100 Greatest WWE WrestleMania Moments
98. ECW Comes To The Grandest Stage (WrestleMania 23)
Arguably, the punky rebellion of Extreme Championship Wrestling came to WrestleMania once Vince McMahon traded light family entertainment for 'Attitude' in the late-1990s. Suddenly, counter culture and anti-authority behaviour was the norm. However, it'd take until 2007 for ECW to properly hit 'Mania in a named fashion. There, 'ECW Originals' Rob Van Dam, The Sandman, Sabu and Tommy Dreamer vanquished 'The New Breed'.
Don't remember 'The New Breed'? That squad was comprised of aspiring hopefuls like Matt Striker, Kevin Thorn, Marcus Cor Von and Elijah Burke. They considered themselves superior to what Paul Heyman had booked before, including some names you probably don't remember. Plus, they had WWE's backing as the new (but definitely not improved) ECW brand. The collision was a logical one then.
Hardcore ECW fans will be split on this, but it was kinda cool to see the promotion's 'then and now' story play out on WWE's biggest pay-per-view. It was also somewhat surprising that McMahon agreed to let the original crew go over his newbies in an eight-man tag match. Maybe Vince was too busy getting ready for a 'Battle Of The Billionaires' with Donald Trump to give a toss who won the match right before his.
Still, after years of seeing WWE bleed (sometimes literally) ECW's influence all over 'Mania, it was awesome to see Heyman's company get some spotlight on one. This, along with McMahon's need to reshape those three letters as his own and plunder the nostalgic cash cow, showed just how important ECW had been to wrestling's injection of rebel spirit throughout the 90s.
E-C-DUB, and all that.