ECW started a revolution during the Monday Night Wars, becoming the third brand and offering an alternative to WWE and WCW.
ECW's influence is still felt today with GCW, CZW, and other independent promotions often drawing comparisons to the brand.
Appearing on the Battleground Podcast, Paul Heyman discussed how ECW's influence is still felt in 2022.
"I don't think you should limit [ECW influence] to CZW and everybody else, you should incorporate the Monday Night Wars and even modern-day WWE and certainly AEW, which seems to follow the ECW format with a WCW budget, which is what their owner said was going to be their concept over a year ago. The extreme influence on this industry is exactly what we were shooting for back in the 1990s and into the new millennium. We were the disrupters in the industry and what was needed for the industry to propel itself into the billion dollar global conglomerate that it is today and we take full credit for it because we earned that credit because ECW was indeed the revolution and evolution that the entire industry needed," he said.
ECW's influence remained in WWE following the closing of the company with WWE holding multiple One Night Stand events and trying to revive the brand as well.
Arguably the most popular figure in ECW history, Rob Van Dam, was inducted into the 2021 WWE Hall of Fame.
Asked who else from ECW belongs in the WWE Hall of Fame, Heyman said, "Sabu definitely belongs in the WWE Hall of Fame because the concepts that Sabu was introducing were 20 years ahead of its time. I don't just mean the breaking of the tables. The manner in which he performed in the ring was so far ahead of its time that he never got the credit he deserved. Joey Styles was a very progressive announcer that no one understood just how valuable he was to the ECW brand. Here you had these criminals and gangsters and bar room brawlers and misfits, yet you also had these supreme, elite, exquisite technicians that came over from Japan or Mexico, we scoured the world for the greatest talent and no American announcer had called the moves for what they were. Joey Styles did. He ushered out the era of 'that looks great, here's a replay and was calling the moves by the names associated with the moves. He was different because h did his job solo for so many years. Joey Styles, absolutely."
Hey concluded by saying, "There are a number of characters and personas that came alive in ECW that belong in any legitimate Hall of Fame. ECW itself belongs in the Hall of Fame."
Heyman remains a staple on WWE television as the Special Counsel to the Tribal Chief Roman Reigns.
Reigns is set to clash with Brock Lesnar in a Winner Takes All bout at WrestleMania 38 Sunday. You can view the current lineup for the show by clicking here.
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