WWE Hall of Famer Rob Van Dam has shared his initial response to Vince McMahon bringing back ECW as a brand in 2006.
Following the success of the ‘The Rise and Fall of ECW’ DVD and ECW One Night Stand 2005, ECW was relaunched in 2006 as a one-hour show on Tuesday nights.
Speaking with Wrestling News, RVD said he felt that McMahon brought back ECW to tarnish the legacy of the extreme promotion. He said,
“At the time, I really looked at it defensively from ECW. You know, I thought he’s making a mockery of ECW. I thought he might have even brought ECW back just to destroy it because he didn’t like the fans chanting EC Dub. He took credit for it, so he trained them to chant EC Dub during the shows by putting out the ECW DVD.
“Then I was like, ‘Wow, man, this dude’s crazy.’ Maybe he brought it back just to completely wipe out the extreme theme to it, and they did completely wipe out the extreme theme to it.”
WWE’s ECW would severely tone down the level of violence fans had grown accustomed to with the original show, and WWE’s ECW ended in February 2010.
RVD was the first ECW Champion of the WWE era but lost the title weeks later, following a police arrest for driving over the speed limit and possession of marijuana.
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