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Formed in the early 1990s and initially based out of the Philadelphia area, Extreme Championship Wrestling -- originally known as Eastern Championship Wrestling -- was launched as an affiliate of the National Wrestling Alliance. After being taken over by Paul Heyman, ECW became much more than an independent wrestling promotion that booked talent not contracted to WWF or WCW. It would go on to a tastemaker within the international wrestling scene, presenting an alternative to what mainstream wrestling fans had been accustomed to.
The original ECW went out of business in 2001, eventually being bought out by Vince McMahon and the WWE. McMahon and company would eventually present a series of ECW reunion-themed pay-per-views before entirely doing a relaunch of the ECW brand in the mid-2000s.
While ECW's original closure was well over 15 years ago, surprisingly a lot of the talent from its early years is still very active on the wrestling scene. And this is without factoring in wrestlers who currently work behind the scenes of the industry, like the Dudley Boyz, or in broadcasting roles, like Tazz. In fact, some of these ECW originals are still on the main rosters of WWE, New Japan and Impact Wrestling.
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#1: Rhyno
Rhyno made his wrestling debut on the independent scene as Terry Richards. He went on to do some work as an enhancement talent in both WCW and the WWF, competing against the likes of "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan, The Nasty Boys, and The Truth Commission.
The Michigan native joined ECW in 1999 as Rhino, quickly forming an on-air partnership with Steve Corino. In January 2001, Rhino went on to win ECW's World Heavyweight Championship from Sandman. He also became the company's World Television Champion before the closure of ECW.
Rhino -- now as Rhyno -- was part of the ECW invasion storyline of WWF in 2001 and was part of the company until April 2005. He then moved along to TNA where he worked on and off until 2015, also being part of Ring Of Honor and Juggalo Championship Wrestling storylines.
Rhyno made his return to WWE in 2015, first as an occasional NXT competitor, then as a full-time competitor in 2016. Since returning, Rhyno has been a SmackDown Tag Team Champion, reigning alongside Heath Slater.
#2: Tommy Dreamer
Tommy Dreamer started training to be a wrestler in the late 1980s. Before joining ECW -- then known as Eastern Championship Wrestling -- in 1993, Dreamer had wrestled the likes of Tony Atlas, The Iron Sheik and The Brooklyn Brawler.
Dreamer would stick around ECW until its closure in 2001, also working behind the scenes. He was initially part of ECW's invasion storyline within WWF before being sent to one of the company's developmental territories. Dreamer returned to the WWE's main roster in 2002, going on to win the Hardcore Championship more than a dozen times before leaving WWE in 2010.
Later in 2010, Dreamer appeared in TNA for the first of several runs with the company. Beyond launching his own House Of Hardcore promotion, he returned for a one-off WWE appearance in 2012 and returned again for another short run in November 2015 -- including matches against The Wyatt Family -- which touted his legacy as an ECW Original. Since then, Dreamer has popped up in Ring Of Honor, Lucha Underground, and Impact Wrestling.
#3: Chris Jericho
Chris Jericho made his professional wrestling debut in 1990 after training in Canada. In 1991, he and Lance Storm made it to Japan. The following year, Jericho moved to Mexico, where he found his first success as a wrestler.
In 1995, Jericho finally made it to ECW after being recommended to Paul Heyman. Jericho went on to win the ECW World Television Championship in June 1996. Just two months later Jericho was appearing on WCW weekly television.
Over the past decade, Jericho has come and go with the WWE. Most recently, he was part of the Greatest Royal Rumble in Saudi Arabia. Several months prior, Jericho shocked wrestling fans around the world by appearing as part of a New Japan Pro-Wrestling vignette in November 2017. He has since won the IWGP Intercontinental Championship, making him the first wrestler to have held both the WWE and IWGP's International Championships.
The future for Jericho has a lot of question marks, but the Winnipeg, Canada native has not announced anything resembling a retirement match or a farewell to the wrestling business. As of late, he has been touring very actively with his band Fozzy.
#4: Rey Mysterio
Rey Mysterio may have made his professional wrestling debut in 1989, but he is most likely younger than you realize. That 1989 debut was prior to his 15th birthday, meaning that he was in his early 20s while performing in WCW.
Prior to working in WCW, Mysterio was part of ECW, which he had joined in 1995. Mysterio's ECW run was somewhat short-lived, but it did include feuds with fellow Lucha legends Psicosis and Juventud Guerrera. After WCW went out of business, Mysterio joined WWE, which he remained part of until 2015.
Shortly after leaving WWE in 2015, Mysterio returned to the independent circuit, wrestling for the likes of AAA, Lucha Underground and other promotions. This entailed high-profile matches with A.J. Styles, Kurt Angle, Jeff Hardy, Alberto Del Rio, John Morrison, and Chavo Guerrero Jr.
2018 has brought a WWE return of sorts for Mysterio as the former WWE Champion appeared at both the 2018 Royal Rumble and the 50-man Greatest Royal Rumble. The year has also seen Mysterio debut in New Japan Pro-Wrestling and make a return to AAA. Mysterio is scheduled to appear at the All In event in September, so no one is certain as to what the future holds for Rey Mysterio aside from in-ring activity.
#5: Rob Van Dam
Unless you count his 1987 appearance as part of a televised Ted DiBiase segment, Rob Van Dam made his professional wrestling debut in 1990. While Rob Van Dam is often thought of as an ECW Original, RVD was first seen in WCW as "Robbie V" in late 1992. His run with WCW was short-lived, ending in the middle of 1993.
Van Dam stayed with ECW from 1996 through the company's demise in 2001. He was part of the ECW invasion angle within WWF, quickly placed into storylines alongside The Rock, The Undertaker, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Kurt Angle, and Chris Jericho. Van Dam ultimately became the WWE Champion and also held the main title of WWE's rebranded ECW.
Van Dam made a one-off appearance with WWE in 2007, but he stayed on the independent circuit until debuting with TNA in March 2010. He returned to WWE in June 2013, sticking around for almost a year before returning to the indies.
RVD competed earlier this year as part of a 5 Star Wrestling tournament. One of his upcoming bookings is with Insane Championship Wrestling.
#6: Christopher Daniels
Christopher Daniels is another one of those wrestlers who is much younger than you may realize. He debuted in 1993, toiling around the indies for the next few years.
Daniels was signed by WWE and placed into its developmental system in 1998. Daniels was also signed late into WCW's timeline as part of a 90-day contract. Within his involvement with WWE, Daniels had also wrestled for ECW, as seen facing Rhino on the October 2, 1999, edition of ECW's Hardcore TV.
Daniels has had several runs with Ring Of Honor, first in 2002. He has also had several runs with TNA. Notably, in March 2018, Daniels became the first-ever Grand Slam Champion within Ring Of Honor's history.
#7: Duane Gill
Duane Gill has had a very interesting career in professional wrestling, to say the least. He made his debut in 1990 and with WWF he was used as an enhancement talent for much of the 1990s, wrestling various matches against The Undertaker, Kamala, "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan, Sgt. Slaughter. He even had a one-off victory in an enhancement match where he and tag team partner Barry Hardy wrestled as knock-off Ninja Turtles known as The Toxic Turtles.
Gill was part of ECW in its early days. He was documented to have been part of shows in 1993, also wrestling alongside Hardy in that promotion.
Arguably, the peak of Gill's career was when he portrayed Gillberg, which was WWF's attempt at mocking Bill Goldberg. Gillberg made a returned to WWE last year as part of Kevin Owens' feud with the returning Goldberg.
Duane Gill remains active on the independent scene, having won the ICW High Stakes Championship back in February. He and fellow WWE enhancement favorite James Ellsworth have since teamed together in matches and won the ACW Tag Team Championships.
#8: Gangrel
Gangrel is yet another one of those "younger than you may realize" former ECW wrestlers. He began his in-ring training in 1987, well before his 20th birthday.
In the early 1990s, Gangrel worked as an enhancement talent for the WWF under the name The Black Phantom, taking on the likes of Earthquake, Razor Ramon, Lex Luger, and Tatanka. After leaving WWF the first time, he performed at The Vampire Warrior in ECW. Both before and after that ECW run, he had been involved with WCW.
Gangrel's first run as a superstar with the WWF started in 1998 and continued through 2001. He has since been back for several more runs beyond one-off appearances on The Edge & Christian Show and on the 15th Anniversary WWE Raw special.
Wrestling as Gangrel on the indies, he was recently seen participating in the AIW The J.T. Lightning Invitational Tournament 2018.
#9: New Jack
Prior to landing in ECW in 1995, New Jack had been seen in the USWA and Smoky Mountain Wrestling. One of the more infamous characters to come from the original ECW, New Jack was a 3-time ECW World Tag Team Champion. He also wrestled as a singles competitor, sticking with ECW until its 2001 dissolution.
New Jack never wound up becoming a full-timer at WWE. However, he has wrestled occasionally for TNA since leaving WCW. New Jack announced his retirement in 2013, wrestling against Necro Butcher as part of a retirement match.
However, that retirement was called off in 2016. New Jack has since been wrestling alongside fellow ECW alumni like Justin Credible and Sandman. Back in May, New Jack posted a photo on Twitter of himself holding a knife to former WCW World Heavyweight Champion David Arquette.
#10: Sabu
Yet another one of those "younger than most wrestling fans realize" wrestlers is Sabu, who made his professional wrestling debut in 1995. Trained by his uncle The Sheik, Sabu had been all over the year a number of times before joining up with ECW in 1993.
Within his first ECW run between 1993 and 1995, Sabu won the ECW World Heavyweight Championship, the ECW World Television Championship, and the ECW World Tag Team Championship. After short runs with New Japan Pro-Wrestling and WCW, Sabu returned to ECW and had more title reigns.
After leaving ECW in 2000, Sabu returned to the independent world, including time spent with TNA and the short-lived World Wrestling All-Stars promotion. He was part of the WWE roster in 2006 and 2007, then returned to the indies where he has been ever since.
On November 3rd, Sabu and the aforementioned New Jack will be part of an SWF show in Jackson, New Jersey, suggesting that retirement for Sabu is still a way's away.
