Why ECW Is the Best Brand

ECW has been referred to as the red headed step child of the WWE on more than one occasion.

Year after year, ECW is stripped of its talent, yet every year it finds a way to keep chugging along.

No, ECW doesn't have John Cena or The Undertaker but week after week I find ECW to be the most entertaining program that the WWE has to offer.

ECW on Syfy shares little in common with the ECW that Vince McMahon purchased  from Paul Heyman. Save for Tommy Dreamer, all the ECW originals are gone.

ECW is now used as the show that develops new stars before sending them off to "bigger and better things.". ECW also features a few of the veterans members of the roster who help the new stars develop.

CM Punk, The Miz, John Morrison, Kane, Matt Hardy, Mark Henry, and the Big Show are just a few of the superstars who saw ECW bring life to their careers or revive them altogether. 

Ever since all PPV's became tri-branded ECW usually only gets one match on the PPV despite having several feuds on the television program. This is a shame because there are many superstars on ECW who deserve a PPV match but aren't involved in the ECW title race. 

The 2009 Draft was good to ECW. The Miz and Morrison bade farewell to the Land of Extreme but aside from Hornswoggle and the now released Ricky Ortiz nobody else was sent away.

ECW also welcomed Vladmir Kozlov, Ezekiel Jackson, Zack Ryder, and the Hart Dynasty (officially at least) to the mix. Things were looking great for ECW. 

The Donald Trump "blockbuster trade" stripped ECW of almost of its established talent. New stars Jack Swagger, Evan Bourne, and The Hart Dynasty were gone and Finlay and Mark Henry were gone as well. Things weren't looking good for the land of the extreme.

The Superstar Initiative is one of my favorites new aspects of the WWE. Since the trade, we've seen Sheamus, Yoshi Tatsu, and Tyler Reks enter the fray.

Goldust and William Regal are seeing their careers matter for once and Zack Ryder, Ezekiel Jackson, and Vladimir Kozlov are finding their groove.

Edge's babyface turn could see a reunion of Edge & Christian and ECW will be just fine when Christian eventually moves on. 

Raw has been terrible ever since Wrestlemania and while Smackdown! offers a great two hours of wrestling each week, ECW is the show that has me hooked every week.

ECW may not have any of the company's top stars and that's fine by me. Matches aren't predictable and the main event is fresh week in and week out.

ECW may lack the firepower or Raw or Smackdown! but it manages to put forth a great product anyway.