The NXT Step...

So this past Tuesday on ECW (which nobody saw, because they were busy watching Lost!!!) Vince McMahon announced that the third brand would go off the air in three weeks, to be replaced by NXT -- a new show that will allegedly feature unknown talent trying to scrape their way into the WWE.

Watch the announcement:



Now, I can't say I'm particularly surprised by this announcement, because WWE's management of the ECW brand over the past couple of years has been atrocious. The brand started off good enough, with legitimate champions who were actually treated as World Champions, a nice mix of known names and talent that haven't really received a proper opportunity on one of the two other brands, and it had its own unique, gritty feel. But then WWE very curiously decided to simultaneously make this show indistinguishable from Raw and Smackdown, yet strip it of any legitimacy it may have had. I'd hate to pick on Chavo, because he's a talented guy, but I think everything sort of fell apart when he nabbed the title. Suddenly he was participating in the Royal Rumble when, in actuality, the winner should have had the option of challenging him. And honestly, he didn't look anywhere near the league of the WWE and World Heavyweight Champions -- or their challengers, for that matter. In that regard, ECW was destined to fail.

I couldn't help but laugh at Tazz's Twitter remark that the ECW originals and Paul Heyman weren't thanked during McMahon's announcement. First off, the entire announcement, minus introduction, was about a minute long. He's not like he did some 20 minute promo here. Besides which, every single ECW Original has gone out of their way to say that THIS ECW has nothing to do with their famed indy federation. But now that the BRAND is being discontinued, their entitled to a "thank you"? Why would they acknowledge guys that haven't even been with the company for several years?

What I find interesting, though, is that based on the ad I've seen for NXT, the new show seems to be taking over that gritty, edgy feel that they deprived the ECW brand of. And I am skeptical of the success. If ECW failed with names like Christian, Shelton Benjamin, Finlay, Goldust, and so on as part of it, how's it going to do minus the recognizable names?