Former ECW icon, The Blue Meanie recently spoke with The Mirror and compared WWE NXT to ECW, whilst also discussing the recent Evolution PPV.
On NXT being similar to ECW:
“Well it kind of did return with NXT, I think. Especially the early days of NXT. Just watching the product and seeing how the crowd was at Full Sail, it was like an ECW arena crowd, very ECW-esque. Now they’re doing the ‘Takeovers’, that first one reminded me of ECW ‘Barely Legal’ – with a better budget!
“Then they grew, but to me NXT is what ECW was. It started off independently, but Vince helped out. He would send WWE guys to ECW like Droz and a few others just to get some in-ring experience, before he brought them back up – much like NXT now. So to me, NXT, in a way, is the next ECW.”
His thoughts on Evolution:
“I like what they’ve done with the Evolution pay-per-view. It’s been done on the independent circuit and now that it’s worked its way up to the world of WWE, I think that’s really cool.”
Does having country-specific WWE shows hurt independent wrestling:
“Nah, I don’t think it will impact it. Because when ECW, or WCW or WWE would sign somebody away, that was an opportunity for the next guy to step up and take charge. So if there’s one king of the indies, if there’s such a thing anymore, once that guy gets signed up, the second in line becomes the big man. There’s thousands of wrestlers and opportunities. So, if someone gets signed, it’s an opportunity for the next in line to takeover.”
The Mirror