ECW on TNN ECW on TNN was a weekly professional wrestling TV show that aired on The Nashville Network ( now Spike TV ) on Friday nights . It was the first national broadcast of Extreme Championship Wrestling ( ECW ) . History . Rationale . ECW ' s owner , Paul Heyman , signed a three - year contract with TNN in the hopes of expanding national awareness of the company . Prior to " ECW on TNN " , ECW was only televised via cable syndication . For its part , TNN added ECW to its " Friday Night Thrill Zone " lineup in an attempt to help build on the teenager / young male increase that the " Rollerjam " program had brought to the network . Into 2000 , the network claimed a vast improvement in the young male demographic on Friday nights due to ECW ' s addition . ECW - TNN differences . Early signs of a rocky relationship between ECW and TNN came when TNN president David Hall implied that the program would be " toned down " from the usual ECW fare – which stressed more violent matches ( and more explicit language ) than the two leading professional wrestling companies , World Wrestling Entertainment ( WWE , then known as the World Wrestling Federation , or the WWF ) and World Championship Wrestling ( WCW ) . On WWE ' s " Rise and Fall of ECW " DVD , Heyman alleged that the requests from TNN to tone down ECW ' s content were excessive , including instructions to remove references to hatred as well as objections to the ECW theme song on the grounds that it sounded " demonic . " The first episode of " ECW on TNN " also became a source of contention , since it did not consist of original programming . Unsatisfied with the first TNN shoot , Heyman instead chose to air a compilation of promo s and old ECW matches designed to act as an introduction to the company for those who had never before heard of it or seen it . ECW commentator Joey Styles said that " the network crapped on " this episode and Tommy Dreamer supported this assertion . The network also had reportedly placed a great deal of importance on ECW retaining top star Taz , and initial publicity indicated that this helped him sign a significant money deal with ECW . Instead , the deal fell through and Taz signed with the WWF shortly after the show ' s premiere . His departure , coupled with that of the Dudley Boys ( who also joined the WWF ) , forced the company to build storylines around new champions only weeks after starting their first ( and only ) national cable television show . Heyman and former ECW producer Ron Buffone have since complained that TNN ' s production expectations were unreasonable . On " Rise and Fall " , Buffone stated that TNN provided ECW with a very small budget to produce the program while simultaneously asking for high - quality production on par with " WCW Monday Nitro " and " WWF Monday Night RAW " . This irritated Heyman , due not only to the difficulty of meeting the standards , but also because he felt the more barebones ECW " look " was part of its appeal . Heyman also took umbrage with what he felt was a lack of promotion of the show from the network specifically and its parent company Viacom in general . Many wrestlers echoed this point on both the " Rise and Fall " DVD as well as the independently produced " Forever Hardcore " documentary . Heyman ' s dissatisfaction with TNN culminated in an on - air promo in which he made known his disdain for the network , as well as a running storyline in which manager / commentator Don Callis ( Cyrus ) portrayed a TNN representative that continually interrupted ECW proceedings that he felt were inappropriate . TNN muted the audio during Heyman ' s promo and ran a crawl across the bottom of the screen that poked fun at Heyman ' s sanity . The full promo , with audio and without the news crawl , was featured on ECW ' s syndicated programming . Cancellation and aftermath . " ECW on TNN ' s " run would only last thirteen - and - a - half months . As part of its effort to rebrand itself " The National Network " , TNN acquired WWF programming as part of an extensive WWF - Viacom agreement . The WWF ' s " RAW " debuted on TNN on September 25 , 2000 . Despite brief rumors that the two shows might co - exist on TNN for an extended period of time , " ECW on TNN " was cancelled shortly thereafter . Having lost a significant part of its national exposure and left with various contracts to fulfill , ECW ran its final pay - per - view event ( the third Guilty as Charged ) in January 2001 . Heyman appeared in the WWF shortly thereafter and the WWF incorporated the ECW brand into its Invasion storyline later that year . Heyman has speculated that a new television deal would have left ECW a strong # 2 in North American wrestling due to the sale of WCW only weeks after ECW collapsed . TNN eventually rebranded itself again as Spike TV and featured WWF / E programming until late September 2005 . Immediately thereafter , it began airing TNA ' s " Impact ! " program on Thursday nights . Since " ECW on TNN ' s " debut , the network continuously featured professional wrestling on its schedule until December 2014 when TNA moved their programming to Destination America .