The Rise & Fall of ECW2004

Ron Buffone:
ECW was counterculture, it was... cutting-edge, it was fan-oriented, we wanted it to look more like a reality-based product where, you know, all of a sudden, the spot happens, you run around the corner, and you catch it at, you know, more excitement.

Paul Heyman:
There was no way to compete with the production values that Ted Turner or Vince McMahon could afford. They had million dollar, multi-million dollar budgets! We didn't! We had a very simple philosophy when it came to our wrestlers: accentuate the positives, hide the negatives. Well, the negative is that we don't have the budget to compete with WWE and-and WCW on lighting and pyro... why go there? Hide it! Accentuate the positives: best interviews, most action, wildest brawls, best wrestling, highest-flying cruiserweights, all these different things that we could do better than everybody else, we're going to accentuate that. Why be second best at anything? Why not say "Screw the lights, screw the pyro, here it is, down and dirty, it's all about the presentation. It's all about the audience's participation in the show."