EC-Dub! EC-Dub! EC-Dub! After years of hearing those chants at WWE events, Vince McMahon decided to revive the company and make it a third WWE brand in the Summer of 2006. The boss was further convinced by the massive success of the Rise and Fall of ECW DVD and the ECW One Night Stand pay-per-views in 2005 and 2006. WWE signed a bunch of former ECW wrestlers, including ECW icons The Sandman and Sabu, to contracts, and featured ECW heavily on WWE TV. The addition of former ECW stalwarts like Rob Van Dam and talented WWE superstars such as Kurt Angle were good signs. Hopes were understandably high. Unfortunately, the ECW revival was a disaster. It was clear from the start that this would just be a watered-down version of ECW and that it was very much a WWE product. Vince McMahon's fingerprints were all over it. On the first episode there was an appearance by a zombie, a pretty pathetic Kelly Kelly striptease and a lame battle royal. It would get worse from there. Sure, there was the odd decent match or segment here or there and it wasn't all bad, but it wasn't the ECW that fans wanted. It was more of less an excuse for WWE to dump a bunch of guys they had no plans for on another show. Hardcore Holly, Test, Bobby Lashley. Yup, ECW alright. Vince lost faith in the brand when ECW house shows failed to draw and the poorly-promoted, even more poorly-executed December To Dismember PPV did one of the worst buy rates in WWE history. Paul Heyman quit the company over the whole debacle and WWECW's fate was sealed.
