on february 2, 2010, wwe chairman vince mcmahon announced that "ecw" would be going off the air and would be replaced with a new weekly program in its slot in what mcmahon announced as "the next evolution of wwe; the next evolution of television history." it was later announced that the show would air its final episode on february 16, 2010. on the february 4, 2010 episode of "wwe superstars", the new show's name was announced as "wwe nxt". the ecw brand is set to be disbanded, with every ecw wrestler becoming a free agent after the show ends.