Sunday, December 16, 2012

ECW & Potential Business Debt Collection Problems

By Rob Sutter


To put it simply, Extreme Championship Wrestling was revolutionary. During the 90's, ECW showcased a tremendous amount of violence and heart that wasn't exactly seen in companies that were financially supported on the outside. ECW lived off of the supports of its fans, not investors, and it's a company that's remembered fondly today. However, the company ultimately failed due to monetary reasons and perhaps business debt collection should have played a part.

The man who led Extreme Championship Wrestling since 1996 was Paul Heyman. He understood wrestling to a science, having experience in the field beforehand as a manager. Heyman had a good understanding of wrestling and he had the capability of making a star out of just about anyone who he employed. For instance, Sandman wasn't terribly excellent at the actual wrestling but the fans got behind him because of his charisma. The former was shadowed while the latter was highlighted, Heyman's genius at work.

One point of contention that may have led to the demise of ECW was the television deal with TNN in 1999. This was the company's first, and ultimately last, time on TV and the network certainly didn't do much to promote the company. Despite ECW being its number one rated show on that channel, Heyman was upset due to the lack of advertising done to promote the shows and it was said that the network ultimately wanted the World Wrestling Federation, which led to ECW losing its sole television deal.

I could see a few of the wrestlers taking to business debt collection in order to gain what they were owed. Reputable organizations such as R.R.S. could have helped the talent on the matter. There have been a few accounts of bounced checks from the company, seeing as how they were unable to compensate everyone fully. While Heyman may swear up and down that the reason for the company's demise came from the failure of securing another TV deal, others cite Heyman's inability to handle money well as that very reason.

There are wrestling fans who wonder whether or not ECW would be around today if financial issues weren't present. However, with the change to child-friendly content that World Wrestling Entertainment had, it'd be easy to assume that ECW would only become a cult attraction. The financial issues of ECW were constant when they shouldn't have to be. However, ECW fell on hard times and it shows that even the candle that burns twice as bright as the rest ultimately only burn half as long.




About the Author:



1 comment:

  1. Thank you so much for sharing a lot of this good content! I am looking forward to seeing more...

    ReplyDelete