50 Absolute Worst Things WWE Has Done In The 21st Century
23. The Infamous ECW Zombie (2006)
Both One Night Stand events in 2005 and 2006 were sure signs that there was more juice to be squeezed from the ECW brand. Seeing dollar signs and the opportunity to milk it dry, the McMahons ushered in a brand new era for extreme by debuting a new weekly ECW TV show starting on 13 June '06. There, WWE's vision for the future of Paul Heyman's renegade outfit would be revealed.
A dude dressed up as a zombie wrestled in the very first match on Sci-Fi. That is not a joke. WWE followed a hot segment involving Heyman, Rob Van Dam, Edge and John Cena with The Zombie vs. The Sandman. Their bout went 19 seconds, and ended with Sandman caning the hell out of the spooky gimmick before drinking some beers. 'E-C-DUB! E-C-DUB!'.
Alarm bells should've been ringing from that moment on that Vince McMahon didn't have ECW's best interests at heart. Before long, his ECW had degenerated into an overlooked 'C' tier brand behind Raw and SmackDown that had nothing to differentiate it from prior low level programming like Sunday Night Heat or Velocity.
The Zombie had been a sign of things to come. McMahon's fingerprints were all over this unwanted reroute for extreme. Fans tripping over themselves to see a weekly version of the One Night Stand shows must've known they weren't getting it once Sandman battered Zombie. This was less Hardcore TV and more WWF Metal from 2000 than anyone cared to admit.
Come the dismal December To Dismember pay-per-view, Heyman's head was in his hands.