I've been downloading a bunch of ECW 90s era CAWs for WWE 2k24. I've also decided to refamiliarize myself with that era of ECW. Sooo... I gave the FOREVER HARDCORE ECW documentary a watch. I had to laugh. Near the beginning, they are talking about Eddie Gilbert as a booker (He booked ECW when they were still Eastern Championship Wrestling) and some (((pimply faced wrestling journo))) appears to trash what Gilbert was doing. Paraphrasing... "ECW was not a good product when Eddie was booking. He was booking it like a southern wrestling fed"... something along those lines. Ok, but what the fuck did these simpletons think they were watching when Heyman took over?!? Heyman booked it exactly like a southern rasslin promotion. The basic difference was Gilbert reused specific memphis gimmicks, whereas Heyman used a southern rasslin booking style, but with a northeast attitude and talent.
Of course, the main difference was the in ring talent. Old southern rasslin had professionals who knew what they were doing, and ECW, with several notable exceptions, had a bunch of indie shitters, botch machines and guys who couldn't make it anywhere else. I watched alot of that shit, as it happened, and to this day, I fail to grasp why ECW is held in such high regard. It had it's moments, for sure, but there was lots and lots of garbage in the mix. Philadelphians are literal retards, lol.