ECW FTW Heavyweight Championship

ECW FTW Heavyweight Championship
The ECW FTW Heavyweight Championship
(May 1998–March 1999).
Details
Promotion ECW
Date established May 14, 1998
Date retired March 21, 1999
Other name(s)
Brooklyn World Championship
FTW World Heavyweight Championship

The Extreme Championship Wrestling FTW (Fuck the World) Heavyweight Championship (also referred to as the Brooklyn World Championship) was an alternate professional wrestling championship in the Extreme Championship Wrestling promotion. This was similar to the Million Dollar Championship in the World Wrestling Federation in that it was not an officially sanctioned championship.

History

The FTW Heavyweight Championship was created by ECW owner Paul Heyman to compensate for storylines that had to be dropped due to injuries. ECW World Heavyweight Champion Shane Douglas had a serious sinus infection and an elbow injury. Taz and Al Snow also missed their matches at WrestlePalooza '98 due to health problems.[1] He gave the title to Taz, as it suited his "bad-ass, no-nonsense" attitude."[1]

Taz announced the creation of the FTW Heavyweight Championship on May 14, 1998 at It Ain't Seinfeld. In the storyline, he was frustrated by his inability to challenge for the ECW World Heavyweight Championship due to Champion Shane Douglas' injury and refusal to face him. Taz created and defended his own World title, billing himself as the "real" World champion. He states that fans appreciated the message conveyed by the belt, which represented contempt for bosses and society, and says that he believes it was more appreciated than the company's top title.[2] The belt was billed as "unrecognized" by ECW.[2][3]

Taz lost the title only once, in a singles match against Sabu. This was an intentional loss, when he pulled an unconscious Sabu over himself on December 19, 1998 (he was confident that he would defeat Shane Douglas in an upcoming title bout, and thus no longer needed the FTW Heavyweight Championship).[4] Taz regained the title at Living Dangerously on March 21, 1999, where he unified the FTW Heavyweight Championship with the ECW World Heavyweight Championship (which he then held) by defeating Sabu in a title versus title match.[5][6] Taz then began using only the ECW World Heavyweight Championship belt, being the sole World Heavyweight Champion in the promotion.

Notes

When the title was first created, the FTW belt was actually the same custom ECW Television Championship belt Taz used for a while with a leather strap that Taz painted orange and stickers partially covering the belt.[2] and a "TAZ" logo at the top. "FTW" stickers were strategically placed over the word "Television" in the middle of the belt as well as the United States and United Kingdom flags on the side plates. A few months later, in an attempt to persuade Taz to team with Sabu and Rob Van Dam against Shane Douglass and The Triple Threat, Bill Alfonso presented Taz with a completely new and original FTW belt with a "TAZ" logo engraved in the belt's centerplate.

Taz states that the concept and attitude have been replicated by other companies.[2]

According to Taz on The Rise and Fall of ECW DVD documentary, when he lost the new belt in a match against Sabu, Sabu was legitimately upset backstage over Taz's name being permanently displayed on the belt. From then on, whenever Sabu had the belt with him, he would cover the Taz logo with athletic tape and write "SABU" on it in magic marker. The championship is owned now by the WWE, but they have not chosen to revive it.[7]

Title history

Key
No. Overall reign number
Reign Reign number for the specific champion
Days Number of days held
No. Champion Championship change Reign statistics Notes Ref.
Date Event Location Reign Days
1 Taz May 14, 1998 It Ain't Seinfeld Queens, New York 1 219 Taz introduced the championship during a storyline. [8]
2 Sabu December 19, 1998 Hardcore TV Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1 92 Title change aired on December 23, 1998, via tape delay. [4]
3 Taz March 21, 1999 Living Dangerously (1999) Asbury Park, New Jersey 2 0 [5][6]
— Unified March 21, 1999 Living Dangerously (1999) Asbury Park, New Jersey — — The championship was unified with the ECW World Heavyweight Championship.

References

  1. 1 2 Fritz, Brian (2006). Between the Ropes: Wrestling's Greatest Triumphs and Failures. ECW Press. p. 99. ISBN 1554902681.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Loverro, Thom (2007). The Rise & Fall of ECW: Extreme Championship Wrestling. Simon and Schuster. p. 223. ISBN 1416513124.
  3. ↑ Siciliano, Mike (2006-02-10). "Pro's from the Palace (#78) - DVD Review Today: ECW Blood Sport". WrestleView. Retrieved 2015-11-28.
  4. 1 2 Woodward, Buck (2006-12-19). "This Day in History: Sabu Defeats Taz for the FTW Title". PWInsider.com. Retrieved 2015-11-28.
  5. 1 2 Whaley, Mike. "ECW delivers at Living Dangerously". SLAM! Wrestling. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved 2015-11-28.
  6. 1 2 Gramlich, Chris. "ECW rises to the occasion". SLAM! Wrestling. Canadian Online Explorer.
  7. ↑ The Rise and Fall of ECW (DVD). WWE Home Video. 2004.
  8. ↑ Keller, Wade (2003-05-26). "ECW TV: Fans mock Bigelow for tapping to Taz - 5 Yrs Ago". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved 2015-11-28.
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