>>19876471they came along at a time when WWF and WCW were stuck in the past and fumbling a lot (kind of like now). ECW basically ignited the boom period of the mid-to-late 90s, although they don't usually get credit for it. when ECW began to gain popularity, both WWF and WCW started cannibalizing their roster and their ideas, and that's what led to the attitude era and a lot of other things. It was ECW that turned Steve Austin into Stone Cold, gave Mick Foley a fresh start, introduced us to Rey and Eddie, and so on and so on. Most of the things that made that era unique came from ECW.