Rob Van Dam doesn’t think slapping the ECW name on another wrestling show would magically bring the promotion back to life. According to RVD, everything that made ECW different in its prime has already been copied, absorbed and spread across modern wrestling.
During the One of a Kind podcast, Van Dam was asked about fans who still wonder whether ECW could return and survive in today’s wrestling landscape. RVD said the answer isn’t rebuilding the same promotion people watched decades ago. The only real option would be creating something that captures what ECW represented at the time.
“Yeah. I don’t Yeah. I don’t know if um fans always want to ask me my opinion about if ECW could come back or survive in today’s market or whatever. Um, but the the real thing like the only thing that would be possible would be something that captures the spirit that ECW caught.”
Van Dam’s reasoning is that ECW worked because it was ahead of everybody else. Hardcore wrestling, presentation choices and ideas that once separated ECW from the pack aren’t new anymore.
“So, you know, back then we were ahead of our time and so now now it would have to be something that’s ahead of this time. So, it couldn’t be that again. that again now has been seen to death and been implemented in every show and every style, but there could be a way for somebody to bring something uh from the future that we haven’t thought of.”
RVD compared that challenge to trying to imagine modern technology before it existed. His point was that the next ECW-type revolution probably isn’t something wrestling can simply identify and manufacture by looking backward.
“And that’s that’s always going to be I think um not just with wrestling but with everything like that’s going to be um well it’s the way forward and it’s also the hardest to imagine you know can you imagine like can you imagine going back a h 100red years and trying to imagine that we would have cell phones and that would tell us where to go any of it.”
When the discussion came back to wrestling, Van Dam said it might require mixing the current product with something fans haven’t experienced before.
“So, with wrestling, it’s hard to say what it would take. You know what I mean? A hybrid of what what wrestling is now and something else. I don’t know.”
The conversation then moved toward the possibility of wrestling eventually cycling back toward something that feels more realistic and grounded in kayfabe. RVD referenced something Terry Funk once told him about wrestling being cyclical, while the host suggested a more believable fighting-based presentation could eventually feel new to younger fans. That led directly to JCW. Van Dam said he had seen someone compare the promotion’s current style to a new-era ECW, and while he stopped short of declaring it the direct successor, he could see where the comparison comes from.
“I saw I’m not sure who it was that wrote it, so I I scrolled past it. I can’t give him credit first, but um they said that JCW is the is the new era. maybe, you know, I mean, what they’re doing is different and it’s very much uh similar to ECW in in in certain ways.”
The comparison got even crazier when JCW was described as something resembling ECW without Paul Heyman’s concern about sponsors. RVD laughed at the comparison while pointing out that there were still lines ECW didn’t cross.
“Right. I mean, we didn’t have people doing cocaine and and I but it’s I mean, that’s as good answer as any I can think of for what we got right now.”
That’s the key difference in Van Dam’s view of an ECW revival. Recreating the old sets, hardcore matches and attitude isn’t enough because wrestling has already spent decades borrowing from that playbook. For another promotion to truly become the ECW of its generation, RVD believes it would have to invent the next thing instead of rebuilding the last one.
Do you agree with RVD that the original ECW formula has already been copied too many times to work as something fresh today? Could JCW become this generation’s version of ECW, or is there another promotion that fits that role better? Let us know what you think and leave your feedback in the comments.
This transcript was produced exclusively for Ringside News from the original recording. Republishing the transcription in full is prohibited. When using excerpts, provide prominent credit and a link to this article.
