10 WWE Experiments That Completely Failed

Over the years, nostalgia has been a fairly useful money-making tool for WWE. They're still pulling in top dollar on nWo shirts, for instance, and Hulk Hogan and Kevin Nash haven't been "too sweet" since the late 1990s.

Attempts to reboot ECW 12 years ago, however, bore much less fruit. The company succeeded neither in replicating the magic of the original product (how on earth could they?), nor providing a platform for the stars of tomorrow.

In fact, it's far easier to come up with a list of ECW rookies who fell by the wayside than it is for those who actually went on to enjoy long-lasting runs on either of the two major brands (and the latter group includes CM Punk, who was probably destined for the top whatever his pathway).

Perhaps that could be overlooked if the experiment - which ran nearly four years - at least produced a handful of memorable shows or matches, but there was really very little to write home about. RVD's title victory, a couple of decent Kurt Angle bouts - that was pretty much it.