ECW (WWE brand)

WWE ECW

Logo for the brand and the ECW television program
Product type	Professional wrestling Sports entertainment
Owner	WWE
Introduced	June 13, 2006
Discontinued	February 16, 2010
Related brands	Raw SmackDown NXT

ECW was one of WWE's brands which was established on June 13, 2006 as a revival of the Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) promotion and was discontinued on February 16, 2010.

Wrestlers assigned to the ECW brand wrestled predominately on the ECW television program and ECW branded or co-branded pay-per-view events.

From 2007 to 2009, ECW wrestlers occasionally appeared on the Raw and SmackDown television programs due to working agreements between the brands.

In early-to-mid-2002, then World Wrestling Federation (WWF) underwent a process they called the "brand extension". The WWF divided itself into two de facto wrestling promotions with separate rosters, storylines and authority figures.Raw and SmackDown! would host each division, give its name to the division and essentially compete against each other. The split came about as a result of the WWF purchasing their two biggest competitors, World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and ECW; and the subsequent doubling of its roster and championships. The brand extension was publicly announced by Linda McMahon during a telecast of Raw on March 25 and became official the next day. WWE acquired the rights to ECW's trademarks and video library in 2003.

The enormous popularity of ECW merchandise prompted WWE to organize One Night Stand, an ECW reunion pay-per-view in 2005. The financial and critical success of the event motivated WWE to organize a second One Night Stand the following year. With rejuvenated interest in the ECW product, WWE began exploring the possibility of reviving the promotion full-time. On May 25, 2006, WWE announced the launch of ECW as a stand-alone brand, congruous to Raw and SmackDown, with its own show on Sci Fi (now Syfy). On May 29, the WWE held their 2006 brand extension draft. The draft featured ECW founder Paul Heyman receiving two total draft picks from the existing Raw and SmackDown rosters for the newly created ECW brand. During the draft, Rob Van Dam was drafted from Raw and Kurt Angle from SmackDown.