2002 Awards, news and current ECW rankings as we head into ECW 18
Fighter of the Year – Affonso Villar
Company of the Year – Alpha-1
Rookie of the Year – Joe Pelham (Our guy!)
Show of the Year – SIGMA: Kanchelskis vs van den Hoogenband (March) – Second straight with K in the main
Female Fighter of the Year – Hope LeHane
Team of the Year – Halversons
(ECW fighters Hunter Scribbins and Sly Twinge currently train here)
Fight of the Year – Fjodor Kanchelskis beat Edgar van den Hoogenband (Sigma) – 2nd time here too
Worst Fight of the Year – Ken Peters beat Jon Silvers (GAMMA) – Peters second “honor”
Knock out of the Year – Jacco Landeweerd (over Bastian Neske - Sigma)
Submission of the Year – Grzegorz Boniek (over Gyokusho Fujimoto – Alpha-1)
Main Event of the Year – Fjodor Kanchelskis beat Edgar van den Hoogenband (Sigma)
Upset of the Year – Lito Alcala (over Supachai Thamsatchanan – KDM FC)
Dwayne Alleyne signs a 5 fight extension at $1,900 per fight and add 6 more lightweights to the roster, giving me 24 in the division currently. Two new signings are HW Tyler Gumble, a well respected kick boxer who has turned to MMA and signs for 5 fights at $1,450 per, along with LHW Karl Martin who I get for $500 per fight, so he gets a 7 fight deal.
Gamma is now after 5-0 LHW prospect Dean Capers, who is making just over $800 with us, so I offer a raise to $2,500 per fight, they counter, I go to $3,500 and he elects to stay with us. Next they target MW Ed Burridge, I make a single counter offer of $6,500 per fight, really more than he is worth, they counter and I let him go.
We have a main event for our February show as Sam Hoynes will defend the heavyweight strap against Randall Donnelly. Though Donnelly is only 15-8 overall, he is 3-0 with ECW and is the most worthy challenger available.
Gamma now offers our Welterweight champion Mattherson, who is woefully underpaid, so I counter with an offer of $5,000 per fight. A bidding war ensues and it eventually costs me $8,000 per fight to keep him. I also add MW and Gamma vet Dexter Darling to the MW roster to replace Burridge. The D-Man is past his prime at 35 and 18-6-1, but he brings name recognition to the company.
| | HW Rankings | LHW Rankings | MW Rankings | WW Rankings | LW Rankings |
| C | Sam Hoynes 9-0 | Joshua Hope 11-0 | Isaiah Monroe 13-0 | Felix Matterson Jr 11-1 | Vacant |
| 1 | Leon Banks 33-15 | Rupert Dreck 11-1 | Carl Ratcliffe 23-7 | Gus Fitzpatrick 10-0 | Darren Southall 9-2 |
| 2 | wilson Franklyn 13-2 | Jerry Bogdonovich 13-1 | Thomas Smith 16-5 | Chad Zoff 11-0 | Aaron McBroom 15-5 |
| 3 | Fatuma Roy 23-12 | Dwayne Alleyne 11-1 | Ashley Ballard 13-3 (Injured) | Callum Henson 23-11 | Frankie Geddon 14-0 |
| 4 | Sylvester Collins 10-1 | Cal Hillson 7-1 | Wes Hersch 9-1 | Agustin Gonzalez 16-6 | Lazaro Campos 12-0 |
| 5 | Sly Twinge 11-1 | Adrian Pascal 8-1 | Julio Gutierrez 12-0 | Brock Youdale 9-2 | Jose Gonzales 13-0 |
| 6 | Nate MacReary 8-0 (Injured) | Wink Deschanel 7-2 | Esteban Vega 9-1 | Evan Pizzarro 9-1 | Coltrane Anderson 7-4 |
| 7 | Randall Donnelly 15-8 | Tyron Malik 7-1 | Hunter Scribbins 8-1 | Zeke Eliot 8-1 | Nicky Shapiro 20-14 |
| 8 | Damien Jones 9-2 | Brody Howles 7-1 | Reed Howlett 8-1 | Randy Carsley 8-2 | Kyle Sagal 8-3 |
| 9 | Taye Burnett 8-1 | Brayden Behrami 7-1 | Billy Russell 8-1 | Lloyd McAllister 16-7 | Sammy Newton 8-3 |
| 10 | Gareth Grundy 10-8 | Justin Brannagh 8-3 | Bernard Blue 12-4 | Joe Hinchcliffe 27-15 | Kade Devine 9-3 |