Vince McMahon's bastardization of ECW has stripped it of its most important quality. There haven't been any hardcore matches in some time, save for the farce of an extreme rules 4-way two weeks ago, after Chairman Wackjob won the ECW title. Now, two of the men in that match are gone, and ECW continues to lose its very identity. Why? Because Vince McMahon didn't create ECW, so he wants to ruin it for his own selfish pleasure.

As long as McMahon continues to hold the ECW title hostage, he's driving viewers away instead of luring them in. Prior to this week's show, Sabu was fired. The rumor mills immediately speculated that the former champion deliberately wanted to be fired because he was upset with the way things have been going. Sabu, claiming a neck injury, wasn't willing to wrestle Kevin Thorn. Had he been healthy, maybe he goes ahead and puts over Thorn. Instead, Nunzio, aka Little Guido, is sent out to be squashed like a bug.

Let us, then, consider the case of James "Guido/Nunzio" Maritato. In his last two appearances on ECW, he's gone back to the WWE ring name he used from 2002-06. Whatever chance he might've had to reform the FBI one more time was taken away when Vito LoGrasso was also cut on Tuesday. Vito's release was likely for the usual excuse (Uncreative had nothing for him), which in this case amounted to total baloney.

Had ECW been allowed to remain hardcore, Snitsky would've beaten Rob Van Dam Tuesday night after that wicked chair shot. Instead, he ends up with a DQ on his record, his first loss on TV since coming over. Don't you think Marcus Cor Van's Pounce finisher might be over if he put someone through a table with it?

The root of the whole problem, we all know, is Vince McMahon. The reasons have already been stated. The man, at 61, doesn't have the creative touch he had in the 80's or even in the 90's. He's out of step with his audience, and keeps putting himself in feuds to get himself over, not realizing that the expiration date on the "Mr. McMahon" gimmick passed a long time ago. If we're lucky, he'll do something smart and drop the ECW title at Judgment Day on Sunday. Of course, that would require common sense, something he ignores when booking television.

And there's the case of Rob Van Dam. If the Pro Wrestling Torch is to be believed, Van Dam won't be getting a rematch with Snitsky any time soon, as supposedly WWE decided to give him an early release. Nothing has been mentioned on their website. Yet. Letting him go now or at the end of his contract next month would be another stupid move, because that just puts another upper-level star out for TNA to pick up and misuse. (Let's face it. TNA really shouldn't be adding anyone until they're sure that Spike will add a 2nd hour to Impact and move it to Mondays) Their creative staff is more inept than WWE/ECW's, further adding to the perception of being a copy of late-period WCW. RVD's better off signing a new deal with WWE/ECW, but Chairman Wackjob has to give Van Dam specific incentives. The most important of these would be to let RVD and the other remaining "Originals" have more of a voice in the creative process. Since Crazy Vinnie is insisting on remolding ECW as being no different than Raw or Smackdown, let RVD and Tommy Dreamer in particular work with the Elijah Burkes and Kevin Thorns of the world behind the scenes so they can fit in. Van Dam could mentor Burke in much the same way Chris Benoit is helping Montel Porter along on Smackdown.

ECW also needs to utilize some of the other "Originals" more often. Stevie Richards surfaced Tuesday night to put over CM Punk. Again. Richards has been wasted since the demise of the Right to Censor faction 6 years ago. They had a great gimmick for him as the pseudo-GM of Heat a couple of years back, but cut it off rather abruptly. He's been treading water ever since the revival of the Blue World Order ended just as abruptly two years ago. Balls Mahoney will next appear on another Sci-Fi series, season 2 of Stan Lee's "Who Wants to be a Superhero?". 2 Cold Scorpio was let go last week without even appearing on TV. Another stupid move. Ever wonder why the Originals-New Breed feud came to such an abrupt end? Or why CM Punk's heel turn lasted only a couple of weeks? Because Chairman Wackjob didn't want the storyline to overshadow him. Simple as that. What the insane chairman needs now, more than ever, is a good slap in the face to wake him up to reality. If not only ECW, but Raw's and Smackdown's ratings fall below 1.0, McMahon needs to look in the mirror for the root cause of the problem. But will he ever get it?