ECW Founder Tod Gordon Recalls Reaction To WWE's 2006 Ill-Fated Reboot Of Promotion

Following the success of "The Rise and Fall of ECW" DVD and the inaugural ECW One Night Stand pay-per-view, WWE decided to relaunch Extreme Championship Wrestling as a third brand alongside "WWE Raw" and "WWE SmackDown" in 2006. ECW Founder Tod Gordon was asked about his thoughts on the rebirth of ECW while speaking on the "Ten Count" podcast. 

"I started to watch the first episode," Gordon said. "I saw this zombie come out, and I said, 'That's it. I'm done. We're back to cartoons.' The first freakin' match, are you kidding me? That's exactly the anti-ECW. 

"I genuinely believe that Vince [McMahon] brought that back because he wanted to say he worked everybody else. Maybe he did. I believe he did. He hated, and I know that for a fact, and loathed the fact that people would yell 'ECW, ECW' during his live shows, and it came across on TV over and over again. So he put the belt on himself, called himself the ECW Champion, and tried to get as many people as possible to turn off the product, and hate it, and stop it."

The ill-fated reboot, which was presented in a completely different form compared to the original ECW, lasted until February 2010. 

If you use quotes in this article, please credit "Ten Count" and provide an h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription