The relaunch of ECW: photos
John Cena defended his WWE Championship against Rob Van Dam at ECW One Night Stand 2006.
The event served as the starting off point for ECW as WWE's third brand.
Edge ran in and speared Cena out of his shoes.
Paul Heyman took advantage of ECW's extreme rules and counted the fall for RVD himself.
Heyman also declared RVD the ECW Champion on the first edition of ECW on Syfy.
The ECW Originals celebrated with Rob Van Dam in the ring.
Tommy Dreamer and Terry Funk teamed up with Beulah to take on Mick Foley, Edge and Lita.
Rob Van Dam's first challenge as ECW Champion came from Big Show, who was drafted to the new brand.
Heyman turned his back on Van Dam and helped The World's Largest Athlete capture the title.
The Philadelphia crowd of original ECW fans pelted the new champion with garbage as he celebrated.
Fans were excited when CM Punk made his debut on Aug. 1, 2006, at the Hammerstein Ballroom.
The ECW faithful chanted The Straight Edge Superstar's name from the moment he stepped into the ring.
Punk flustered Justin Credible with hard-hitting strikes and an array of submission holds.
The main event featuring ECW Champion Big Show taking on Batista wasn't as well-received.
The match received an extremely negative reaction.
Fans got back into things when ECW Original Sabu attacked the giant champion.
ECW got another chance on pay-per-view with December to Dismember 2006.
Fans were a little disheartened by the performance of ECW Originals on the show.
Though Balls Mahoney was victorious in his match against Matt Striker, his compatriots weren't so successful.
Tommy Dreamer took on Daivari at the event.
The ECW Original had to pay attention to Daivari and The Great Khali, who was at ringside.
Daivari grabbed a handful of tights for the win. The Great Khali followed up by powerbombing Dreamer.
Kelly Kelly hit the ring with her then-boyfriend, Mike Knox, to take on the frightening duo of Kevin Thorn and Ariel.
Still fairly new to squared circle competition, Kelly was mismatched against the vampire woman.
Kelly, who wished CM Punk luck in the evening's main event, was ditched by Knox.
After Knox's abandoning, it was open season on Kelly. Ariel sealed the victory for her team.
Rob Van Dam sought to regain his ECW Championship in the Extreme Elimination Chamber.
Many thought CM Punk was the favorite to emerge with the championship.
Hardcore Holly, Test, Bobby Lashley and Big Show were also trying to get hold of the ECW Title.
Despite Punk and RVD's best efforts, Lashley emerged as the champion. Disagreements about the brand's direction after his win led to Paul Heyman's departure from WWE.
