How ECW Has Caused Irreversible Damage To The Wrestling Business
Mia Lopez
Published Mar 27, 2026
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It burned bright and then faded away, but for several years there wasn't a more popular wrestling promotion than ECW. The company started out as an NWA territory called Eastern Championship Wrestling. However, all it took was Shane Douglas throwing the NWA World Championship belt on the ground to exit the NWA, and Extreme Championship Wrestling rose from the ashes. This allowed owner Tod Gordon and future ECW CEO Paul Heyman to create the first real alternative to the old-school approach of WWE and WCW.
Fans today still look back on ECW fondly. The company had some of the biggest stars in the industry walk through its doors. Names like Eddie Guerrero, Rey Mysterio, Chris Jericho, and more wrestled in its hallowed halls. The company might remain known for its hardcore blood matches, but Paul E. Dangerously also brought the world the Luchaodores before WCW caught onto the idea. The company had incredible technical matches that even WCW couldn't match. ECW also created some of the most compelling and realistic storylines wrestling had ever seen. However, ECW also did irreversible damage to the wrestling business.
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ECW Created "Brand Loyalty" To A Fault
Fans always had brand loyalty in professional wrestling. In the 1980s, it was easy to find fans who loved the NWA and hated WWE. There were fans who remained completely loyal to WWE and felt the NWA was a lesser wrestling company. These fans mostly based their knowledge on magazines like Pro Wrestling Illustrated and either loved the superhero antics of Hulk Hogan in WWE or the wrestling expertise of "Nature Boy" Ric Flair in the NWA. However, at the end of the day, most people were just wrestling fans, and they loved whatever was good. An NWA loyalist could still love "Macho Man" Randy Savage and Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat in WWE. A WWE loyalist could still enjoy the Rock 'n' Roll Express or Road Warriors in the NWA.
That all went out the window with ECW. While WWE and WCW always liked to trade barbs with each other, it was never done as more than just making fun of the other company. With Paul E. Dangerously, it was all about creating brand loyalty and absolutely hating the competition. This was also the advent of the Internet, although at that time it was mostly people talking in chat rooms or on specific website message boards. However, this carried over to the live ECW shows where fans would chant "ECW" instead of chanting a wrestler's name. They would chant obscenities at WCW or WWE, and they hated those companies above all. While Heyman actually secretly worked with WWE, he built his company as one where fans hated all the competition. Paul Heyman really lit up the ECW fans when he made public that WCW was stealing its wrestlers and WWE was dominating the TV.
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ECW Created Tribalism In Professional Wrestling Fandom
That has carried over to a fault with wrestling fans in 2023. Paul E. Dangerously trained fans to hate the competition so much, that tribalism has risen to toxic heights in professional wrestling fandom. In the 1980s, when Ted DiBiase or Jake "The Snake" Roberts left Mid-South for WWE, NWA fans were disappointed and hated WWE for stealing all their good wrestlers. However, they still wanted their old favorites to succeed and mostly watched both shows to see the wrestlers they liked.
In 2023, when a wrestler leaves WWE for AEW, WWE loyalists brand that wrestler a traitor for leaving the company for the "enemy." Several wrestlers have said they follow each other in the different promotions, but this tribalism mostly exists just with the fans. This was a huge part of the ECW TV shows.
Wrestling Tribalism Is Stronger Than Ever With WWE & AEW
There are still fans in professional wrestling who hate Cody Rhodes in WWE because he committed the sin of helping create an alternative company for fans to watch. AEW is a second wrestling company that offers more action and extra TV shows for fans of professional wrestling to watch each week. However, much like ECW fans in the 90s, people are no longer professional wrestling fans. They are WWE fans or AEW fans. T
his is a toxic condition that exists in other places as well. It might exist today even if ECW never existed. There are Marvel and DC fans, and some hate the other immensely. Within DC, there are even Snyder Cut fans and those who prefer something different, and they hate each other. However, in wrestling, it is tribalism that ECW started, with fans chanting for a company and following them, warts and all, while hating everything about the competition, no matter how good it could be. ECW helped create brand fans and killed the idea of just loving professional wrestling.
