ECW was the promotion that wrestlers wanted to join in the '90s when they wanted to reinvent their careers. Paul Heyman allowed wrestlers who flopped in other promotions to get the chance to showcase their skills with a new presentation. Wrestlers were tasked with trying to do the same outside of ECW when the company went out of business.
The wrestlers to spend time in ECW over the final few years saw their personalities attached to the promotion. Things would change for many afterwards as they looked to find a way to stay relevant. Not everyone succeeded, but they all deserve respect for trying to switch it up. The following ECW stars reinvented themselves after the company ended.
8 Rodney Mack
Many fans have no idea that Rodney Mack was even in ECW, but he was hired in the final years. Da Baldies was a heel group with multiple wrestlers having no real identities outside of the shared look of shaved heads.
The move to WWE allowed Rodney to showcase more of his personality when having Teddy Long as his manager. Mack showed potential, but he never gained the momentum to move up the card. Long’s other clients like Mark Henry and Christopher Nowinski received higher priority.
7 Dawn Marie
The ECW run of Dawn Marie saw her primarily playing a manager who occasionally got into catfights. ECW rarely had matches between the women on the roster unless it was a mixed tag match or had some sort of wild gimmick involved.
The success managing the Impact Players in ECW didn’t see her having many managing runs in WWE. Dawn had to reinvent her career by wrestling more in the SmackDown women’s division against Torrie Wilson. WWE trusted Dawn to play the top heel in the women’s division for a few years with relatively strong results.
6 Steve Corino
The rise of Steve Corino in ECW helped Paul Heyman trust another main eventer on the heel side. Corino cut promos that received strong heel heat as a tremendous rising star. A feud with Dusty Rhodes and a later ECW World Championship reign each indicated how much Corino meant to the promotion in 2000.
The end of ECW would see Corino wrestling all over the world. Corino found strong success in Ring of Honor as the main United States promotion he worked for. The ascension of Kevin Owens as a top heel saw Corino playing a master manipulator character influencing Kevin to turn on Sami Zayn’s character of El Generico at the time.
5 Jazz
ECW found a diamond in the rough when adding Jazz to the roster even though they didn’t have a women’s division. Jazz was initially hired to become part of the Impact Players entourage with Jason and Dawn Marie ringside.
Paul Heyman eventually started booking Jazz as a face character challenging male wrestlers on the roster. WWE signed Jazz towards the end of the Invasion angle and made her a mainstay in the women’s division. Jazz thrived playing a new heel character as one of the best rivals to Trish Stratus and even won the Women’s Championship.
4 James Mitchell
The managing skills of James Mitchell added a great talent to ECW when the company needed to build new stars. Mitchell played Sinister Minister in the final few years leading the Unholy Alliance faction as a great way to rebound from his WCW failure.
TNA signed Mitchell after ECW went out of business and the new company needed a deep roster of talents outside of WWE. Mitchell showed a new heel side to his sinister character by managing Abyss and manipulating him at times. The outstanding TNA run made him arguably the greatest manager in the company’s history.
3 Nova
The end of ECW saw names like Nova getting bigger pushes after years of lower card work. Nova became a singles star after his prior run peaked as part of the Blue World Order. Fans loved Nova from his Beastie Boys entrance theme to the action-packed matches.
Nova ended up in WWE in a backstage role as his next major opportunity in wrestling. Unfortunately, an on-screen return would harm his status when getting the character of Simon Dean. The gimmick was a huge flop and ended up ruining his position in WWE.
2 Joey Matthews
Paul Heyman was trying to find new young stars to elevate in ECW when most of the bigger stars left for WWE and WCW. Joey Matthews received an opportunity by becoming part of a tag team with fellow rising star Christian York.
Both performers were exciting faces and united to oppose the established teams of the division. Mathews ended up finding a lot more success years later in WWE as part of the MNM team. The renamed Joey Mercury formed a tremendous team with John Morrison as Melina added a great dynamic in the manager role.
1 Tajiri
Paul Heyman was ahead of his time when scouting the globe for international talents. Tajiri was a tremendous performer who started to break out in the final years of ECW. Both tag matches with Mikey Whipwreck and singles matches against bigger names spotlighted his skill set.
WWE signed Tajiri shortly after ECW ended and placed him in a more comedic role. Tajiri started to take part in hilarious segments with William Regal before moving into a romantic angle with Torrie Wilson. The ability to reinvent himself on the fly made Tajiri a success story in WWE.