When Extreme Championship Wrestling folded in the year 2001, WWE bought the promotion and ended up reviving it as a “third brand” in 2006. While the show’s premiere came with a lot of hype thanks to the One Night Stand PPV leading into it, ultimately fans were disappointed by WWE’s interpretation of the cult favorite, which lasted until 2010.

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Over those four years of WWE’s ECW, there were 14 different wrestlers who held the brand’s top title, the revived ECW Heavyweight Championship. These champions range from rising future stars to WWE staples to a handful of truly baffling choices.

14 Ezekiel Jackson

Ezekiel Jackson and William Regal

Ezekiel Jackson spent much of his WWE career as one of wrestling history’s many big dudes whose in-ring abilities don’t match the size of his muscles. In fact, he may have made a stronger impression as a skull wearing an eyepatch on Lucha Underground than he did in WWE.

He does, however, have the distinction of being the final ECW Champion, having defeated Christian for the title on the very last episode of the series. That didn’t really amount to anything, as the title was deactivated with the show’s cancellation.

13 Vince McMahon

Vince McMahon

In 2007, WWE tried really, really hard to get Bobby Lashley over, including trying to recreate the Austin/McMahon magic by having Lashley feud with Vince McMahon. This storyline involved McMahon beating Lashley for the ECW Championship, which is fine, but for some egregious reason, McMahon ended up holding it for a whole month.

In contrast, when he won the WWE Championship, he kept it for less than a week. While this era was a lowlight of the ECW revival, it did give fans the bizarre sight of Vince McMahon wearing a du-rag.

12 Chavo Guerrero

Chavo Guerrero, Edge, Curt Hawkins, and Zack Ryder

Chavo Guerrero showed up in ECW in late 2007, establishing himself as an antagonist for CM Punk. Guerrero would ultimately win the title and hold it for a couple of months in early 2008.

Most of his matches with Punk (save one standout) were too short to really impress, and Guerrero’s reign as ECW Champion ended in embarrassment, as he was dispatched in 10 seconds by Kane at WrestleMania 24.

11 Kane

Kane and the Big Show

On the pre-show of WrestleMania 24, Kane won a battle royal to become the #1 Contender to the ECW Championship, which he won later that night, as previously mentioned. This reign ended up lasting three months, with one successful title defense against Chavo Guerrero before Kane was randomly drafted to Raw.

RELATED: 5 Ways ECW Was The Best Company Of The '90s (& 5 Ways It Was WCW)

Six days later, Kane ended up losing the title to Mark Henry in a triple threat match with Big Show at Night of Champions.

10 Bobby Lashley

Bobby Lashley

As soon as Paul Heyman was booted from ECW, the show became about promoting Bobby Lashley as the next big thing in WWE, with storylines involving him crossing over with Raw, including the infamous “Battle of the Billionaires” match where Lashley (representing Donald Trump) fought Umaga (representing Vince McMahon) at WrestleMania 23.

Lashley was one of many potential stars that WWE pushed too hard, but he acquitted himself fairly well as ECW Champion.

9 John Morrison

John Morrison

When Bobby Lashley was drafted to Raw and the ECW Title was vacated, a match for the vacated title between Chris Benoit and CM Punk was scheduled for 2007’s Vengeance: Night of Champions. Unfortunately, Benoit didn’t show up -- for the exact reason you’re probably thinking of -- and John Morrison filled in, defeating Punk for the title.

Morrison’s entire ECW Title run mostly amounted to him being an obstacle for CM Punk to overcome, but he was a victim of circumstance.

8 Mark Henry

Mark Henry and Tony Atlas

When Mark Henry won the ECW Championship from Kane, it was Henry’s second title win ever, following a month-long run as WWE European Champion nine years prior. This reign lasted about 70 days and was most notable for introducing a new design for the title belt and Mark Henry feuding with Matt Hardy.

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Ultimately, it would be Hardy who would take the title from Mark Henry, in a well-received Championship Scramble match at 2008’s Unforgiven PPV.

7 Jack Swagger

Jack Swagger

While a relative failure as a revival of the classic ECW, the WWE version of the promotion actually evolved into a proto-NXT, where new stars would show up from developmental and get wider exposure.

ECW introduced fans to Kofi Kingston, Evan Bourne, and more, including Jack Swagger. Swagger was only a few months into his ECW tenure when he beat Matt Hardy for the title, and showed a lot of promise as champion, especially in his final title defense against Christian.

6 Tommy Dreamer

Tommy Dreamer

For most of Tommy Dreamer’s run in the new ECW, he was mostly what those in the business call a “good hand.” He had value in name recognition and a tangible connection to the original ECW, so he brought an air of legitimacy to the whole venture.

He’s a great underdog, too, so when he finally won the WWE version of the ECW Championship in 2009, it felt like an achievement, even if it only lasted a couple of months.

5 Matt Hardy

Matt Hardy

Matt Hardy never got much of an opportunity at WWE’s top titles except for in battle royals and the like, but he actually had a 127-day run with the ECW Championship from 2008 to 2009.

Hardy’s reign is pretty underrated, featuring strong matches with Fit Finlay, Evan Bourne, and others before losing it to Jack Swagger in January of 2009. In the wake of that title loss, Hardy would take his frustrations out on his brother Jeff, leading to an Extreme Rules match at WrestleMania 25.

4 Rob Van Dam

Rob Van Dam in ECW

One of the best performers of the original run of ECW, Rob Van Dam was set up to be one of the top stars of the revival. He started off the new ECW with a bang, too, defeating John Cena for the WWE Championship at One Night Stand and earning the ECW Title in the process.

RELATED: Rob Van Dam: 5 Best Title Reigns Of His Career (& 5 Worst)

Unfortunately, a poorly timed drug arrest resulted in WWE booking Van Dam to lose both the WWE Championship and the ECW Championship. From there, Van Dam got relegated to hapless “ECW Original” alongside Tommy Dreamer, Sabu, and others, and would be gone from the company in 2007.

3 Big Show

The Big Show

On paper -- especially 14 years later -- Big Show beating Rob Van Dam for the championship one month into the revival run seems like exactly the kind of booking that made die-hard fans hate WWE’s ECW.

But as a storyline, it made a ton of sense: Paul Heyman got his baby back, and was desperate to keep it, so he turned heel and made sure the title stayed on an established name-brand star like Big Show. The title run was more about the story than competitive wrestling matches, but it worked.

2 Christian

Christian

While some fans balk at Christian returning to WWE from TNA -- where he had worked to prove his value as a main eventer -- only to be relegated to ECW. To his credit, however, Christian continued to prove his value in ECW, becoming a two-time champion.

More than that, he was a fighting champion, putting on lots of competitive matches against basically anyone on the show and racking up a 205-day run with the title, the longest of the revival era.

1 CM Punk

CM Punk

CM Punk was one of the first new stars to debut on ECW, having wrestled his first match on the eighth episode of the show. He already had a reputation with the die-hard fans thanks to his run on the indies, but his push in ECW, during which he defeated John Morrison for the ECW Title, did a lot of work to establish him as a wrestler to watch for WWE fans.

Given that he was one of the few ECW Champions who wasn’t already an established star on the main shows, he can be considered the best ECW Champion.

NEXT: The 10 Best Years Of CM Punk's Career, Ranked