10 Former ECW Wrestlers who are still wrestling
Formed in the early 1990s and initially based out of the Philadelphia area, Extreme Championship Wrestling -- originally known as Eastern Championship Wrestling -- was launched as an affiliate of the National Wrestling Alliance. After being taken over by Paul Heyman, ECW became much more than an independent wrestling promotion that booked talent not contracted to WWF or WCW. It would go on to a tastemaker within the international wrestling scene, presenting an alternative to what mainstream wrestling fans had been accustomed to.
The original ECW went out of business in 2001, eventually being bought out by Vince McMahon and the WWE. McMahon and company would eventually present a series of ECW reunion-themed pay-per-views before entirely doing a relaunch of the ECW brand in the mid-2000s.
While ECW's original closure was well over 15 years ago, surprisingly a lot of the talent from its early years is still very active on the wrestling scene. And this is without factoring in wrestlers who currently work behind the scenes of the industry, like the Dudley Boyz, or in broadcasting roles, like Tazz. In fact, some of these ECW originals are still on the main rosters of WWE, New Japan and Impact Wrestling.
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#1: Rhyno
Rhyno made his wrestling debut on the independent scene as Terry Richards. He went on to do some work as an enhancement talent in both WCW and the WWF, competing against the likes of "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan, The Nasty Boys, and The Truth Commission.
The Michigan native joined ECW in 1999 as Rhino, quickly forming an on-air partnership with Steve Corino. In January 2001, Rhino went on to win ECW's World Heavyweight Championship from Sandman. He also became the company's World Television Champion before the closure of ECW.
Rhino -- now as Rhyno -- was part of the ECW invasion storyline of WWF in 2001 and was part of the company until April 2005. He then moved along to TNA where he worked on and off until 2015, also being part of Ring Of Honor and Juggalo Championship Wrestling storylines.
Rhyno made his return to WWE in 2015, first as an occasional NXT competitor, then as a full-time competitor in 2016. Since returning, Rhyno has been a SmackDown Tag Team Champion, reigning alongside Heath Slater.