EPSN is great! Look at all of these shows that could easily involve wrestling if used correctly. Around the Horn, Pardon the Interruption, hell even Sportscenter filled with wrestling news would be nice. (anti-kayfabe of course) So I started to think…What could I do to take a break from my WWE bashing that I usually do? Write about ECW! Of course! I can hear Mr. Heyman right now telling me what to say! For some reason he just said he was hungry…So, in tradition of ESPN’s “5 reasons not to blame-“ I will re-create that, 5 reasons NOT to blame Paul Heyman for the fall of ECW. It really wasn’t his fault, no Snitzky pun intended…
-start dramatic music-
As usual, with 5 Reasons not to Blame they start out with the reasons TO blame the individual…So without further a due, here are the main reasons Paul Heyman is blamed for the fall of ECW…
“Paul was a bad business man”…this argument is heard a lot. It’s true, Heyman really didn’t have a business aspect of the promotion he resided over. Even with merchandise, PPV’s, and Bubba Ray Dudley helping out he still couldn’t keep it together. He lost Lance Storm and many others due to this simple fact. Bounced checks, weeks without pay, it would send any wrestler that needs to support their families in a rage. Heyman never bothered to hire an accountant or any assistant to help organize the ECW payroll and budget. That killed a big part of ECW. On top of that Heyman asked way too much of his ECW wrestlers…Al Snow even said that it was like a cult backstage, Paul Heyman could ask a worker to “roll around a bed of thumbtacks naked and he would do it”. This cult-like mentality couldn’t be good for a growing promotion such as ECW. Hey couldn’t realize that putting the boys bodies on the line night after night would eventually hurt ECW in the end, and it did.
Shorter than you may think Paul Heyman did contribute to the fall of ECW, but nothing compared to what he couldn’t help. These are the 5 reasons not to blame Paul Heyman for the fall of ECW…
Reason # 5 – Vince Russo and Ed Ferrara –
Many people don’t realize that Vince Russo and Ed Ferrara were so huge into ECW, that they incorporated it into their own writing style. While the WWF was falling in the early 90’s and Vince Russo wrote for WWF magazine, he was watching ECW. When Ed Ferrara was in California writing sitcoms he ordered Primestar satellite strictly to watch ECW. Vince Russo basically told McMahon to “be more like ECW” and then something happened…they did become more like ECW. Over the top characters, racy storylines, hardcore matches…take all of that away now, take Vince Russo and Ed Ferrara out of the equation and keep the old and out of the loop “wrestling bubble” that McMahon surrounded himself with, and what would you have? Hard to imagine, but who knows what could have happened if nobody tapped into ECW. ECW could have grown as it’s own image without “WWF Attitude” overshadowing it. We can’t blame Russo and Ferrara for being fans, but this was a small piece of ECW’s originality taken away and who knows where it could have led.
Reason # 4 – Vince McMahon –
“Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer”? Sure WCW was more of a direct threat than ECW, but do you really think McMahon wanted ECW so he could co-promote? It’s a case of overshadowing, people who would watch ECW would know it as the promotion that went to the WWE…The WWE never went to ECW. Lawler doesn’t count for the fact that he’s a moron. Vince wanted ECW to stay afloat so he could take whatever he wanted from them. Mainly ideas…those ideas needed to grow so he gave ECW some money and they stayed alive. It’s not hard to see the connection between ECW and the WWF attitude era…The second part to this equation is Taz and the Dudleyz…Right before going to TNN, why would Vince suddenly be interested in the top stars of ECW? When Triple H wrestled Taz on Smackdown and he basically beatup both Taz and Tommy Dreamer, why did that happen? McMahon showed his true colors, he got what he needed out of ECW and he was done with it now. Makes me wonder if he had anything to do with Reason #1…who knows though.
Reason #3 – Eric Bischoff – “One man’s raid is another mans acquisition”. Okay, I believe that, let’s look at the list! Shall we! Chris Benoit, Chris Jericho, Dean Malenko, Eddie Guerrero, Rey Mysterio, Juventude Guerrera, Psychosis, Konnan, Public Enemy, Steven Richards, Perry Saturn and Raven. Others would eventually follow…These are acquisitions? Looks like a raid to me…When Vince McMahon “raided” other territories, he didn’t pick one and take half of their roster. Hell McMahon said it himself that he raided ECW and he took far less than Bischoff. Any man with money such as Bischoff knows that waving money in someones face will most likely garner a good response. It did with many ECW wrestlers who made very little of what Bischoff could offer them. It was a dirty trick and ECW got the blunt end of it. Great move! It was! Heyman says it himself though, as far as “acquisitions” go “Eric Bischoff is full of shit”. Who knows what ECW could have done with all of those wrestlers even to this day.
Reason #2 – ECW –
ECW became too big for Paul Heyman. McMahon recommended that Heyman tone down his style for TNN, which was impossible. It’s EC f***ing W! ECW became its own entity too big for Heyman or any one man to handle by himself. By late 98 to 99 a part of his roster was in either of the big 2 promotions and you have to think that Heyman trusted noone except for the family that he built. Did ECW have to have violence night after night! YES! Did they have to stay in sold out bingo halls? YES! It was ECW, they couldn’t change NOW. Think of ECW as the Sex Pistols. The Sex Pistols blew up in England and jumpstarted a generation of youth and rebellion, they came to the states to finally tour and it was going to be huge…and then they broke up shortly into the tour. Then Sid Vicious; the Sex Pistols bassist died. ECW was never conservative, always on the extreme and Heyman with it lived life on the edge. ECW eventually ran out of steam, there was noone to step back and reevaluate ECW or what it had become and what direction to take, it was just full steam ahead. Rhino said it best though, when it was all said and done, and ECW was officially dead Rhino said that “deep down I think Paul wanted ECW dead” and he’s right. ECW was his baby, his dream and he accomplished many great things during it, but it was becoming too much for Paul Heyman, and ECW eventually wore itself out.
Reason #1 – TNN –
Even though ECW was running out of steam if it had picked up another TV deal, it would still be around today. Heyman was right about that. TNN had the chance to make ECW big, but instead, used it as a test subject to see if wrestling would get over on TNN. They never promoted it even though it was the highest rated show on the network, they constantly told ECW to tone down the product, wanted to input their own production crew, TNN couldn’t let ECW be ECW. TNN used ECW up and spit them out. If ECW had gone to another network, the money would have been there, maybe even a small rest for Paul Heyman with a network who WANTED ECW on the air. The lack of ECW has driven fans to love the product even to this day more so now than ever. TNN though put a direct halt to ECW and stopped them dead in their tracks.
Could this have been a conspiracy? Doubtful. I do question Mcmahon’s intentions during the last years of ECW, he had to know the WWE was going to be on TNN. Did he call Paul up and warn him? Doubtful. Did Bischoff ever than Heyman for the talent he “acquired”? Doubtful. We see the effects of ECW even to this day now with One Night Stand and the bWo, the Mexicools, and even NWA-TNA, which is a branch of the NWA like ECW was, and will be getting a one hour slot on TNN now known as Spike TV in a few months…It never ends does it? You can’t blame Heyman for anything for ECW, just thank him, thank him for bringing you the best in wrestling for many years no matter where you watched it. Thank him for bringing together a true family in ECW while Bischoff and McMahon merely saw it as “business”, thank him for including you, the fan, whom he never insulted and was always straight forward with. Paul Heyman still deserves more, he deserves his time on top, and I personally hope that he is enjoying his booking duties in OVW but I know deep down, the evil genius’s heart still burns to take the world of pro wrestling for another ride. In any form, and in any influence, we should be so lucky. You can’t blame Heyman for anything, just thank him.
NEXT WEEK ON THE HIGH SPOT!
The sluts of the WWE and the prospect of the TNA womens division! Are you a female? Do you like seeing your gender be degraded week in and week out? You might want to read this column then…
-Joseph Bachman
AIM: ptwfreetokill
