For the thirteenth edition of Abandoned, I present ECW’s FTW World Heavyweight Championship, as was voted for by my readers.

The title showed up in Extreme Championship Wrestling in 1998 but was abandoned almost a year later.

In its one year of existence, the title has seen three champions.

On May 14, 1998 Taz introduced the world to the FTW World Championship. At the time it was an old ECW Television Championship painted orange.

Taz became frustrated with the World Championship scene in ECW when then-champion Shane Douglas refused to give him a title shot due to an injury.

Even when he was healed, Douglas was always ducking Taz.

Due to frustration, Taz decided to create his own world title.

The Human Suplex Machine was a previous three-time ECW tag-team champion. He won the titles with Kevin Sullivan twice and Sabu once.

Speaking of the Homicidal, Suicidal, Genocidal Sabu, he would take the title away from Taz on December 19, 1998.

At the time, Taz was finally granted his shot at the World Championship. Before getting his title match, Taz all but handed the title to Sabu.

Taz was so confident that he would defeat Douglas for the title, that he pulled an unconscious Sabu over him.

At the time of Sabu’s title win, the new belt was already introduced and had Taz’s name permanently on it..

According to Taz, on the WWE produced “Rise and Fall of ECW” DVD, Sabu was “legitimately upset backstage over Taz’s name being permanently displayed on the belt.”

As a result, Sabu covered up the name with tape and wrote his own name on it.

Sabu was previously the holder of all three ECW Championships, making him a Triple Crown Champion.

After ECW went under, he found himself in TNA for multiple stints. After ECW was revived in WWE, he was hired but only lasted a year or so.

Sabu was last seen on a national scale in TNA last year, and you can now see him back on the independent circuit.

On January 10, 1999, Taz defeated Shane Douglas to become the new ECW world champion.

Two months later, Taz and Sabu went at it again. This both titles were on the line.

On March 21st Taz defeated Sabu and won the FTW Championship. As a result the two titles were unified and the FTW World Heavyweight Championship was abandoned.

Taz would find himself in WWF/E winning tag-team and hardcore gold before retiring due to injuries.

After spending time as a color commentator on SmackDown, Taz can now be seen doing the same on TNA’s Impact Wrestling.

The FTW Championship was never an officially sanctioned title in ECW but a lot of fans of the company would remember it.

The only purpose it served was as an alternate world title to help give Taz some more legitimacy going into a World Championship match with Shane Douglas.

It would have been cool to see the belt stick around, though.

The title could have been used as a belt to help get someone over in their quest to win the main World Championship. Once over enough with the fans, that could have been a sign that they were ready for the main event.

The way the WWE Intercontinental Championship used to be a stepping stone to the WWE Championship, the FTW title could have been used in the same way.

At the same time it’s understandable that a small company didn’t want another title, sanctioned or not. Three titles were enough for an organization like ECW and it worked for them.

The title would be revived briefly in Xtreme Pro Wrestling in November 2002 when Chris Chetti declared himself as the champion.

He would lose the title to Danny Doring in July 2003, though.

After Doring unified it with a World Championship it was once again abandoned.

Thanks for reading! Due to Christmas only being a few days away, I am working on other editions in advance. That means there will be no vote on the next edition.

Instead, the two titles that have gotten numerous votes in the past will be chosen.

For a special edition on Friday I will present the WCW Six-Man Tag Team Championship, and the Million Dollar Championship will be presented on Christmas day.

Previous Installments