On April 13, 2009, Kozlov was drafted to the ECW brand as part of the 2009 WWE draft, as ECW's only pick of the night. Shortly after the draft, his character was tweaked to further highlight the training he received within the Russian military. He won his first match on the brand when he easily defeated a local competitor. On the June 30 episode of "ECW on Syfy", he teamed with William Regal to defeat Christian and Tommy Dreamer. His first defeat in singles competition on ECW came on the July 7 episode of "ECW", where he lost a #1 contenders match to Christian for Tommy Dreamer's ECW Championship at Night of Champions.