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What Product did you guys enjoy more?

  • ROH

    Votes: 5 33.3%
  • ECW

    Votes: 10 66.7%

What product did you guys enjoy more: Prime ECW(1995-1999) or Prime ROH (2002-2008)

3K views 54 replies 23 participants last post by  Sweettre15 
#1 ·
Both of these companies were pushed as being rebellions against the norm of Mainstream "Sports Entertainment" and both had periods where their rosters were stacked.

ECW had Paul Heyman as a owner that was creatively in charge with Gabe Sapolsky being one of the writers under him while ROH was owned by Silkin/Feinstein with Gabe Sapolsky as the head booker.

ECW was the first to introduce American pro wrestling to tapping out in submission matches, 3 way dances and Fatal 4 ways, Lucha Libre/Cruiserweight style wrestling, Sexual frankness in storylines, and the hardcore wrestling of the NWA days as well as Japan being taken to the next level.

ROH was distinguished in that while it had the rebellious atmosphere of ECW to an extent, didn't shy away from cussing and TV-14 content, but also had an emphasis on creating mat wrestling classics with likeable characters and a "realistic" storyline presentation mixed in.

Notable ECW Alumnus:

Steve Austin

Mick Foley

Chris Jericho

Eddie Guerrero

Chris Benoit

Dean Malenko

Taz

RVD

Sabu

Jerry Lynn

Steve Corino

Tajiri

Rey Mysterio

New Jack

Low Ki

Super Crazy

Christopher Daniels

Mike Awesome

Stevie Richards

Sandman

Tommy Dreamer

Raven

2 Cold Scorpio

Joey Matthews/Mercury

Lance Storm

Notable ROH Alumnus:

CM Punk

Bryan Danielson

Austin Aries

Colt Cabana

AJ Styles

Samoa Joe

The Briscoes

The Wolves

The Young Bucks

Brian Kendrick

Paul London

Seth Rollins

Kevin Steen

Chris Hero

Alex Shelly

Chris Sabin

Jay Lethal

Jimmy Jacobs

El Generico

James Gibson/Jamie Noble

Roderick Strong

Amazing Red

Obviously ECW had an impact on ROH and ECW talent have passed through ROH. Anyway, you which did you enjoy more and why?
 
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#10 · (Edited)
ROH from 2002-2008 , the Gabe Sapolsky years, is my favorite between the two. I loved ECW and it def had more edge, but ROH excelled in the ring and it just was perfect for me. It started off as a replacement for ECW in my mind, but it replaced it in my heart. Joe's and Bryan title reigns are worth rewatching, even now.
 
#11 ·
ROH from 2002-208 , the Gabe Sapolsky years, is my favorite between the two. I loved ECW and it def had more edge, but ROH excelled in the ring and it just was perfect for me. It started off as a replacement for ECW in my mind, but it replaced it in my heart. Joe's and Bryan title reigns are worth rewatching, even now.
Don't forget to add the Summer of Punk storyline, The Punk/Raven feud and Tyler Black's reign as well
 
#23 ·
I love ECW . However , The the run of great ROH shows is impressive . The run that began with Manhattan
Mayhem and ended with Man Up was the longest run of great shows from one promotion ever. There were really not a whole lot of B shows in this time period , just one great show after another.

To me ECW has all about feuds , not so much a certain time period.. Raven vs. Dreamer , Raven vs. Sandman , Cactus Jack vs. Sabu , Sabu vs. Taz , Sabu vs. Rob Van Dam , Rob Van Dam vs, Jerry Lynn , Mike Awesome vs. Masato Tanaka , Shane Douglas vs. Pitbulls , Eddie Guerrrero vs. Dean Malenko ,and Super Crazy vs, Taijri .
 
#24 ·
Well Ecw was a little bit before my time since im 20 years old however ive obviously gone back and watched most of it. Roh aswell I didnt watch from the getgo but I did start watching it in 2006 so Ive seen most of it and gone back and watched 2002-2006.

Roh for me. Simply because I enjoy that style way more. However ecw had a way bigger impact on the industry not even close.
 
#27 ·
A person younger than me (I'm 23) on this forum that doesn't start hate train threads and troll? color me pleasantly surprised lol

But yeah, I could understand why you'd prefer the ROH style in this day and age...especially if you missed out on all the angsty rebelliousness of the Alternative Rock Movement that ECW was created during.

With that said, matches like RVD vs Jerry Lynn, Rey Mysterio vs Juventud (2/3 Falls), the Guerrero/Malenko trilogy....People who experienced that when they were our current age were likely going just as crazy over those matches as we were when we saw matches like AJ Styles/Christopher Daniels, Daniel Bryan vs Low Ki, Austin Aries vs Samoa Joe, Punk vs Samoa Joe etc

Anyway if you mind.... what's your top 5 ECW matches and your top 5 prime ROH matches?
 
#26 · (Edited)
Also since we're talking about the Sapolsky years: Here is a nice little Flashback with the Final match from the Crowning a Champion event -



Man for the most part, ROH would drop MOTY candidates practically every show and what made this period more fun was at the time TNA was in it's infancy and WWE Smackdown was having guys like Angle, Edge, Mysterio, Lesnar and The Guerreros put on classics together.
 
#28 ·
I was raised on ROH, from the very beginning. I'm ROH through and through since I only watched ny ECW stuff after 2005 when my uncle showed me some ECW tapes he had. ECW had great stories, moments and characters but I feel like ROH topped it on the match end and I got brought up to think that match quality comes first. I can still appreciate the spirit of ECW though and the hardcore matches were still very entertaining. ECW also had some good technical wrestlers with Malenko and Benoit amongst others.

So in conclusion, no matter how good ECW was, ROH in it's prime is unbeatable for me.
 
#30 · (Edited)
ROH from 2005-2008 is quite literally the greatest time period I've ever seen from any wrestling company, so there's my vote. So many classic matches, feuds, storylines, incredible wrestling, etc. Almost every other show became must see.

I was pretty young during the ECW days though so it may not be fair to compare. I was 9 when they went out of business. :p

You should've made a poll for this.

EDIT: Woah, another guy named Evenflow? That's weird to see.
 
#32 ·
I love ROH but I did not have access to much ROH stuff in their prime and have gone back and watched alot of it, but ive watched back a lot of ECW stuff and I think because of how much I have watched and the impression it left on the industry that I enjoyed ECW more. Not to say that it is better but the circumstances had me enjoy it more. PS I think a poll would have been good for this question.
 
#40 ·
Can't tell you, I wasn't really watching ECW during its prime years. I've seen some clips here and there that I've enjoyed but I only really watched WWE's reboot ECW live (e.g. One Night Stand) and I'm not sure how similar that was.

Prime ROH had some classic shit. Danielson had an excellent reign, Punk's promos and feuds were pretty swell, other guys like Aries and McGuinness took part in some sick ass matches and the wrestling style of ROH in general was and still is very different than WWE's (in a good way). A lot edgier and less imitations so I've often preferred Ring of Honor to WWE aside from its often fickle annoying overly smarky fanbase that turns on champions all the fucking time.
 
#45 ·
ECW.

I didn't get to see ECW until Barely Legal but I ordered most of the subsequent pay per views, binged on old ECW tapes in 1998-99, and went to about eight ECW Arena shows in 99-00. ECW is my 2nd favorite promotion of all time. I suppose it's worth noting that I enjoyed wrestling as a whole more during my ECW fan phase.

I was an ROH fan literally from day one. I ordered their first show as soon as I could and the only reason I wasn't there live was because it fell on my birthday and I already had other plans. My first live show was Crowning A Champion in Philly. I bought a bunch of tapes/DVDs and went to about 15 Philly/Maryland shows from 02-06. Then I got out of until....well, this year, mostly. I liked ROH for the most part (Embassy for the win), but there was a pretentiousness to it I did not like. ECW was more "me." Plus, as I already stated, I simply enjoyed wrestling as a whole more during my ECW fan phase.

Fwiw, the petty shots at WWF/E are one of the things I enjoyed least about both promotions. I guess I'll always be a WWF/E fan first and foremost at heart.
 
#48 ·
Yeah THATS always been something ROH has needed to improve on and I'm hearing that they will change their production quality in the future.

Though to me, the production or lackthereof added to ROH's appeal
 
#50 ·
As a kid, I was totally hooked on ECW after watching the barbed wire match between Shane Douglas, Sabu, and Terry Funk. Hell... I've never been more entertained by a wrestling promotion until NXT "took over".
 
#52 ·
One of the other things I failed to mention with ECW was how at times they didn't pull any punches with their storylines.

For instance with the Sandman/Raven angle, the concept of one's son turning against their father for a cult leader would be/still is off limits for most wrestling promoter but Heyman and co not only did it but executed in a way that was compelling despite being a touchy subject.

The closest thing in recent years to an angle hitting those chords are the Shawn Michaels-Jericho feud and the Punk-Hardy feud.
 
#55 ·
I'm gonna say one thing though, right now...I'd rather watch reruns of ECW Hardcore TV and ROH over Monday Night Raw right now and I think Raw'a current creative bankruptcy is the perfect time for you guys to start rewatching that stuff too and remind yourselves of how much fun watching wrestling should be.

Give me RVD/Lynn, Sandman/Raven, Raven/Dreamer, Taz vs anybody, CM Punk vs Samoa Joe, Tyler Black vs Austin Aries over almost ANY feud on Raw right now
 
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