the Big Show at the show of Augfrom Hammerstein Ballroom. This was most evident by the negative crowd reaction "old school" fans gave the main event of Batista vs. While the show started out a ratings success, it began drawing criticism from fans of the original ECW early on.
On October 23, 2007, the network renewed the series through 2008. Because of its good ratings it was given an extended run through the end of 2007. The first episode got a 2.79 rating, making it the highest rated show on cable in its time slot. After Heyman left, there was no ECW authority figure until August 14, 2007, when Armando Estrada was announced as the General Manager.ĮCW's weekly series was first given a thirteen episode run as a "summer series" on the Sci Fi Channel. After the December to Dismember 2006 Heyman was relieved from both his on and off air duties with World Wrestling Entertainment. According to an interview in the UK newspaper The Sun, Heyman wrote the brand's weekly scripts and gave them to writers for possible changes, and then Vince McMahon for final approval. įormer ECW owner Paul Heyman served as the on air "ECW Representative".
On March 14, 2007, before another one could be scheduled, WWE announced that all future pay-per-views would feature all three brands. The only pay-per-view event hosted exclusively by the ECW brand since its launch was December to Dismember in December 2006. WWE now classifies such matches as having " Extreme Rules", and are only fought when specified. Later however, changes were made to differentiate it from the original ECW promotion, including changing the original promotion's rules where weapons were legal in all matches and there were rarely any count outs or disqualifications. The male performers were also referred to as "Extremists" as opposed to Superstars, and female performers were called "Vixens" instead of Divas. The hard cameras were placed in a different location and the ring mat had an ECW logo on it. The ECW brand initially tried to differentiate itself from WWE's other brands.
Sci Fi Channel is owned by NBC Universal, parent company of USA Network and exclusive cable broadcaster of WWE programming.
Despite initial concerns that professional wrestling would not be accepted by the Sci Fi Channel's demographic, network President Bonnie Hammer said that she believed ECW would fit the channel's theme of "stretching the imagination". On May 26, 2006, WWE announced the launch of ECW as a stand-alone brand, congruous to Raw and SmackDown!, with its own show on the Sci Fi Channel.
With rejuvenated interest in the ECW product, WWE began exploring the possibility of reviving the promotion full-time. The financial and critical success of the event encourages WWE to start a second One Night Stand the next year. The big popularity of ECW merchandise prompted WWE to organize ECW One Night Stand, an ECW reunion pay-per-view in 2005. WWE got Extreme Championship Wrestling and its video library in 2003 and later began reintroducing ECW through a series of DVDs and books.