After quitting CWA, Durante returned to ECW, where he received the biggest exposure of his career. He made his televised debut in ECW as a villain at Hostile City Showdown by attacking The Tazmaniac after Tazmaniac defeated The Pitbull in a dog collar match. As a result, Durante reformed The Pitbulls with Gary Wolfe and began using the ring name "Pitbull #2". Durante made his in-ring debut on the July 5 episode of "Hardcore TV", challenging Mikey Whipwreck for the ECW Television Championship. Durante was disqualified after his partner Pitbull #1 interfered in the match. Pitbulls began a rivalry with Tazmaniac as they lost to Tazmaniac and Sabu at Heat Wave. On the July 26 episode of "Hardcore TV", Pitbulls attacked their tag team partner Jimmy Snuka after they lost a match to Tommy Dreamer, Terry Funk and Dory Funk, Jr. This led to Tazmaniac making the save, leading to a match between Pitbulls and the team of Snuka and Tazmaniac at Hardcore Heaven, which Pitbulls lost, thus ending the feud. Pitbulls defeated The Bad Breed (Axl Rotten and Ian Rotten) in a match at November to Remember and lost a handicap match to 911 at Holiday Hell.