David Lagana released

[sek69]

from WO.com:

 

David Lagana, who was on the ECW writing crew after a run as head writer of Smackdown, was let go today by WWE. No reasons were given. Lagana, who was a big wrestling fan before being hired, had been with the company since early 2002.

 

That combined with Bonnie Hammer no longer running the Sci Fi channel seems to point towards ECW no longer existing whenever the year or so deal they negotiated ends.

[JHawk]

The beginning of the end was about three weeks after the relaunch when Sabu got disqualified for using a chair and people who wanted Extreme Championship Wrestling got "DQs for stuff that wouldn't draw a slap on the wrist on Raw" instead. This is more like the inevitable being more obvious.

[Isaacduke]

If I'm not mistaken, isn't ECW one of, if not THE, highest rated shows on Sci-Fi? Why would they cancel it?

[sek69]

If I'm not mistaken, isn't ECW one of, if not THE, highest rated shows on Sci-Fi? Why would they cancel it?

 

Because wrestling really doesn't fit in with the rest of the programming and the diehard fans of the channel hate it. The people watching ECW are pretty much the hardcore (no pun intended) fans who watch any wrestling on TV. There's also the difficulty to get quality advertisers due to the whole wrestling stigma thing.

[kjh]

Isn't the fact that they fired Dave Lagana a sign that WWE management aren't happy with ECW ratings at the moment and will make a renewed effort to turn them around? I'm not holding my breath that whomever takes over will manage to change things for the better much, due to the inherent problems of booking a third tier show with little major star power, but it's obvious that staying with the status quo wasn't the answer.

[Bix]

I don't think he was in charge of ECW, though. Dusty is, IIRC.

[kjh]

I thought Lagana was the one in charge and Dusty was brought in as his deputy to help him out.

[Al]

Eh, how much writing talent do you honestly need to book C.M. Punk against Chavo Guerrero on four consecutive shows?

[shoe]

Alvarez is reporting it as leaking info to the sheets.

[WrestlingPower]

I think the writing was on the wall when Hammer left that position. Nothing they do would really get people to want to watch their C-show. It still amazes me that in 2008 they are treating backstage wrestling stuff as FBI-level secrets to the point people's phones and computers are monitored. I guess Lagana was a sign that they are serious. It's not like most of the writers aren't interchangeable since Steph, HHH, and maybe Hayes have all the power.