ise and Fall of Extreme Championship Wrestling

ECW burst onto the sports entertainment scene in the early 1990s and redefined the industry with a reckless, brutal, death-defying, and often bloody style that became known as 'hardcore'. In the process it attracted a rabid, cult-like following that is still going strong today. The ECW 'hardcore' style changed the wrestling business forever; and more than any other single factor it was the adoption of this 'new breed of wrestling' from the young upstart company by the WWE that was largely responsible for the subsequent WWE domination of the industry. Through extensive interviews with former ECW talent and management, fans will have an inside look at what made the company great -- and what led to its ultimate demise.

Thom Loverro has been a professional journalist since 1977. He has worked for a number of newspapers, including The Baltimore Sun, where he spent eight years as a news editor and reporter covering government, politics, and crime. Loverro moved into sports reporting when he joined The Washington Times in 1992, and he has gained a reputation as one of the best sports columnists in the the Washington metropolitan area. He has won eighteen national, regional, and local journalism awards over his career, including a first place in the National Society of Newspaper Columnists. He is also a two-time sports columnist winner in the Virginia Press Association competition. Loverro is the author of seven books; this is his first on the world of professional wrestling