The Return of ECW

So ECW's return is complete, as the first episode of their new show aired last night. And I hope I'm not the only one that got the vibe that they were aiming more for the old "WWF Attitude" instead of ECW. They spent more time promoting the Vengeance pay-per-view than they did their own talent. We all know that RVD is going to lose the WWE Title at Vengeance, so there's nothing to really make me care about it.

My disappointment with the show is based on a number of things. One is the fact that taping the show prior to SmackDown is really stupid. A crowd full of 12-year-old kids in Rey Mysterio shirts is absolutely not the right environment for an ECW show. They booed RVD and Paul Heyman, they didn't even react at all to The Sandman, and I'm willing to bet most of the audience had never even heard of ECW until One Night Stand last year.

Secondly, that whole thing with the stripper was insanely dumb. If she's supposed to be a stripper, shouldn't she know how to unhook her bra? Thanks for screwing up an already stupid segment, bimbo. And is it just me, or did she look like a cardboard cutout before she started talking?

This really wasn't very good as a debut episode. Yeah, the diehard ECW fans know who these guys are, but what about those that don't? I'm hoping that once we get past Vengeance, ECW can form their own niche and improve. I'm rooting for them.