The ECW Originals

When World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) revived Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) as a third brand, they did so by having a number of wrestlers from the original promotion appear on the June 5, 2006 WWE Raw to attack WWE Champion John Cena. From there, the new ECW was given its own weekly show, with the tagline "A New Breed Unleashed" appearing in TV advertising, on the Sci Fi Channel.
One of the first feuds on the brand pitted Mike Knox and Test against The Sandman and Tommy Dreamer.
On January 30, 2007, when Vince McMahon appeared on ECW on Sci Fi to, in storyline, take a more hands-on role in running the brand, he started by taking stock of the roster. In doing so he degraded the "ECW Originals" he ran into backstage while calling newcomers a "New Breed." He lavished praise on Elijah Burke at the end of the night, prompting Tommy Dreamer, Sabu, Balls Mahoney, and The Sandman to rush to the ring and attack Burke, leaving him lying in the ring as they taunted McMahon.
Over the next weeks, the war continued with Burke and a number of other "new" stars becoming "the New Breed" and promptly starting a feud with the Originals, who lost Balls Mahoney but were joined by Rob Van Dam. The New Breed got off to a hot start in the feud, picking up win after win with no ECW Originals pinning New Breed members until three weeks in to the feud, when Rob Van Dam pinned Kevin Thorn. The teams continued to clash in and tag matches, trading wins on the weekly ECW show. The Originals won a standard-rules four-on-four match at WrestleMania 23, but lost an extreme-rules rematch on the next Tuesday's show.
CM Punk had been brought into the storyline as a coveted free agent, with both the Originals and the New Breed attempting to recruit him. On the April 10 episode of ECW, after a match between Van Dam and Burke, Punk came down to ringside, looking like he was about to check on Sabu. Instead, however, he shook hands with Burke and the rest of the New Breed, showing his allegiance to them. A few weeks later, however, Punk turned on the New Breed, and helped the Originals to defeat them in an 8 man elimination tag team match.
Following Vince McMahon winning the ECW World Championship at Backlash, the Originals made comments about Vince McMahon becoming the new ECW Champion and killing the ECW spirit on WWE's official website. This led to an "Extreme Rules" Four Way Dance between the Originals, with the winner getting a chance to face Mr. McMahon one-on-one for the ECW World Championship. Van Dam won this match with a Five-Star Frog splash to Sandman, but was it was later announced that his championship match would be a three-on-one handicap match with Vince, his son Shane McMahon and Umaga, which Van Dam lost.
On May 15, 2007 Sabu was released by the WWE.[16]At One Night Stand, Dreamer and Sandman teamed up with CM Punk to defeat the New Breed in a Tables Match. The same night, Van Dam was involved in a match versus Randy Orton and, in storyline, suffered a concussion which removed him from television.[17] On June 5, 2007 Bobby Lashley defeated another ECW Original incarnation of Tommy Dreamer (a returning member), Balls Mahoney, and Sandman in a 3-on-1 handicap hardcore match.[18]The stable was fractured even further when Sandman was drafted to Raw on June 17, 2007, and released on September 11, 2007.[19][20] In mid-2007, Stevie Richards teamed with Tommy Dreamer against the New Breed on house shows, replacing Sandman in the ECW Originals. As commentating teams announced Elijah Burke as the "former" leader of the New Breed, it signaled the end of the New Breed and the ECW Originals, and their feud.Dreamer is the only remaining member of ECW Originals in the WWE.
Category:Tag Teams