Stevie Richards Discusses ECW Money Situation
Stevie Richards was the in the first-ever match in ECW history, then Eastern Championship Wrestling. He stayed with the company through 1997 before leaving for WCW. He returned briefly and then left quickly for then-WWF (now WWE).
On his YouTube channel this past month, he dedicated time to discussing his thoughts on the situation of how ECW lost as much money as it did. He also discusses some names on the business side of the company with which many fans are not very familiar.
He discusses the business side of ECW - during his time with the company - and that there was good money coming in such as:
- Tickets
- VHS tapes of the main shows and fan cams
- Merchandise
- Cyberslam convention packages and more
He also credits Tommy Dreamer for keeping the company running in ECW's last months - from both the operations side as well as paying for the ring truck and other hard costs. Stevie's insights on the economic side of wrestling at the time offer a good glimpse into the business and possible reasons why ECW stopped running shows.
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It’s really interesting to hear Stevie talk about ECW’s money problems and how tough things got near the end. I didn’t realize how much Tommy Dreamer did to keep it going — shows how much love and dedication he had for the company and the fans.
I had a chance once to talk briefly with Tommy years after ECW's closing about this. It still caused a degree of discomfort so I simply thanked him for having the guts to stick with the company all the way to the end, taking the financial risks for what could have been a great reward for him had ECW gone onto a new network and restructured the debt. ECW had so much going for it - at least outwardly - in its last 12-18 months of operation. This included video games, action figures, magazine issues, website & traffic, 5 of its top 10 largest crowds took place in 2000 (its last full year), merchandise sales, PPV every 2 months, and much more. This risk/reward didn't pay out based on some things he couldn't control. It would have been very interesting to see his direction on the company had things worked out, such as if he would have emphasized the younger talent (and new styles) which became the basis for Ring of Honor (also based in Philly originally) in 2002 - or if he would have adopted & refined the more violent styles such as XPW (still in Los Angeles at that time) and CZW, or if he would have incorporated things like MMA-style matches as a new division of ECW.