ECW Hardcore TV
| ECW Hardcore TV | |
|---|---|
| Created by | Paul Heyman |
| Starring | See Extreme Championship Wrestling alumni |
| Country of origin |  United States |
| No. of episodes | 134 |
| Production | |
| Production locations | ECW Arena[3], South Philadelphia |
| Camera setup | Multicamera setup |
| Running time | 60 minutes (with commercials) |
| Original release | |
| Network | Syndication[4] |
| Release | April 5, 1993[2] – December 31, 2000[5] |
ECW Hardcore TV was a weekly professional wrestling TV show that featured the stars of Philadelphia based promotion Extreme Championship Wrestling. It was basically, the flagship television program for ECW.
Syndication[6] set-up
Shows were actually broadcast on a Philadelphia local cable sports station (SportsChannel America's[7] local affiliate, Sports Channel Philadelphia) on Tuesday evenings. After Sports Channel Philadelphia went off the air in 1997, the show moved to WPPX-TV 61. It later moved to a former independent broadcast station WGTW 48 in Philadelphia on either Friday or Saturday night at 1 or 2 a.m. Shows were also aired on the MSG Network in New York City on Friday nights (Early Saturday morning) at 2 a.m.
See also
Censorship and differences between Hardcore TV and ECW on TNN
A major difference between the syndicated Hardcore TV and the more "mainstream"[13] TNN program, was due to the obscurity of the stations and ECW itself, many times expletives and violence were not edited out of these early showings, helping to get ECW noticed.
TNN censored a great deal of the latter program, despite the violence and raunchiness being the signature ingredients that made ECW unique. TNN didn't want the ECW theme song ("This is Extreme!" by Harry Slash & The Slashtones) because according to Paul Heyman (owner of ECW), it sounded "too demonic." TNN also didn't want any references to "hate" (they preferred "intense dislike") and wanted no music videos on the ECW program.
References
- ^ ECW Music
- ^ ECW TV - 4/5/1993
- ^ ECW Arena Results
- ^ ECW TV LISTINGS
- ^ ECW Hardcore TV - 12/31/2000
- ^ ECW ran shows mostly in Philadelphia and was syndicated on television by various stations before it was brought to TNN in 1999.
- ^ Of all the remaining NWA members Eastern Championship Wrestling was the most recognizable due to their TV programming on the regional SportsChannel America cable network, and in August 27, 1994 the NWA held a tournament to crown a new NWA Champion at the ECW Arena in Philadelphia.
- ^ As a footnote, I never attended a live ECW show. Even further, I never participated in a Strictly ECW e-mail campaign. I never got to see a live version of Hardcore TV on MSG, the Sunshine Network, America One (though, there was that one time I almost crashed my 28.8 modem trying to download the show off of the America One website) or even WUNI-27, Worcester-Boston at 1 AM on Saturday mornings when I was in college. However, I still, in some way feel a profound love and attachment to the company.
- ^ The America One Network aired wrestling on Saturday nights from ... aired on the America One Network in the past included ECW Hardcore TV and TNA Xplosion. ...
- ^ "Team ECW" was a group of hardworking people ... ECW's reputation spread. ... it was televised nationwide on the America One Network, as well as on other ...
- ^ Bravo also aired World Championship Wrestling's flagship show "Nitro" during WCW's final year in business and also showed Extreme Championship Wrestling's flagship show "Hardcore TV" during ECW's final year in business.
- ^ According to The Tye Dye Guy, his initial exposure to the extreme brand occurred when the original ECW’s programming became syndicated outside of Philadelphia on the Sunshine Network.
- ^ Question: Paul do you see ECW getting a network deal so it can be seen nationwide? (RRitter72) Paul Heyman: I hope so, and would like to encourage any viewer or even potential viewer to write, fax, call, and e-mail any national network, be it E!, be it Fox sportsnet, be it FX, I don't care if it's The Family Channel, one look at Beulah or Francine, might make a man want to start a family after all, and ask those networks to carry, or at least consider carrying ECW. This type of campaign helped us get on PPV, it definitely scored us Cablevision. It kept us on America One, It got us back on Sunshine and with no corporate sponsorships, and no big name advertisers, we quite frankly need your support. And we're not so big and we're not so arrogant that we feel its beneath us to ask for your support. When you work with the group of guys that I am privileged to work with, you understand the value of humility. So I have no problem admitting that we rely on the support, indeed the aggressive support, of our audience.