Source: F4Wonline.com
In another huge story coming out of WWE, it appears that the SmackDown and ECW brands will be merging to an extent. This comes as a direct result of TV discussions between WWE and NBC/Universal not going so good. WWE and The Sci-Fi Network’s deal expires at the end of this year and so far, Sci-Fi has shown signs that they might not re-sign.
Since ECW’s premiere on the network in June of 2006, the ratings have dropped from a 2.79 to a 1.1 and 1.2 in the past two weeks, which are bad numbers for Sci-Fi original programming. The ECW program could be considered by some as just a step above Heat or Velocity, as just another C-level show. Bad wrestling and bad booking can obviously be linked to the ratings slump.
Vince McMahon sent out the order on Monday to make the ECW program more appealing to The Sci-Fi Network. The original plan was to just send Kane over to ECW and have him go back to the psycho "See No Evil" persona. Their are creative meetings being planned for Thursday and Friday of this week regarding the merging of the two brands permanently. As previously posted, WWE.com posted storyline messages about meetings between Vickie and Estrada about the brands coming together before ECW went on the air Tuesday.
On Monday, the idea was that ECW head writer Dusty Rhoes and assistant writer Jen Bloodsworth would be in charge of making ECW a success. As of Tuesday, the belief is that Dusty Rhodes and SmackDown writer Michael Hayes are now in charge of the new combined ECW/SD brand. ECW writer Dave Lagana will be losing most of his power outside of actually writing the scripts for the shows. As usual, all things that are talked about are subject to change at any time. One source close to the situation says "you name it, they’re considering it right now".