WWE Vault shared a never-before-seen ECW Championship made for CM Punk in 2008.
Punk departed Ring of Honor in 2005 and joined ECW which had been acquired by WWE a few years earlier. In 2007, he defeated John Morrison to win the ECW Heavyweight Championship. He lost it a few months later to Chavo Guerrero. While ECW was all about being “extreme” there is nothing extreme about this appalling championship WWE was thinking of parading around.
CM Punk’s Hideous ECW Championship
The original ECW belt — while distracting and equally repugnant — is exactly what it should have been. The reputation was that they were grungy, gritty, and grimy. A polished design wouldn’t have made sense. It had dripping red “blood” spatters, barbed wire, and baseball bats. This newly unveiled silver title looks like it belongs inside an Auto Zone. It’s dull and sanitized, stripping away the blood and adding chains. “This just never saw the light of day,” said WWE Archivist Ben Brown. “I don’t think it was received the same way that it wanted to be received.”
WWE pivoted to a silver belt for the remainder of ECW’s run, closing shop in 2010. The WWE Vault channel has provided a way for fans to see archival content that is either never before seen or incredibly rare. The best part? It’s all free to stream on YouTube, pleasuring many wrestling historians. This week the channel is focusing on ECW, hence the title reveal.
WWE Hall of Famer Paul Heyman shared that for the first time, fans can watch ECW and WWE Champion Rob Van Dam wrestle Olympic gold medalist Kurt Angle. That was the only WWE-ECW event inside the ECW Arena in Philadelphia. The live stream, which begins at 8 p.m. ET, also features Punk vs. Stevie Richards, Francine vs. Kelly Kelly vs. Trinity, The Big Show vs. Tommy Dreamer, Sabu vs CW Anderson, and much more.
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