10 Things Fans Forgot About ECW Stable The New Breed

The New Breed is an overlooked faction from WWE’s ECW brand that received a lot of television time and important moments. WWE was still a year into the ECW project when wanting to have a faction of new young superstars feuding against the ECW originals. Fans rooted for the originals like Rob Van Dam, The Sandman and Sabu, so a heel group trying to take them down made sense.

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Elijah Burke, Marcus Cor Von, Matt Striker, Kevin Thorn and Ariel were the members of the group representing ECW’s new caliber of wrestler. The main feud with the ECW originals extended to other names getting involved. Despite never hitting its full potential, this was a fascinating idea on paper. The following moments from the New Breed deserve another look back at their time together.

10 Vince McMahon Praising Elijah Burke & Marcus Cor Von Started Group

The ECW brand became Vince McMahon’s biggest project to put him on screen more. McMahon appearing on the show to further his feud with Bobby Lashley led to some slight involvement in other characters and storylines.

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Elijah Burke and Marcus Cor Von were praised by Vince calling them the new breed of what ECW represents moving forward. The insults towards the ECW originals made it easier for Burke and Cor Von to create their own group as the New Breed.

9 Matt Striker Joined As Cheating Guest Referee

ECW started to build the New Breed faction from the foundation of Elijah Burke and Marcus Cor Von getting praised by Vince McMahon. Matt Striker was one of the next members to join the New Breed in the early stages as a heel.

The obnoxious Striker was placed as the special guest referee for a television match between Tommy Dreamer and Kevin Thorn. Striker refusing to count pins for Dreamer and helping Thorn cheat his way to victory saw those two and Thorn’s manager Ariel officially joining Burke and Cor Von at night’s end.

8 All Four Members Had Their Only WrestleMania Match As Team

WWE picked Kevin Thorn, Matt Striker, Marcus Cor Von and Elijah Burke as the New Breed wrestlers due to seeing potential in them all. That made it more surprising none of them panned out to have long WWE careers in the ring.

WrestleMania 23 was the big match between the New Breed and ECW originals won by the legends. However, it ended up being the sole WrestleMania main roster match for any of the four wrestlers that either moved into other roles or were released within the next few years.

7 Curt Hawkins & Zack Ryder Debuted Defeating New Breed Members

The New Breed had a short run of dominating opponents and scoring some victories over ECW legends to look strong. Things changed when the group were established and started to endure the 50/50 booking woes of WWE.

Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder actually scored an unlikely win over the New Breed when debuting as the Major Brothers on ECW TV. Matt Striker and Marcus Cor Von suffered a shocking loss to the newcomers when a miscommunication with Elijah Burke created tension with Striker.

6 Matt Striker's Final Run As Wrestler

Matt Striker surprisingly had the longest WWE career of the New Breed members since all four other talents were fired or left on their own accord rather quickly. WWE realized that Striker was never going to be a star wrestler for them and changed course.

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Striker pivoted towards more managing towards the end of the New Breed and moved into that role full-time afterwards. WWE again moved Striker into a new role of commentary for years, but the last in-ring portion came in the New Breed faction.

5 CM Punk Joined For Shocking Heel Turn

The feud between the New Breed and ECW originals turned into a huge recruiting war over CM Punk. WWE had Punk scheduled to win the ECW Championship later that year and felt that he was needed for a storyline taking over the program.

One of the few rare shocking moments in WWE’s ECW featured Punk turning heel to become part of the New Breed. The rest of the group celebrating when Punk joined made it feel like he was going to stick with them for the long haul.

4 CM Punk Betrayed Them Right After To Remain Face

The time of CM Punk in the New Breed only lasted for less than a month before he turned back to the face site. Punk joining the faction felt strange since a heel turn made little sense, but he stayed true to his face character in the group.

Tension between Punk and Elijah Burke showed that they weren’t on the same page in the New Breed. Punk eventually turned on the heels to help the ECW originals and teamed with some of the legends. This was the right move since Punk needed to be face when winning the ECW Championship.

3 WWE Wanted To Keep Marcus Cor Von & Elijah Burke Together Long Term

The New Breed started to fall apart in the end months of their run after losing CM Punk. WWE has a history of going cold with ideas once losing confidence and that followed true here when the New Breed was reaching the end of the road.

Elijah Burke and Marcus Cor Von remained united after growing distant from the other groups. The hope was to keep them together, but Cor Von eventually left the company. Personal issues ended the former Monty Brown’s career before he could hit his full potential.

2 CM Punk Vs Elijah Burke’s Feud Extended From New Breed

WWE putting the ECW Championship on CM Punk may have been the peak of ECW as a third brand. Fans had a reason to watch the show since Punk felt like someone that would move into bigger things on Raw and/or Smackdown.

The previous issues with Elijah Burke from the New Breed made it easier for them to create a rivalry. Burke trying to get revenge on Punk for harming and ultimately ruining the New Breed started their issues that paid off with Punk retaining the gold.

1 Group Wasn't Over Enough To Write Rob Van Dam Off

The failure of the ECW brand influenced Rob Van Dam to take time off when his contract expired in 2007. Everyone expected the New Breed to get the rub of sending Van Dam packing since their original storyline was to get rid of the ECW angles.

The New Breed was losing momentum by the time RVD was getting to his final storyline, so WWE pivoted to a new story. Randy Orton entered a feud with Van Dam for WWE to add to his heel momentum by brutally beating the legend in his final appearance.