Extreme Championship Wrestling carved out a unique place in professional wrestling history during the 1990s, building a reputation for its hard-hitting matches and boundary-pushing style. Even decades after the promotion closed its doors, ECW continues to influence modern wrestling, with some fans drawing comparisons between the original promotion and today’s All Elite Wrestling.
During an interview with Monopoly Events, WWE Hall of Famer Rob Van Dam discussed which current AEW stars he believes would have fit well in ECW’s environment.
“I think Jon Moxley,” Van Dam said when asked which modern wrestler could have thrived in the promotion.
Van Dam explained that while ECW had a reputation for extremely violent matches, not every wrestler in the company embraced that style.
“ECW had some people that liked to do gory stuff, and bleeding a lot, but not all of us,” Van Dam said. “I didn’t like that s**t, you know? So I wasn’t in those matches and I still don’t like it.”
Despite the promotion’s association with hardcore wrestling, Van Dam emphasized that ECW actually featured a wide range of in-ring approaches.
“But it was a melting pot of a lot of different styles,” he said.
Because of that variety, Van Dam believes another AEW star would have also fit in well with the promotion.
“Swerve [Strickland] would do really well there, as well. He’d fit in.”
Van Dam also agreed when the interviewer suggested Darby Allin as another wrestler who could have thrived in ECW. Known for his willingness to take extreme risks inside the ring, Allin’s style has often drawn comparisons to the type of performers that helped define ECW’s identity.
According to Van Dam, those AEW stars might have also found natural rivalries with several iconic ECW names.
He specifically mentioned opponents such as Balls Mahoney and the Gangstas tag team, which featured New Jack and Mustafa Saed.
Comparisons between AEW and ECW have surfaced multiple times in recent years. AEW president Tony Khan has openly paid tribute to the former promotion on several occasions, even bringing in ECW alumni like Van Dam for appearances. In 2025, AEW also held a television special titled “September to Remember,” a nod to ECW’s well-known November to Remember pay-per-view.
Van Dam’s comments highlight how the influence of ECW still echoes throughout the wrestling industry today. While the promotions are very different in scale and structure, the willingness to mix wrestling styles and push creative boundaries remains something that fans often associate with both companies.
Which current AEW star do you think would have thrived the most in the original ECW?
