Extreme Championship Wrestling
ECW began operating in 1992 as Eastern Championship Wrestling, under the blanket of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). On August 27, 1994, ECW Champion Shane Douglas won a tournament for the vacant NWA World Heavyweight Championship. Upon wining the tournament, Douglas vacated the NWA title, and declared the ECW title a World Championship, severing ties between ECW and NWA. Also at this this time, the promotion changed it's name to Extreme Championship Wrestling. It operated in Philadelphia, with spot shows in the surrounding Pennsylvania area. The wrestling operations were handled by Paul Heyman (manager Paul E Dangerously) who bought the promotion from former owner Todd Gordon in 1996. It was available on the Sports Channel America syndication package and on AIN satellite, as well as on TNN. ECW branched out in the pay-per-view universe, putting on three shows in 1997, with more following each year. Eventually, ECW was considered among the "elite" big three promotions along with WWF and WCW, with stars such as Shane Douglas, Rob Van Dam, Sabu, and more. ECW did not rely on the traditional face/heel structure. Instead, used high-impact, fast paced action to get its wrestlers over. Vince McMahon of the WWF was paying attention, as he took the successful ideas of the ECW and applied them to his brand of sports-entertainment.
2001 was not a good year for ECW, as they lost their TV deal and talent to the WWF. In January, 2001, ECW and Paul E. Heyman filed for bankruptcy and liquidation, seemingly ending the 9 year run of the company. Later that year, Paul E. entered the WWF as a broadcaster, replacing the ousted Jerry "The King" Lawler on Raw Is War. On March 23, 2001 Vince McMahon announced the WWF's purchase of WCW, thus seeming to have bought one competitor and run the other out of business. Then, on July 9, 2001, ECW was brought back into the spotlight as a property of WWF. In the storyline, Stephanie McMahon-Helmsly is the owner of ECW, in reality WWF is still negotiating a deal to acquire all rights to the ECW name.
The ECW name seems to be alive and well under the WWF umbrella. One thing which remains to be seen is whether or not the WWF will acknowledge ECW's Championship Title Holders, or if these titles will be completely retired.
--rberko1 updated from http://www.thesmarks.com/home/rspwfaq/part2/ecw.asp.
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