On June 13, 2006, Paul Heyman, former ECW owner and newly appointed figurehead for the ECW brand, commissioned the ECW World Heavyweight Championship to be the brand's world title and awarded it to Rob Van Dam as a result of winning the WWE Championship at One Night Stand 2006. Heyman had originally stated that either the WWE Championship or the World Heavyweight Championship would "become" the ECW World Heavyweight Championship if a competitor designated to the ECW brand became WWE Champion or World Heavyweight Champion at the event. However, Rob Van Dam later declared that he would hold both titles simultaneously instead. The title became known as the ECW World Championship in June 2006, and later simply as the ECW Championship in August 2007.
Following the events of the WWE Brand Extension, an annual WWE Draft was established, in which select members of the WWE roster are reassigned to a different brand. After two years on the ECW brand, the ECW Championship was briefly moved to the SmackDown brand when Chavo Guerrero, a member of the SmackDown brand, defeated the ECW Champion CM Punk on January 22, 2008 to win the title. On March 30 at WrestleMania XXIV, the ECW Championship returned to ECW when Kane defeated Chavo Guerrero to win the ECW Championship and defected to the ECW brand. After the 2008 WWE Draft, Kane was drafted to Raw, moving the ECW Championship to the Raw brand. On June 29 at Night of Champions, Mark Henry defeated Kane and The Big Show in a Triple Threat match to win the ECW Championship. Henry's status as a member of the ECW brand resulted in the championship returning to ECW. The brand would continue to operate until February 16, 2010, rendering the title inactive.
Despite being a World Championship, the title was only once defended in the main event of a pay per view and defended only once at WWE's biggest show, WrestleMania. This was at WrestleMania 24 when Kane defeated Chavo Guerrero to win the championship in a mere eight seconds. From November 2007, the championship could be defended SmackDown due to a talent exchange which also involved SmackDown's United States/Intercontinental, Tag Team & Diva's/Women's titles being defended on ECW. Beginning September 8, 2008, the championship could be defended on RAW due to a talent exchange which also involved RAW's Intercontinental/United States, Tag Team & Women's/Diva's titles being defended on ECW. These continued until the closure of the brand & retiring of the title in February 2010.
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- Rob Van Dam was rewarded the title by Paul Heyman on June 13, 2006.
- The Big Show won the belt on July 4, 2006.
- Bobby Lashley took the gold home on December 3, 2006 at December To Dismember.
- Vince McMahon won the title on April 29, 2007 at Backlash.
- Bobby Lashley regained the title on June 3, 2007 at One Night Stand. It was vacated on June 11, 2007 due to Lashley going to Raw.
- Johnny Nitro won the belt on June 24, 2007 at Vengeance: Night of Champions.
- CM Punk claimed the strap on September 1, 2007.
- Chavo Guerrero won the title on January 22, 2008.
- Kane won the gold on March 30, 2008 at WrestleMania XXIV.
- Mark Henry won the belt on June 29, 2008 at Night of Champions.
- Matt Hardy took the strap on September 7, 2008 at Unforgiven.
- Jack Swagger won the belt on January 12, 2009.
- Christian took the gold on April 26, 2009 at Backlash.
- Tommy Dreamer won the strap on June 7, 2009 at Extreme Rules.
- Christian regained the title on July 26, 2009 at Night of Champions.
- Ezekiel Jackson won the belt on February 26, 2010. The title was deactivated that same night due to ECW being cancelled.