ECW World Television Championship | |||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Details | |||||||||||||||||||||
Promotion | Extreme Championship Wrestling | ||||||||||||||||||||
Date established | August 12, 1992 | ||||||||||||||||||||
Date retired | April 11, 2001 | ||||||||||||||||||||
Other name(s) | |||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||
|
The ECW World Television Championship was a professional wrestling television championship in Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW). It was introduced in 1992 as part of National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) affiliate and ECW precursor, Eastern Championship Wrestling, but was established under ECW in 1994. It served as the secondary championship in the ECW.
The title was introduced on August 12, 1992, to Eastern Championship Wrestling, as the promotion was then known, as the Eastern Championship Wrestling Television Championship. ECW was a member of the NWA until seceding from that organization, in January 1993 and officially in September 1994 and becoming Extreme Championship Wrestling. The title then became known as the Extreme Championship Wrestling World Television Championship. [1] The title's final defense took place on December 15, 2000, when the title belt was stolen out of the locker room [2] and was retired in April 2001, when ECW closed down. ECW's assets were subsequently purchased by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). [3] In 2006, WWE relaunched the ECW franchise as a WWE brand that remained active until 2010, but did not bring back the title, choosing only to revive the ECW World Heavyweight Championship. [4] [5] [6]
In January 2022, 21 years after ECW's closure, at Game Changer Wrestling's event "Most Notorious", the last ECW Television Champion Rhino, appeared with the physical title belt and "defended" it against Matt Cardona. Cardona won the match and was declared the "new" ECW World Television Champion. This title change is not recognized by WWE, the promotion that has the rights of the title. [7] The next day, Cardona threw the title into a garbage can. [8]
Thomas James Laughlin is an American professional wrestler and promoter better known by the ring name Tommy Dreamer. He is signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), where he is a former one-time TNA Digital Media Champion, and is the owner and promoter of the House of Hardcore (HOH) promotion.
The National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) is an American professional wrestling promotion and governing body owned by Billy Corgan and operated by its parent company Lightning One, Inc.
Scott Levy is an American professional wrestler better known by his ring name, Raven. He is known for his appearances with professional wrestling promotions including Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), World Championship Wrestling (WCW), World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment (WWF/E) and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA). Widely recognized as "one of the best talkers in wrestling", Raven is known for his "psychological heel tactics" and grunge-inspired gimmick. His feud with The Sandman in the mid-1990s has been described as "one of the most emotional rivalries in professional wrestling's history".
Terrance Guido Gerin is an American professional wrestler better known by the ring name Rhyno or Rhino. He is currently signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA). During his career he has worked for several promotions, most notably Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) and WWE.
Peter Senerchia, better known by the ring name Taz is an American radio personality, color commentator, and retired professional wrestler signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW) as a color commentator for Dynamite and manager.
Troy Allan Martin is an American professional wrestler and promoter, better known by his ring name Shane Douglas. He is best known for his tenures in Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), World Championship Wrestling (WCW), World Wrestling Federation (WWF) as Dean Douglas, and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), where he worked as a wrestler and manager.
Michael Stephen Manna, better known by his ring name Stevie Richards, is an American professional wrestler and YouTuber. Over the course of his career, Richards has performed for major professional wrestling promotions including Eastern/Extreme Championship Wrestling, World Championship Wrestling, World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment, Total Nonstop Action Wrestling and Ring of Honor. Championships held by Richards include the ECW World Tag Team Championship, the WWE Hardcore Championship, the NWA National Heavyweight Championship and the Extreme Rising World Championship.
The ECW World Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship originally used in Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) and later, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It was the original world title of the ECW promotion, spun off from the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. It was established under ECW in 1994 but was originally introduced in 1992 by the promotion's precursor, Eastern Championship Wrestling. The inaugural champion was Jimmy Snuka, however, WWE considers the inaugural world heavyweight champion to be Shane Douglas, with his reign beginning on August 27, 1994.
Francine Meeks, known by the mononym Francine, is an American semi-retired professional wrestling valet and professional wrestler. She is best known for her appearances with Extreme Championship Wrestling from 1995 to 2001 and with World Wrestling Entertainment in 2005 and 2006. During her tenure with ECW, Francine managed several of the promotion's top wrestlers.
The ECW World Tag Team Championship was a professional wrestling world tag team championship in Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW). It was introduced in National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) affiliate and ECW precursor, Eastern Championship Wrestling in 1992, but was established under ECW in 1994.
Michael Knoxville Hettinga is an American professional wrestler best known under the ring name Mike Knox. He currently performs for the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). Hettinga is best known for his work in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), and also performed in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) under the ring name Knux.
Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) was an American professional wrestling promotion that was based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and operated by its parent company HHG Corporation. The promotion was founded in 1992 by Tod Gordon as National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) affiliate Eastern Championship Wrestling. The following year, businessman and wrestling manager Paul Heyman took over the creative end of the promotion from Eddie Gilbert. Under Heyman, the promotion was rechristened as Extreme Championship Wrestling.
Matthew Brett Cardona is an American professional wrestler. He is currently signed to National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) and on the independent circuit under his ring name Matt Cardona. He also worked for WWE between 2006 and 2020, where he performed under the ring name Zack Ryder.
The Major Players are a professional wrestling tag team and wrestling stable, consisting of Brian Myers and Matt Cardona. They currently appear in Impact Wrestling, in which Myers and Cardona are both former Impact Digital Media Champion. Myers and Cardona are best known for their time in WWE as Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder, where they are former two-time WWE Raw Tag Team Champions.
Colin Matthew Delaney is an American professional wrestler. He is best known for his time with WWE on its ECW brand, All Elite Wrestling (AEW), and has performed extensively on the independent circuit for promotions such as Squared Circle Wrestling, Chikara, NWA Upstate, Combat Zone Wrestling, and the International Wrestling Cartel under the names Colin Olsen and the "Extremely Cute Wrestler" Colin Delaney.
The NWA World Title Tournament was a live supercard held by the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States-based professional wrestling promotion NWA Eastern Championship Wrestling (ECW) on August 27, 1994. The event featured a tournament for the vacant NWA World Heavyweight Championship. The commentator for the event was Joey Styles. Highlights from the event aired on the August 29, 1994 episode of ECW Hardcore TV, while the tournament final and the bout between Shane Douglas and 2 Cold Scorpio appeared on the 2012 WWE DVD and Blu-ray release ECW Unreleased: Vol 1; the bout between 911 and Doink the Clown appeared on the 2013 WWE Blu-ray release ECW Unreleased: Vol 2; and the bout between Cactus Jack and Mikey Whipwreck and the Public Enemy was included in the 2005 compilation DVD BloodSport - The Most Violent Matches of ECW.
The American professional wrestling promotion WWE has maintained several men's world championships since Capitol Wrestling Corporation seceded from the National Wrestling Alliance in 1963 to become the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF), which was later subjected to various name changes, including World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE)—in April 2011, the company ceased using its full name and has since just been referred to as WWE. The company's first world championship was the WWE Championship, which was established along with the promotion's creation in 1963 as the WWWF World Heavyweight Championship; it is still active today and is WWE's oldest active title. Whenever the WWE brand extension has been implemented, separate world championships have been created or allocated for each brand.