History of the ECW Championship | Part 1 | Prehistory

I still want to review every title change for as many major wrestling championships as possible. But after reviewing every WWE Championship title change, I needed something a bit easier. ECW was just not around that long, so I’m tackling that next. 

Jimmy Snuka was the inaugural champion. He lost it to Johnny Hotbody, who lost it back to Snuka, who lost it to Don Muraco, who lost it to the Sandman. These matches all happened in 1992, before ECW had a syndicated show on the air. I’m not sure if footage of any of these matches exist. Given the quality of the title matches in ’93, I’m not going out of my way to find the ones from ’92. In any event, those matches and the ones I review here aren’t recognized by WWE as official title changes, but they happened so screw WWE. 

The syndicated show in question was originally called Eastern Championship Wrestling. After the company left the NWA it was renamed Extreme Championship Wrestling and so was the syndicated show. In 1999, after getting a second show on basic cable, ECW renamed this show Hardcore TV. That said, all over the internet and most importantly on the WWE Network, you can find every episode of the syndicated show under Hardcore TV. 

June 1, 1993 – Radnor, Pennsylvania

Don Muraco def. Sandman {ECW Heavyweight Championship Match}
From Eastern Championship Wrestling #9. For people who bemoaned the death of the territory system, watch this show and realize there’s really no difference between modern indies and the territories of old. This is really low-rent stuff. Muraco was the centerpiece of the zombie version of the Dangerous Alliance, which Paul E. Dangerously dragged along here after it died in WCW. The production crew seemed more interested in Peaches than they were with focusing on the match. It was weirder to see Sandman doing sunset flips into backslides than it was to see him wrestle in a wetsuit. I can’t imagine why this would interest anyone, but if you’re curious to see what two chubby guys throwing bad clotheslines at each other looks like, this is your match. I guess it’s also interesting because it’s the oldest footage of an ECW championship change, but that’s not worth much. The match ended when the ref got bumped and Dangerously hit Sandman with his phone, giving Muraco the win title at 8:42. ¾*

August 24, 1993 – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Tito Santana def. Don Muraco {ECW Heavyweight Championship Match}
From Eastern Championship Wrestling #20. I thought this might be decent because it started with Santana on fire, slugging away on Muraco with a great deal of energy. But then Muraco spent the entire match slowly working Santana’s arm and I about fell asleep. Freddie Gilbert’s errant interference was anything but interesting, except in that it led to Dangerously having a conniption on commentary. Santana won at 10:02. *¾ 

November 2, 1993 – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Sabu def. Shane Douglas {NWA-ECW Heavyweight Championship Match}
Santana turned out to be a bust as champ, as he no-showed an event and Todd Gordon awarded the title to Douglas in an offhand comment at the beginning of Eastern Championship Wrestling #23. This match happened at NWA Bloodfeast but aired on Eastern Championship Wrestling #30. This was too short to amount to anything, but for the first time the ECW title changed hands in an environment that felt more like what ECW would become and less like some random school gym show. Sabu hit a moonsault for the win at 1:34. *½ 

December 28, 1993 – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Terry Funk def. Sabu {NWA-ECW Heavyweight Championship No Disqualification Match}
This was on the inaugural Holiday Hell in real life and aired on Eastern Championship Wrestling #38. This was clipped, and without the original show on the WWE Network I’m not sure how much was cut out. You’d think they’d cut out more of the brawling on the floor that wasn’t really visible on the hard camera, but you’d be wrong. This was pretty much a sloppy mess, but the referee’s overselling bump was pretty hilarious, and Sabu’s moonsault to the floor onto the Rottens was rather breathtaking. The finish would have been great if Funk had gotten out of the way of Sabu’s moonsault like he was supposed to, but he didn’t. It didn’t matter, because at that point every single person in the world interfered and the lights went out. When they came back on, Douglas had put Funk on top of Sabu and made the ref make the count at 10:34 (shown). **

March 29, 1994 – Devon, Pennsylvania

Shane Douglas def. Terry Funk, Rocco Rock, Johnny Grunge, The Tazmaniac, Kevin Sullivan, Road Warrior Hawk, and Mr. Hughes {NWA-ECW Championship Ultimate Jeopardy Match}
This was on the inaugural Ultimate Jeopardy, and highlights of it played on Eastern Championship Wrestling # . The stipulation is basically that it’s a big cage match featuring a bunch of dudes who all have to put something on the line. For example, if Road Warrior Hawk lost he wouldn’t be able to use the Road Warrior name again, Douglas would have had to shave his head, and if Tazmaniac or Sullivan lost they’d have to split up as a team. Funk put his title on the line, so when Douglas pinned him with a piledriver with a bag wrapped over his head, it wound up being a simple change of the title. This was interspersed with clips of people talking. so it’s impossible to rate. But the truth is they only showed like two or three minutes of it anyway so a rating would be worthless. Seriously, there was just as much Matty in the House talking about the stipulations in a parking lot as there was footage of the match. I guess if I can ever get my hands on the full match I’ll update this, but based on the highlights I really don’t want to. N/A

Later in the year, Shane Douglas won and then threw down the NWA Championship, severing the ties between ECW and NWA and making ECW the company that people my age recognize. We’ll start looking a the title’s journey through that era next time.