events were some of the best times (for me) of the late 90s as a high-school weirdo. Many thanks for this and helping me relive those times even just a bit through memory

[@YaMuthasOnion]

20 years ago, I would've had to drive half an hour to a mall, while hoping that 1 of the 2 FYE/SAM GOODIE had this in stock and then paid $35 for a DVD. Absolutely incredible job, all ❤

[@mikechandler9724]

I was at most shows from about 93 to 94 until the end. I recall that night differently. I remember the towel flew off the chair into the first couple rows. It looked like something from a movie. I seen the flames spread on the floor from the fuel used. The lights cut out and there were some dim lights then I remember a cloud stuff from the fire extinguishers filling the air and being rushed out by someone. First time I ever had a extinguisher used close to me it sucked. A lot of people where walking around saying they thought ECW was done after that. It wasn’t fun explaining what happened to my grandfather that picked us up that night.

[@evanclealand9231]

That 4 part WWF golden era was🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

[@Marauder99991]

"The ECW audience was used to extremity, but this was too much for even a few of them" LOL, shaaaade.

[@thebudgetgamer]

The first time I watched ECW it was on a VHF channel coming out of Syracuse NY. I was just randomly going through the channels and it popped up

[@robertbrown9762]

This is f’n awesome. I enjoyed watching this. Great job.

[@maxwellbutterman2582]

Oh neat. A nice little break from Titan land and onto ECW.

[@jamesabernethy7896]

Fantastic documentary. Been watching a lot of Wrestling stuff over Christmas and there's been a fair bit of ECW stuff among it. Though you can follow the timelines of the same subject, different content creators follow different beats. Seems a very fitting compliment with your comparison of playing the same notes but not playing the same tune. With one exception... the songs are both good.

[@donjoncherrywon]

Oh I'm excited for this!!!!

[@randomguysays]

I wish wrestling fans today could have experienced what it was like to watch ECW when I was a kid. The matches happened in that place, Psychosis VS Rey Mysterio in the 2 out of 3 falls. Benoit VS Sabu, The bangers RVD and Jerry F'n Lynne had. I grew up in Indianapolis & Indianapolis was one of the few markets that actually aired new weekly episodes of ECW on WAV TV 53 at the time. They had a 4 hour block on Sundays S.M.W., then U.S.W.A. followed by our local indy promotion Circle City Wrestling then at 7 pm it ECW. I personally witnessed the only time in wrestling history That a WWE talent Taz took on a WCW talent Mike Awesome for the ECW championship. I witnessed that with my own eyes I was there, in the building it is to this day the craziest thing i ever witnessed at a live show, crazy it was surreal. I remember watching the 3 Way Dance and some dude came in i had never seen before and joey styles saying bout how he has this frog splash move as a tribute to Art Barr that guy turns out Eddie Guerrero. ECW even though it's nice to go back and watch the videos and Experience the history It is truthfully one of those things if you got to experience it then as a wrestling fan.. It was euphoric, It was a breath of fresh air when the rest of wrestling was stagnant Saturday morning cartoon characters pretty much, They were literally doing Rated R, hardcore wrestling every week, They used to have bring your own weapons night 😂 And fans would really bring things from home one guy literally brought a kitchen sink! 😂 another guy one time sacrificed his artificial leg, There was Nintendo involved once 😂 I'm about to watch this video now and I know it's gonna be good It just makes me miss the experience of a live ECW event, not a WWECW! But the real E.C.F'N W!!

[@JoeBowler-r9n]

ECW Used to air on MSG Network in the NY Metro Area. They were on at 3am!! LOL😂

[@Vercingetorix.Fantasia]

I was incredibly lucky to grow up on ECW. I had a brother 6 years older than me and he was a big mark at the time. Reading Meltzers dirt sheets every month, the whole 9. I actually remember the old newsletter. White paper and stapled together lol. Its wild to have been apart of that before the internet! Anyways my brother introduced me to ECW and took me to my first show in 1996 , outside of Boston, and was an infamously bloody mess. ( will likely be covered in this video . Mass transit). After that i was hooked. I would stay up til 1 am on Fridays (and later 12am on Saturdays ) to watch ECW come on the local spanish channel lol! I watched religously from 96 thru 98 . One of my good friends at the time, his uncle was best friends with ECW Fan cam guy, and we were front row at every local ECW show from then on. Thru this connection we met loads of the roster. I can say Balls Mahoney and Super Crazy were the 2 coolest guys. Down to earth and would remember us and talk with us after shows. Balls especially was a great guy. Stevie Rochards was another fn cool guy never too big to talk to us. Man. Those were the day's. I look back now, seeing the influence ECW has had, and a part of me feels like i , as a fan. Was along for such a unique ride and witnessed the rise and fall of a storied promotion. Man. I miss that old group of friends and i miss those good old days ! We were front row to something so special

[@jasonengland4032]

2 hours!? I’m in…. These are always amazing

[@reggiefurlow1]

You made me look up the word hagiography 😅 well done I learned something

[@KingKhanate1997]

13:35, as a lifelong native Philly/South Jersey resident I had no idea that the famous Mummers had a hand in helping create ECW!

[@cshaw9083]

I worked at that sports bar in the early 90s and remember this well

[@HorrorAdvocate]

These videos are my favorite thing to look forward to on a Sunday.

[@OxfordDA98]

Excellent work as per usual. Throroughly entertained for the whole 2 hours and learned a lot.

[@joshmuecke85]

Cultaholic truely is THE premier wrestling channel

[@killuminati91112]

I remember watching ECW PPV tapes which I would get from my local video ezy store in Australia. Probably knew more about ECW then than I did WWE and WCW. ECW is forever in my memory and all its talent will live forever in my heart.

[@kylemcgill2966]

I saw ECW in 1997 at a small venue in New Britain Connecticut. The main event was Sandman vs. Sabu. I was 11 and will never forget it.

[@joeywrestling9536]

Absolutely brilliant documentary!! Bravo 👏🏼 Thank you to all that helped us get to experience this amazing period of wrestling ❤️

[@calvinfolan1736]

Can't wait for this one, if the recent docs are anything to go by, this one should be absolutely top class also! ECDUB! ECDUB! ECDUB!

[@ellisdtrails420]

I'm only 20 minutes in and already am I loving this. I seriously thought I knew a lot about the history of ECW, but my mind is blown, and it just started.

[@Disciple_of_Cthulhu]

Happy New Year!

[@nafismumin2931]

Iam from Philly and when we where teens ecw was the talk of the town..and we could never find the building..until we became adults..best times ever❤

[@davefogle7747]

love the work as always Sam, as someone who was there to see this live it truly was magic. I even made it on to TV during a TNN broadcast in Pittsburgh. The crowds were nuclear every time they came into town.

[@taylorcannon7272]

I'd love to see something like this for WCW

[@alexanderarce3341]

How about for Memphis, World Class, SMW, AWA and even ROH

[@KevenSylvain]

​@@alexanderarce3341it's all koming... be patient 🤷🏾‍♂️

[@ashleynewman3360]

Ner. Just WCW.

[@WendellHodge-h6u]

How about pure N.W.A., when it was the true GOLD STANDARD of all professional wrestling???

[@Evan-qt3ep]

I think he did one already if not he’s done a ton of content on wcw

[@andypaps818]

We definitely need one for TNA and it's 24 years of being around

[@deathsnitemaresinfullust2269]

Cultaholic is really doing some top shelf work here although I would love to hear Ross do some more narration like Sam is doing here, would also really like to see Ross do predictions again for maybe WWE or AEW or whatever he wants. Just more Ross along with this amazing stuff and the Golden Age 4 parter. 😄👍

[@FretzlemaniaPod]

You are the hardest working wrestling content creators out there! Goals!

[@mainsmain]

Sabu's chair move was one of the coolest ever

[@TDunn41594]

Todd Gordon's book must read

[@clramakrishnan2520]

There is a reason y Cultaholic Wrestling is one of the most respected Wrestling KZbin Channels...

[@francisracicot4548]

Great,great works (WWE Golden is great job too). I'm 45, I watched wrestling since 1987 and I had the chance to live theses moments. I remember reading articles in magazines about this new and extreme federation. I live in the province of Quebec, Canada,I got my "first live ECW " experience on VHS because WWE ruled supreme on tv in the province (WCW was strong too between 1996 - 1999). I had TNN on my cable so I was happy to see ECW on tv, The show aired friday night

[@littlesth0b0]

Joel Gertner will forever be a legend. One of a kind. Great recap all round, nice one \m/,

[@cathalcully9752]

These Documentaries are top class please keep them coming. Thanks 🙏

[@jmsmys13ify]

There have been so many retellings of ECW history you can almost begin with the whimsical song lyrics, "Tale as old as time, song as old as rhyme..."

[@WhenTheManComesAround]

Beyond high quality documentaries you've been putting out. Incredibly impressive 👏👏👍👍

[@Hangmanaudits]

This is one of the best lives in a long time fair play lads

[@ethanbenfield2285]

I love these docs narrated by Sam. And I LOVE non-WWE wrestling history. Id love one on JCP/WCW.

[@GetDerezzed]

Absolute legends, lads. These documentaries are some of the best on YT PERIOD.

[@seanbean3826]

I hope you guys can continue these documentaries in some fashion. Im waiting for some one to do something about memphis one day. Anyway, thanks for this ecw video, really enjoyed the golden age series.

[@dunnydun209]

Absolute belter of a doc, so much here that is not in other documentations of the brand, 10 out of 10 editing to.

[@richcantgame]

Damn growing up near Philly but being born in 2000 I missed out on a lot of good wrestling I could’ve been going to live

[@OuTSMOKE]

The Golden Age video followed by this one was a great couple of docs, Thanks for the hard work and taking us older fans on these trips down memory lane, and teaching the younger ones about the glory days or wrestling.

[@highdefinitiondetail5298]

Absolutely brilliant, love listening to ECW stories

[@krectus]

Oh man, when you put it all together like this in one big video...wow, it sure was a whole lot of crazy in a pretty short period of time.

[@chadcload1349]

Crazy amount of info in this thing. Great work

[@boots8562]

Tod Is God by Tod Gordon and Sean Oliver was a great read.

[@dominickdarpino5584]

Yall have been ona roll with these long form docs, shout out to the whole Cultaholiuc team. I know these are massive projects but yall keep hitting them out of the park!

[@MRT-DeCom-Recom]

This is so in-depth and so well done. Such a great job.

[@TheDukeofMadness]

Something to watch instead of the ball dropping.

[@ItsSvetsi]

Absolutely incredible work on this one, just as with the others!

[@jackharvey7028]

Nobody knows their audience like Cultaholic❤️

[@jerranspearman3369]

good video

[@SirAsdf]

How the hell Sabu made it out of the 90s still being able to walk is a medical mystery that even Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman couldn't solve.

[@jessebunnell6442]

Unsurpassed excellence are Cultaholic Documentaries! Keep them coming guys this was an amazing work of art!

[@ShaneTurgeonPhotography]

Another great doc, guys! This and the Golden Age series have been really enjoyable!

[@LBBall3]

Awesome job on this doc!

[@troylowe814]

I hope you decide to make a documentary about the Tennessee-based Jarrett Promotions (CWA/USWA).

[@kev5621]

Another home run b6 cultaholic. Thank you for all the hard work that goes into these. Perhaps a WCW doc is in the future….

[@rogueprince1341]

I always wondered what happened to ECW on Sunshine Network. That was my only way to watch ECW and then it was gone and i never knew it came back.

[@philfym5025]

God damn, Sam. Cultaholic is killing it with these docs!!

[@Brian2]

I remember as a kid turning on all the TVs in the house on to try even just a tiny bit help the ratings. Never did it for anything else, ever. ECW was just that special.

[@Lukelovell2]

Excellent video guys, really enjoyed it. Keep up the good.

[@Lukelovell2]

Good work

[@ErwalDeeas]

Great vid! Very impressive.

[@dougie6989]

I love these documentaries that cultaholic have been doing. Especially the longer ones. Really hoping for a complete history of WCW.

[@Martinarmonica]

We don't deserve Cultaholic. Thank you for everything you do!

[@FreedomOfSpeechIsAnIllusion]

Massive thumbs up on the docos. Phenomenal work.

[@woobgamer5210]

I love those illustrations so much, especially how large Bubba Ray looks and how jacked and angry the ECW fan is

[@dylanogg347]

RVD & Sabu Vs. Hayabusa and Shinzaki is a classic.

[@thepolarphantasm2319]

Them heat wave shows were always badass RVD vs Jerry Lynn at that same show 🔥🔥🔥

[@dylanogg347]

@@thepolarphantasm2319 Careful, dude! Don't put that fire near RVD!

[@Randomaccount9470]

Why you gotta do my boy like that 😅​@@dylanogg347