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The ECW World Title began life as the Eastern Championship Wrestling Title back in April 1992, when the company was a regional promotion based out of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania under the National Wrestling Alliance banner. The inaugural champion was WWE Hall of Famer "Superfly" Jimmy Snuka, who defeated the Belgian, Salvatore Bellomo to win the strap. He held onto the title for just one day before he was upended by Johnny Hotbody.
He regained the title three months later. Much has been written about the circumstances in which Eastern Championship Wrestling split from the NWA to become Extreme Championship Wrestling. Under the stewardship of the "Mad Scientist", Paul Heyman, ECW grew into a worldwide phenomenon. A counterculture of wrestling that moved the sport forward years and years and dragged the big two international companies, the World Wrestling Federation and World Championship Wrestling into the 1990s and led to the wrestling boom period of 1997-2001.
A creative and financial peak that the world of wrestling has not seen for nearly two decades since. During that time, the ECW World Title was central to the promotion's television and pay-per-view product, with hugely intense and bloody brawls commonplace as the company's top names such as Sabu, Taz, Bam Bam Bigelow, and others vied for the gold. The title was the third most prestigious in all of wrestling during that hallowed 1994-2001 period.
During the title's full nine-year history, there were 39 reigns by 18 different wrestlers. The final ECW champion during its original incarnation was Rhino, who defeated The Sandman at ECW's final pay-per-view event, Guilty As Charged, in January 2001. The title was reactivated in 2006 when WWE reintroduced ECW as a third brand. However, for the purposes of this list, that period is not represented here, only the original World Title.
This slideshow revisits the five best ECW World Champions ever from 1992-2001.
#5 The Sandman (5 reigns, 446 days as champion)
The Sandman never looked or wrestled like a traditional world champion. Marching into the ring via the crowd, to the thunderous tones of Metallica's Enter Sandman, Sandman smoked cigarettes, poured beer over young ladies' breasts and drank it before he even made it to the squared circle!
Sandman employed very few wrestling holds or maneuvers during his bouts. Instead, preferring to brawl and use weapons to his matches. That style served him well, as he is the most honored ECW World Champion of all time, having held the title on five separate occasions.
His first win came way back in November 1992, before the Championship was even a world title. Sandman's third title reign was his most successful as he held the strap for 196 days before dropping the belt to Mikey Whipwreck in October 1995.
His final one came on ECW's final ever pay-per-view, Guilty As Charged, in January 2001, when he won the strap from Steve Corino before dropping it to Rhino moments later.
Sandman was an ECW guy through and through. His extreme style of wrestling that saw him donning a crimson mask many a time was synonymous with what the brand had on offer.
Whenever he possessed a Singapore cane, he was simply unstoppable in the ring.
#4 Mike Awesome (2 reigns, 201 days as champion)
Mike Awesome may be best remembered by some fans for a succession of ridiculous gimmicks in his final months in WCW such as: "That 70s guy" and the "Canadian Career Killer." However, Awesome was a brilliant worker and superstar at the height of his fame during the mid to late 1990s.
Awesome achieved arguably his greatest success in ECW, though he did also have a spectacular run in FMW in the early 1990s. Awesome worked for ECW on three separate occasions but by far his most successful run was his final one between 1999-2000.
It was during this period that Awesome became a two-time ECW World Champion. Awesome ended Taz's dominant reign as Champion in September 1999 and rekindled his legendary series of matches with his favorite opponent, Japanese superstar Masato Tanaka, with whom he traded the belt in December 1999.
A planned title feud with Rob Van Dam in 2000 would have been legendary but unfortunately, it never occurred as RVD suffered a broken ankle and was forced onto the sidelines. Around this time, Awesome was offered a huge money contract by WCW in the spring of 2000 and left the company without dropping the belt.
With ECW threatening WCW with litigation for stealing away their champion, Awesome was forced to return to ECW for one night only to drop the title to Taz, who WWE loaned to ECW for a short period to facilitate the transition of the belt with Awesome gone and their other top drawing card, RVD on the shelf.
Despite the acrimony of his departure from ECW, Awesome should be remembered for his super stiff, brutal matches with the likes of Taz and Tanaka which will be forever en-grained in the consciousness of all who witnessed them.
Awesome, was the quintessential big guy that was very agile despite his large stature. His modification of the power bomb, also known as the 'awesome bomb' was one of the most destructive moves in his arsenal.
#3 Taz (Two reigns, 261 days as champion)
A whole generation of wrestling fans may better remember Taz(z) as an opening card act in WWE or a commentator in WWE and Impact Wrestling. However, in the 1990s, Taz was one of the most over acts in ECW. His silent killer, the "Human Suplex Machine," was a devastatingly stiff striker who instilled fear into his opponents and thrilled the ECW fanbase as he suplexed his opponents into submission.
Taz won his first ECW World Title on January 10, 1999, ending Shane Douglas's epic 406-day title run. Taz's reign as champion lasted 252 days and encompassed some brutal battles with the likes of Sabu and Chris Candido before dropping the title to Mike Awesome when he signed on with WWE.
Surprisingly, Taz won a second ECW World Title while under contract with WWE in early 2000, ironically defeating Awesome, who also had decided to leave ECW; in his case, WCW was the destination. Taz held the belt for 10 days before he dropped the belt to ECW lifer, Tommy Dreamer. Taz was one of the best and most memorable ECW World Champions ever.
Taz soon transitioned into the WWE. But repeated injuries ended his in-ring career. He was more than an able commentator and called the action during SmackDown's glory days.
#2 Raven (Two reigns, 379 days as champion)
Raven is persona non grata in 2019 with WWE, the company he worked for between 1993-94 and 2000-03, due to a lawsuit he co-authored against the company regarding their Independent Contractor policy. Had it been successful, it would have literally cost WWE hundreds of millions of dollars in back-pay, expenses and future costs.
So, don't expect Raven to be in the WWE Hall of Fame anytime soon. In truth, his runs in WWE were unspectacular, but his ECW tenure was extremely rewarding and was highlighted by two memorable World Title runs. Raven won World Title number one from The Sandman in January 1996 and held onto it in defense against top line opponents Shane Douglas, Chris Jericho and Terry Gordy.
In a hugely controversial but nevertheless memorable storyline, Raven brainwashed Sandman's ex-wife and son (with whom he was feuding) and used the pair as psychological warfare to get the upper hand in their title bouts. Sandman finally earned his revenge on the dastardly Raven, ending his epic 252-day reign in October 1996.
Raven regained the strap again from Sandman two months later and dropped the title to veteran Terry Funk at ECW's first ever pay-per-view event, Barely Legal in April 1997. It was Raven's last hurrah in the company and he soon joined WCW before returning to ECW for a short, unmemorable period between 1999-2000. There were few characters like Raven in wrestling in the 1990s and he is unquestionably one of the greatest world title holders in ECW history.
#1 Shane Douglas (4 reigns, 874 days as champion)
Shane Douglas called himself the "Franchise" but in truth the only company in which he was ever a true player was ECW. Make no mistake, in the small arenas of Philadelphia, Douglas was the "Man". Douglas had briefly reigned as ECW Champion when the promotion was still known as Eastern Championship Wrestling. However, he fully established himself as the franchise player of the company during his second reign as champion, when he double crossed ECW's parent promotion, the NWA.
The NWA had once controlled pro-wrestling in the United States. WWE in it's previous life as World Wide Wrestling Federation was a member, as was Memphis, WCW and other well known companies. However, by 1994, the governing body was a shadow of it's former self. WWE and WCW had both gone solo and there were very few companies left under it's control.
On August 27, 1994, ECW split from the NWA as well. Douglas won a tournament final for the then vacant NWA World Title but double crossed the alliance and declared the NWA "dead" and rechristened the strap, the ECW World Title instead and the ECW title he already held, became a World Championship.
Douglas won his third title by besting Sabu, at Hardcore Heaven in August 1997 and his fourth and final reign commenced when he overcame Bam Bam Bigelow at November To Remember that same year.
He held onto the gold for an epic 406 days before succumbing to Taz at Guilty As Charged in January 1999. Douglas soon left ECW for good a few months later, signing for WCW, ending the ECW career of the greatest ECW World Champion of them all.
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