I used to go to the ECW matches in the arly 90's at the Elks Lodge in Queens. Crazy times.
Saw Sabu jump off the balcony.
ECW was the shot in the arm that wrestlig so desperately needed at the time.
Vince actually wanted to launch the "Attitude Era" around the time Heyman & Todd Gordon revamped ECW, but due to the sex scandals & steroid trial, was forced to keep the cheesiness of the "Duke the Dumpster/Adam Bomb" product.
Since WCW merely copied WWF at the time, they kept on with the kiddy show, too.
Once enough time had passed and Vince felt there was adequate distance from the negative publicity, he adopted the more mature content in his shows.
WCW kept up for a while, but were severely limited by Turner Broadcasting's Standards & Practices dept.
That's when/how Vince knew he had them and moved in for he kill; going places he knew WCW couldn't.
Vince toned down his show once again following the Benoit tragedy in 2007, and I really expected him to adopt more plays from the Attitude notebook starting this past year, but with Linda seeking another Senate run, you can probably forget about that.
