WWE: ECW the Career Death Sentence

WWE's version of Extreme Championship Wrestling was what many fans of the original promotion a slap in the face.  Basically since ECW was not RAW or Smackdown, it was the C-Show and treated as such. 

For the most part it was exciting brand as it featured more wrestling and was used primarily as the AAA for both RAW and Smackdown rosters. 

It did have its highlighted performers.  Guys like Kofi Kingston, CM Punk, and Sheamus have gone onto pretty good careers since being on the ECW brand.  Recently The Miz, who tagged with John Morrison on ECW, won the WWE title.

But with the death blow of ECW in February 2010, most of the wrestlers that were on the show have not had the same great opportunities.  Some wrestlers have since been future endeavored, while others have toiled around the lower card of both Smackdown and RAW.

So let's take a look at those performers that were part of the final ECW roster.

The Less Notable

Byron Saxton - Announcer turned wrestler has appeared on two seasons of NXT.  Mostly used in FCW as announcer/wrestler.

Abraham Washington - Talk-show host on ECW.  Returned to FCW where he is used in an announcing/wrestling role.

Future Endeavored

Shelton Benjamin - Never really lived up to the potential WWE wanted from the Gold Standard.  He now currently works for Ring of Honor with tag team partner Charlie Haas. 

Caylen Croft -  Tag team partner with Trent Barreta as part of the Dudebusters.  Was moved to Smackdown but was future endeavored last fall.

Tiffany - the General Manager of ECW was moved to Smackdown.  She had an unremarkable feud against LayCool with Kelly Kelly before out-of-ring issues arose.

Gregory Helms/The Hurricane -  Future endeavored shortly after the demise of ECW.  Currently working for Lucha Libre USA and mostly known for his out-of-ring issues.

Paul and Katie Lea Burchill - Paul was cut shortly after the end of the ECW.  Katie Lea stuck around for a bit and now works as Winter in TNA

Vance Archer - Briefly formed a tag team with Curt Hawkins known as the Gate Crashers on Smackdown  It never really went anywhere, and Archer was future endeavored last fall.

Yoshi Tatsu

Christian dubbed Yoshi Tatsu as a future champion.  His matches for the ECW title against Christian were great.  He is also pretty over with the crowd as well. 

He formed an interesting pairing with Goldust.  His gimmick doesn't allow much growth, so a change there would help. 

But since the demise of ECW, Yoshi has only been used in lackluster skits or on Superstars.  This is a guy with a lot of talent and could be the face for the WWE in Japan.

William Regal

William Regal was a major player on ECW.  As leader of the group comprised of of Vladimir Kozlov, Ezekiel Jackson, and himself, Regal was always near the top of the title picture. 

Since returning to the RAW roster, Regal has been sparingly used.  He's made some appearances on NXT as rookie mentor and a few appearances on Superstars.

One of the best technical wrestlers the WWE has, Regal has never really gotten the push his talents warrant. 

Zack Ryder

Before he started doing a weekly YouTube broadcast, Zack Ryder was lost on the RAW roster.  His time on ECW was really should have gotten him noticed.  He put on good matches for the ECW title with Christian and had the most unique ring attire in the business.

Before as part of La Familia he was just another generic wrestler that followed leader Edge and helped him win at all costs.  With the move to ECW, Ryder gained that uniqueness that most within the WWE seem to lack. 

His gimmick is brilliant and somewhat mainstream enough to work, but WWE has dropped the ball for the part with Ryder.

Barely seen on RAW, his only claim besides wrestling on Superstars and NXT, is being considered No. 1 contender to Sheamus' WWE Title which was a squash match.

Rosa Mendes

The former valet/girlfriend of Zack Ryder has rarely been seen since the end of ECW.  She's been the resident jobber for the top face or top heel in the ring. 

Her most notable appearances were alongside Hornswoggle on Smackdown. 

She's seen more success as part of the Florida Championship Wrestling roster, winning the Queen of FCW title.

Trent Barreta

Trent Barreta joined the ECW roster with Caylen Croft as the Dudebusters.  They were an entertaining heel tag team that were pretty good in the ring together. 

They were able to showcase their continuity in matches against ragtag teams put together for matches.  However they never got the shot at the title and were later split up when Croft was future endeavored.

Since Barreta has wrestled sparingly on Smackdown and Superstars.  The only memorable feud was with now Superstars regular Drew McIntyre during his storyline with Kelly Kelly. 

Tyler Reks

Tyler Reks was the fun-loving surfer dude on ECW.  His gimmick and music were not very good and was rarely even used on ECW. 

Since the demise of ECW, he didn't resurface till last fall with a much darker character making two pay-per-view appearances.  Since then, he has been used primarily on Superstars and in a storyline involving Chris Masters. 

He has talent and the look to be a WWE superstar, but it just has not worked for him.

Vladimir Kozlov

It's hard to say winning the WWE tag team titles as unsuccessful but with the lackluster tag division it sadly is.

Kozlov came to the main roster as the dominating Russian and was placed in the main event scene on Smackdown alongside Triple H, Jeff Hardy, and the Undertaker. 

This was an epic fail of sorts, and he was sent to ECW find new life.

While in ECW, he only had a feud of one-upsmanship with Ezekiel Jackson before joining forces.  The group was a force but never really got far much like other stables within the WWE.

Since moving to RAW, Kozlov has basically been part of the comedic relief alongside tag team partner Santino Marella. 

You know it's bad when you're put in a match at Wrestlemania, only to have an injury angle before hand which knocks you out of the big show.

Goldust

Goldust was mostly used as an enhancement talent to help put the younger stars over on ECW but he had a somewhat interesting storyline with Yoshi Tatsu as tag team partners.  It was a very unique pairing and they worked pretty well together.

He had some good individual feuds with Sheamus and Benjamin.

Goldust was moved to RAW where at one point according to Chris Jericho, was in the best shape of his career.  Used mostly on Superstars and NXT he had major angle with Ted DiBiase and Maryse over DiBiase's million dollar title. 

This storyline also involved Goldust's NXT rookie Aksana, who married Goldust to only steal the title before it was eventually returned to DiBiase. 

This storyline never technically finished as Goldust was shelved with a shoulder injury.  He has since taken a behind-the-scenes role.

Ezekiel Jackson

Ezekiel Jackson will go down as the last ECW champion which he won on the finale.  This probably meant he was going to get a major push when he debuted for RAW or Smackdown but was sidelined with an injury prior to officially re-debuting on the main shows. 

He was part of a three-person stable with Kozlov and Regal while on ECW.  He never had a major solo storyline until the end, other than the one with Kozlov.

He debuted as a face on RAW but never got over with the crowd before joining forces with Wade Barrett, Heath Slater, and Justin Gabriel to form the Corre on Smackdown. 

Like most recent stables, the Corre have been used the wrong way.

Christian

The leader of the Peepulation, Christian by far has had the best run since the demise of ECW.  He held the ECW title the majority of his time on the show and proved a worthy champion.  He dropped the title to Ezekiel Jackson on the fiinale. 

Since moving to Smackdown, Christian was used in a feud against Matt Hardy and Alberto Del Rio before missing time due to injury.  On his return, Christian was placed in the storyline with Edge and Del Rio for the World Heavyweight Championship. 

After the sudden retirement of Edge post-Wrestlemania, Christian was placed in a title match at Extreme Rules for the title.  Christian would win the World Heavyweight title over Del Rio. 

However, as a show of no faith by management, he dropped the title only a week later to Randy Orton.