the thing with ECW is that at their height, they appealed to fans who were sick of what WWF and WCW were doing. they really were a niche market, although they were growing, mostly through word of mouth and magazine coverage. I read about them (and their predecessor Tri-State) for years before I was able to watch a show.

when I did finally get to see it, it was like "this is what's been missing! this is what I've been wanting to see but haven't been getting for the most part!" cuz I was pretty sick of most of what was being put forth by the big companies.

which is a situation not unlike the present day.