Wrestlers You May Have Forgotten Or Didn't Know Worked For ECW In Their Final Year

Wrestlers You May Have Forgotten Or Didn't Know Worked For ECW In Their Final Year
June 17, 2026
By Ryan Porzl

Throughout the 1990s, fewer promotions made a bigger mark in American wrestling then ECW. Formed in 1992, the promotion started small and even was a member of the National Wrestling Alliance before eventually striking out on their own and eventually making their mark with creative and groundbreaking ideas and angles to being a place for talent to find themselves especially if runs in WWF and WCW didn't work. It's contributions would also be mimicked by the big two by the late 90s. Going in the 21st Century, ECW was utter chaos. They had a horrible relationship with TNN before losing that deal, pay checks were bouncing, talent was leaving in droves, the locker room was frustrated, and Paul Heyman was completely burnt out. During this time, ECW would see several wrestlers like Justin Credible, Steve Corino, Yoshihiro Tajiri, Super Crazy, and Rhino rise to become stars for the promotion. Meanwhile, legends like The Sandman and Rob Van Dam remained popular while Mikey Whipwreck experienced a career revival.

Then there were talents that came to the Land of Extreme in 2000-2001. Names you might be familiar with. Name who were either looking for a comeback or their first break in the industry. In this article, we'll take a look at wrestling talent who you probably either forgot or didn't know worked for ECW during their final year.

Note: I don't own any pictures. Credit to WWE, TNA, or whomever owns them.

Scotty Riggs (Scotty Anton)- Scotty Riggs is someone who already had a colorful career in wrestling before his ECW run but no doubt went there to try to give his career a much needed boost. Riggs already was known for his time in Smoky Mountain Wrestling and WCW throughout the 90s. He competed in SMW as "Scott Studd" and "Kendo The Samurai" while holding the promotion's Beat The Champ TV Championship. In WCW, he mostly became known for his team "The American Males" with Buff Bagwell enjoying a brief WCW World Tag Team Championship run. After the team broke up, Riggs largely floated around aimlessly as a feud with Bagwell, a run in Raven's Flock, and having a narcissistic like gimmick didn't help him. After getting bounced in late 1999, Riggs would try his luck in ECW no doubt trying to find that spark. Riggs debuted in ECW in early 2000 as "Scotty Anton" where he originally debuted aligning with real life friend Rob Van Dam in his war with The Network stable. Eventually, Anton would turn heel and cost Van Dam his match against Jerry Lynn at Hardcore Heaven 2000 thus giving RVD his first PPV loss. After turning heel, he aligned with The Network and his character would have several "wink winks" to his past. He would use the nickname "The U.S. Male" (obviously a take on The American Males) and he would clap his hands to the ring (again, an American Males bit) while calling his sharpshooter submission "the clapper". Riggs would work in ECW for most of 2000 and actually got opportunities scoring wins over ECW legends like Pitbull #1, Kid Kash, Steve Corino, and old mentor Raven. His biggest highlight would be his one and only PPV match taking on RVD at the Heat Wave 2000 PPV on July 16th where he became the first victim of Van Dam's Van Terminator move. Riggs would leave ECW a few months before their early 2001 shutdown with his last match being a win over Michael Shane at a live event on October 12th. Overall, I'm not sure if Riggs had the same upside as others on this list if ECW was healthier but he certainly was given a chance to sink or swim for the most part.

Psicosis- Psicosis is one of several lucha libre legends who first made his mark in Mexico during the early to mid 1990s before transitioning to the American scene later in the decade. Most American fans likely remember him for his four year run in WCW from 1996-2000 and while he didn't enjoy the same success as counterparts Rey Mysterio and Juventud Guerrera, he did enjoy two runs with the Cruiserweight Championship. Psicosis would first make his way to ECW in 1995 for a few appearances where he mostly wrestled old rival Mysterio. After his WCW run ended in 2000, it's perhaps not too surprising he would show back up to ECW. Psicosis would return to ECW in July 2000 but without his mask as he lost it in WCW. Unlike some on this list, he would actually work a PPV, returning at the Heat Wave PPV losing a four way to Yoshihiro Tajiri also featuring Mikey Whipwreck and Little Guido. Overall, Psicosis worked for ECW for two months and a dozen matches both at live events and TV scoring wins over Tajiri, Guido, and Michael Shane while earning title shots such as challenging Kid Kash for the ECW World Television Championship. His last match would be on September 23rd teaming with Whipwreck in a losing effort challenging The FBI for the ECW World Tag Team Championships. Psicosis was someone who could've benefited from a stable ECW whether it be doing cruiserweight type matches with Tajiri, Guido, and Super Crazy or been a fine TV/Tag Title contender/champion.

Pitbull #2 (left) and Pitbull #1 (right)

The Pitbulls/Pitbull #1- The Pitbulls are one of ECW's most memorable acts. While not as established as their counterparts The Public Enemy and The Dudley Boyz, The Pitbulls were a big act during ECW's early years enjoying a run with the World Tag Team Championship once while both enjoyed singles success each winning the World Television Championship. After playing their role in the early years, the duo disappeared in 1997 following legal issues involving steroids and would spent the remainder of the 90s working the indies outside of one WWF tryout. In 2000, the team would return to ECW in an attempt to recapture the magic but weren't able to. Pitbull #1 would return first for a few appearances at ECW live events in February 2000 before the team made a one night return on March 4th at the ECW Arena. Unfortunately, they would lose to future tag team champions Danny Doring and Roadkill. For whatever reason, this was Pitbull #2's last ECW match as he never returned. Pitbull #1 would stick around a little longer but as was the case with the tag match, it was clear Paul Heyman didn't see The Pitbulls as valuable as they were five years earlier. Pitbull #1 would work a dark match at ECW's Living Dangerously PPV losing to fellow extreme legend Mikey Whipwreck. He then returned two more times in June to put over ECW's next gen in Scotty Riggs and then getting squashed by Rhino for the ECW World Television Championship before he left. In the end, The Pitbulls were a sad entry on here as it would've been nice for them to have gotten one more good run in ECW and they certainly could've been a good addition to a very weak tag team division but it wasn't to be. 

Michael Shane- Michael Shane is someone who could be the biggest "what if" on this list. Shane is the cousin of the legendary Shawn Michaels and trained under him at his Texas Wrestling Alliance. He would later become known for his brief run in ROH and for his five year run in TNA during which time he became a two time X Division Champion and the first person to win Ultimate X. However, before Shane made his mark in TNA and ROH, he try his luck in ECW debuting at a live event on August 4th losing to Redd Dogg. Overall, Shane wrestled fifteen matches with ECW and while he have a few matches with the likes of Scotty Riggs, Psicosis, and Chris Chetti, he didn't do much due to still being young and green. He only worked live events and his matches were usually either against Dogg or fellow Michaels graduate Oz. Despite this, he did have one moment as he worked ECW's last show ever at a live event on January 13, 2001 where he defeated Oz. Shane is one of the more interesting ones of this list as I personally would be curious to see how he could've fared if ECW lasted longer as he feels like someone Paul Heyman would've been interesting in.

Rodney Mack (Redd Dogg)- Rodney Mack is another on this list who came to ECW likely to make a name for himself. A trainee of wrestling legend The Junkyard Dog and former ECW wrestler Rod Price, Mack would mostly become known first for his time in WWE and developmental OVW where he held the tag titles in OVW with Shelton Benjamin before moving up to the main roster where he was managed by Teddy Long and doing an anti-white character who would challenge white talent to matches called "The White Boy Challenge". In recent years, he's also become known for his time in Billy Corgan's NWA where he's a former World Tag Team Champion under the name Damage and as part of Blunt Force Trauma. Like Shane, Mack was also fairly new and green which meant he wasn't able to go far in his time in ECW, only competing in live events. Mack debuted at a live event on June 30th losing the Kid Kash. Mack would wrestle fifteen matches for ECW from June to October scoring wins over Kash and Shane while also competing against names like Steve Corino, New Jack, and Balls Mahoney with his last match being a loss to Corino at a live event on October 21st. Like Shane, Mack is someone who could've benefited in a more stable ECW and perhaps could've made a name for himself two to three years before he did in WWE.

PCO (Jean-Pierre LaFitte/Carl Ouellet)- PCO is truly someone who's seen it all and done it all. He's been at Wrestlemania, he's been a "Quebecer", a pirate, and later reinvented himself as the French Canadian Frankenstein. Despite being a native of Canada, he's competed in just about every major American promotion in the last 30 years from the WWE on down with the exception of AEW. Perhaps because of this, it's no surprise he made his way to ECW. After his lackluster second run in the WWF and before having a cup of coffee return to WCW, PCO made his way to ECW in June 2000. However, his time in the promotion proved brief, only wrestling four matches and lasting a month. PCO would debut in June where he competed at three live events during June and July most notably challenging former partner Rhino for the ECW World Television Championship while scoring wins over future ROH World Tag Team Champion HC Loc and prelim talent The Musketeer. His fourth match would be his only televised match challenging Justin Credible for the ECW World Heavyweight Championship on July 8th at the ECW Arena (shown July 23rd on Hardcore TV) but obviously came up short.

Swinger (Johnny Swinger)- Swinger was yet another who likely came to ECW to make a name but the sad thing, of all those talents, Swinger seem to be the closest to doing just that and maybe winning ECW gold before the promotion fell apart. The nephew of former WWE Tag Team Champion Tony Parisi, Swinger began wrestling in 1993 and spent most of the 90s doing prelim work for the WWF before signing with WCW fitting the same role. Modern fans are probably more familiar with Swinger for his runs in TNA including winning the NWA World Tag Team Championships in 2003 with Simon Diamond and then for his 2019-2024 run as a goofy, out of touch wrestler "The Swing Man" Johnny Swinger. Between this, Swinger would find his way to ECW in 2000 seeking the big break. Swinger arrived in March 2000 and settled into the midcard mostly facing fellow up and comer Chilly Willy at live events before forming his team with Simon Diamond. The team with Diamond would see Swinger largely flourish as the two would compete in a tournament for the ECW World Tag Team Championships in August 2000 at ECW's debut at the Hammerstein Ballroom making it to the finals before losing to The Unholy Alliance (Mikey Whipwreck and Yoshihiro Tajiri) with Jerry Lynn and Tommy Dreamer as the other team. Despite not winning the titles, it was clear Swinger showed potential as he and Swinger would appear in ECW's last three PPVs and even team with CW Anderson against Dreamer and The Dudley Boyz who were returning for one night. Swinger would remain with ECW till the end with his last match being at Guilty As Charged 2001 teaming with Diamond vs. Balls Mahoney and Chilly Willy that went to a no contest. Overall, Swinger was one of the bigger casualties of ECW shutting down as it feels like he and Diamond could've been a top team and future champions had ECW survived longer.

Erik Watts- Fewer names are probably more notorious in the wrestling business than "Erik Watts". Fewer second/third generation wrestlers also saw their family connections do more damage than good than Watts. Watts is, of course, the son of legendary wrestler and promoter "Cowboy" Bill Watts and debuted in 1992 for WCW at a time when his father was running it. During late 1992 - early 1993 when Cowboy Bill was in charge, Watts became one of the biggest examples of nepotism in wrestling history with Tennessee wrestler George Gulas perhaps being the only one bigger. While Watts had potential, his father would obnoxiously push him well before he was ready and it didn't take long for fans to notice his shortcomings and routinely boo him in every building WCW ran. While Watts' push would end following his father's departure and he worked in the trenches for WCW till 1994, the damage was done and his career never recovered before it got started. He would try the WWF from 1995-1996 and a second run in WCW from 1997-1999 but was never able to shake off the stigma. After leaving WCW in 2000, Watts would become a journeyman venturing to various promotions with one being ECW. Watts debuted in ECW and wrestled six matches between January to June 2000. His only real highlight was his debut on January 15, 2000 at the ECW Arena in what was his only televised match being a loss to Spike Dudley with ECW's resident giant killer dispatching of him in 9 seconds. After this, Watts wrestled five more matches but all would be on live events usually aligned with Lou E. Dangerously's Dangerous Alliance stable with CW Anderson and Billy Wiles while getting matches with Raven, Chris Chetti, Nova, Danny Doring, Roadkill, and Dusty Rhodes. His last match would be on June 16th teaming with Anderson and Wiles in a losing effort to Chetti, Kid Kash, and Nova. Overall, I don't get what Heyman was aiming for with Watts and his run was kind of strange.

Dusty Rhodes- We save the biggest for last. Safe to say by the time Rhodes showed up in ECW, he had seen and all and done it all in more than 30 years in the business. He was a wrestler, a commentator, a booker, a trainer, and a mentor. His achievements as both a wrestler and as a booker are legendary. Perhaps giving his history, it's not surprising he would find his way to ECW. Unlike the others on this list, Rhodes actually debuted in December 1999 but still worked for the promotion through the first quarter of 2000. Throughout his brief run, Rhodes would feud with future ECW World Champion Steve Corino in a feud that certainly benefited "The King of Old School". Rhodes only worked six matches but made the most of his run debuting in a tag team with Tommy Dreamer against Corino and Rhino on January 28, 2000 at an ECW on TNN taping (shown February 4th). During his short run, Rhodes would appear on some big shows including defeating Steve Corino at the Living Dangerously PPV in March before losing to Corino in April at Cyberslam. Along the way, Rhodes would also be the only one on this list to appear in an ECW game, specifically their second game Anarchy Rulz. Rhodes worked for ECW until having his last match being at an ECW Hardcore TV taping on May 19 (shown May 28th) when he defeated Jack Victory. Obviously, unlike others on this list, Rhodes wasn't going to be a future star or have a long ECW run but what he got was productive as he helped elevate a future world champion while doing PPVs and appearing in a video game.