Hopefully now ECW will gain strength and hopefully a bigger time slot.

Watch this space!

ECW’s Big Show, Hardcore Holly and Rob Van Dam are part of the roster for this years WWE wrestling game: WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2007. Former ECW champion and current colour commentator Tazz will also appear in the game as a non playable character - most likely during the “season” mode.
The news will be dissapointing to many who had hoped that more of the ECW roster would feature in the game, however a small glimar of hope remains that some will feature as secret characters, or legends eventhough this appaers to be unlikely.

The show openent with Rob Van Dam & Sabu defeating Test & Mike Knox in an extreme rules tag team match. Matt Striker cut a promo in the ring which involved the Sandman, Strikers comment relating to beloved animal conservationist Steve Irwin ensured some “heat” from the crowd.
Another match saw ECW original Stevie Richards defeat Balls Mahoney after interference from Kevin Thorn.
The shows main event saw DX (Triple H & Shawn Michaels) defeat The Big Show by Disqualification.  This match was nothing more than an extra piece of TV time to build up the DX/Mcmahon fued on the run up to Unforgiven. Hardcore Holly interfered for the DQ, and the Riot Squad joined in and they ganged up on Shawn Michaels, until Triple H came to his aid with a Sledgehammer.

ECW is aired at 7pm and 11pm on Sky Sports 3 on Thursdays in the UK!  Originally it’s time slot was 10pm on Sunday evenings, 5 days after it was aired in the USA.

Perhaps its only a matter of time before ECW fans in the UK are treated to a live broadcast, similar to WWE Raw.

The August 8 episode of ECW saw a promo of Dupree announcing he would debut soon and claiming that he will be the most hardcore wrestler ECW will ever see. Rene Dupree is certainley a familar face to WWE fans, here is a brief look at his career so far:
René Goguen (Dupree), became a professional wrestler in 1997 at age 14. In 2001, he won the Mr. Canada Bodybuilding National Championship. That same year, he signed a developmental contract with WWE and was sent to Ohio Valley Wrestling to gain seasoning.
He debuted on WWE RAW in 2003, alongside fellow Canadian wrestler Sylvain Grenier,as the tage team La Résistance. After a succesful spell in the tag team division, the team dispanded shortly after an injury to Grenier.

Dupree then moved to Smackdown where he won another tag team title with Kenzo Suzuki. Whilst competing on Smackdown, Dupree was the victim of a ligetimate attack by Hardcore Holly in retaliation for a ticket Dupree had incurred while driving Holly’s rented automobile.
After being “sacrificed” by the Undertaker, Dupree was part of the 2005 WWE Draft Lottery which saw him jump from SmackDown! back to RAW, which saw him compete as the “French Phenom”. Dupree enjoyed an impressive winning streak before suffering a near career ending Hernia in mid September 2005.
After recovering from the injury Dupree wrestled several dark matches prior to RAW events, before appearing on ECW TV.

ECW made its long awaited debut at Madison Square Garden, in a solid ECW show.
The main event saw Sabu face The Big Show in a championship match, held under extreme rules.  The Big Show was victorious shortly after chokeslamming Sabu through a table.
Rob Van Dam faced newcomer Hardcore Holly in one-on-one action, the match was interrupted when Test, Mike Knox and Stevie Richards attacked RVD. ECW originals Sandman and Tommy Dreamer assisted the former champion, potentially setting up a newcomers vs originals feud.
Internet Community favourite defeated the debuing Shannon Moore with his Anaconda Vice submission hold.  The other match saw “Vampire” Kevin Thorne cause Balls Mahoney to loose to the debuting Reene Dupree.

Another new addition to the ECW roster is “The Reject” Shannon Moore. Shannon Moore is another familar face to wrestling fans, In 1999 he dubuted in WCW, as part of the trio 3 Count, alongside Evan Karagias and Shane Helms.
In 2002 he appeard in WWE as an ally to Matt Hardy.  He mainly competed with against crusierweights, but was involved in a story line where he competed against much larger wrestlers, such as Matt Morgan, Nathan Jones and The Big Show.  In 2005 he adopted the gimmick of “The Prince of Punk”, and began wearing punk clothing to the ring, before being released on July 5, 2005.
In November 2005, Shannon Moore appeard in TNA and would compete for over three months without a contract with the company. Instead of signing with TNA, Moore signed with WWE in March 2006.

In July 2006,it was announced that Shannon Moore would be part of the ECW brand and shortly began appearing in vignettes,calling himself “The Reject”.
Shannon Moore certainley has the look and high flying ability that should make him a hit with the ECW fans.

King Booker (Booker T) is the latest wrestler to cross over to ECW on next weeks show. His oponnet is yet to be announced, however it remains to be seen how the old school ECW fans will take the news of another superstar making an apperance on the brand. 

Previous cross over Batista was greeted with a rather hostile reception.

In the opening bout Sabu, Sandman & Tommy Dreamer defeated . Test, Mike Knox and Matt
Striker by disqualificaton after Test shoved the referee into the ropes. After the match The Sandman (who had been taken away from ringside following a sneak attack by Striker) returned to the ring wielding his famous cane to put a stop to an after match attack by the ECW newcomers.
The next match saw impressive newcomer Kevin Thorn defeat ECW original Balls Mahoney.  Balls Mahoney was acompanied to the ring by former ECW favourite Francine.

That match was followed by the rematch of Internet favourite CM Punk compete against ECW newcomer “The Reject” Shannon Moore.  CM Punk was once again victorious by submission.

RVD faced Smackdowns King Booker (Booker T to long time fans) in an extreme rules match.  RVD was the victim of seemingly “botched moves”, much to the delight of some sections ofn the crowd. King Booker gained the victory over the ECW extremist shortly after Hardcore Holly’s attack on Rob Van Dam.

2 Cold Scorpio is a former 4 time ECW TV champion and also a former ECW tag team champion with The Sandman.

Scaggs first appeard in the then WWF in 1996, as “Flash Funk” and later reverted to the Scorpio name as a member of Al Snow’s JOB Squad in 1998. He last appeard on WWF tv in 1999, shortly before being fired for testing positive for marijuana.

Since then Scorpio has competed in various American independent promotions such as ROH, 3PW, and the British promotion FWA. He has also competed at Hardcore Homecoming and TWC International Showdown.

It is yet to be confirmed which brand Scorpio will be competing in, but many long time
ECW fans will hope to hear him reffererd to as an extremist sooner rather than later.