WWE ECW

WWE acquired the rights to Extreme Championship Wrestling's trademarks and video library in January 2003, years after the original promotion had closed down in 2001.

The revival was fueled by the popularity of a documentary called The Rise and Fall of ECW and by the financial and critical success of two ECW One Night Stand reunion pay-per-views in 2005 and 2006.

News that WWE was planning to bring back ECW leaked in mid-April, with reports suggesting the brand would return immediately after WrestleMania 22.

Sci Fi Channel president Bonnie Hammer justified airing a wrestling show on her network by saying ECW fit the channel's theme of 'stretching the imagination', despite initial concerns it wouldn't suit the demographic.

Prior to ECW's launch on Sci Fi, WWE cancelled its webcast Velocity in order to replace it with the new program.

In the original 2006 format, male performers were billed as 'Extremists' instead of 'Superstars' and female performers were called 'Vixens' rather than 'Divas', with the ring featuring an ECW logo and blank turnbuckle covers to distinguish it from other WWE shows.

Former ECW owner Paul Heyman appeared on-air as the 'ECW Representative', a callback to how he had been identified on Monday Night Raw in 1997; according to an interview with The Sun, he wrote the show's weekly scripts before submitting them to writers and then to Vince McMahon for final approval.

Paul Heyman was relieved of both his on-air and off-air duties with WWE following the December to Dismember event.

The August 1, 2006 main event pitting Batista against Big Show drew a notably negative reaction from old-school ECW fans at the Hammerstein Ballroom, a venue that had hosted original ECW events.

The show's original theme song, 'Bodies' by Drowning Pool, had previously been used by WWE for Extreme Championship Wrestling even before the WWE ECW brand was established.

ECW began broadcasting in HD on January 22, 2008, using a new HD set shared among all three WWE brands.

When the Sci Fi Channel rebranded itself as 'Syfy' on July 7, 2009, WWE renamed the program ECW on Syfy to match the network's new identity.

The show was cancelled in February 2010 and replaced the following week by a new program that Vince McMahon teased as a 'groundbreaking, original show', which was revealed to be WWE NXT.