Paul Heyman Reveals Frustations Over 2006 ECW Relaunch Led To Vince McMahon Relationship Failing & WWE Departure

WWE

Paul Heyman has revealed that the “rebirth of ECW” was a contributing factor in his decision to leave WWE in 2006.

Joining WWE in 2001, after the closure of ECW, Paul Heyman would remain with the company until 2006, with the relaunch of his old promotion being instrumental in the reason behind his departure.

Speaking on Insight with Chris Van Vliet, Heyman revealed that he and Vince McMahon had different visions as to how ECW could be reborn, saying:

“We had very different visions for the rebirth of ECW. I was a lead writer of the third show, Raw, SmackDown, ECW, and he was the chairman of the board with 85% of the voting stock. One of us had to leave.

“Don’t know if you’re a betting man, if you’re gonna place a bet on which one of us was gonna leave, I think the (man) who’s just merely the lead writer of the third show, is going to be the one whose ass is out the door, not the chairman of the board with 85% of the voting stock.”

With ECW One Night Stand 2006 proving to the launching pad for ECW’s rebirth as its own brand once again, Heyman explained how he wanted to build off that event and separate ECW from the rest of WWE’s programming:

“Coming out of that, had we presented somewhat of a new style, a progressive, innovative approach to professional wrestling in 2006 that was a genuine alternative to anything WWE was offering at the time on Raw or SmackDown, it could have been a hit. But instead it just became a third brand utilizing stars off of Raw and SmackDown.

“First move I made in the new ECW, I brought CM Punk up from OVW. I wanted Rob Van Dam to be the legend from the original crew, and then you sprinkle in all these other ECW originals as we move the new stars up into the spotlight of what would become a new version of ECW, which was at its worst a complete alternative to anything else that’s out there, and instead that it was not what WWE was willing to put on the air, and was amongst the most miserable experiences of my entire life, because it became very personal between me and Vince very fast, because I spent seven and a half years of my life building a brand that at some point became more of a cause than a business. So when you give your life to the cause, you give seven and a half years, and these are prime years too.”

“The worst day of my life in ECW was still a wonderful day. I was living out a dream and fighting for my life doing it, and knowing that I’m fighting for a cause that I believed in. So, no one drank the Kool-Aid of the cult of ECW more than Paul Heyman did. I gave seven and a half years of my life to that cult, to that cause, to that mindset, and to Vince, because he was bored with no competition. WCW is gone, ECW was gone, TNA was nothing in terms of capturing Vince’s attention. So, what did Vince McMahon get to do? Oh, God damn it, I get to change an ECW booking on Paul Heyman. It’s power, it’s how Vince operates, and so it became a very personal tug of war between whose vision will be implemented for ECW, when the whole dynamic was let’s create a third brand that’s a true alternative to the other two, so it just became a miserable working environment.”

Heyman would go on to reveal the breaking point for him in more detail, explaining:

“The breaking point was a week after we started, and I couldn’t take it anymore then, and still had to last another six months in the job. The breaking point was the December to Dismember. Coming off of Survivor Series, it was obvious to me that CM Punk was embedded in the zeitgeist of the mindset of the audience in WWE of who is the next big star. He captured the imagination of the WWE crowd, and if we could get the title on to Punk and put Van Dam on the chase, we were getting Bobby Lashley. Put Bobby Lashley on the chase, and the rest of the characters in ECW would rise with the tide as the hottest sensation in WWE, CM Punk, is our champion. Rob Van Dam, who would still be more popular than Punk in the moment, going after the title. Bobby Lashley being anointed as the next big star coming off of SmackDown and changing his style to a more MMA-based style. Wow, we could have really taken this to where, by Mania, ECW would have been red hot.

“Instead, because I was so infatuated with the idea of an ECW with CM Punk as the champion, Rob Van Dam on the chase and Bobby Lashley on the chase, that Vince said no I want the title on Bobby Lashley. We’re going to beat CM Punk first in the Elimination Chamber, and we’re going to beat Van Dam second in the Elimination Chamber, which was a matter of spite. Once we get to that, that now I’m affecting everybody else’s career, number one, number two, I’m affecting the audience having a chance to like the product because the product is being sabotaged by the very person who wants something out of the product for it to be profitable, but he can’t get out of his own way in terms of competing with me behind the scenes for the decisions that are being made on a product that is still associated with me instead of with him, so just the clash between the two of us became just a god-awful miserable experience that one of us had to escape and he wasn’t going anywhere.”

Heyman, being on his way out of WWE, saw Van Vliet ask whether there was any interest from TNA Wrestling for his services, with the star stating:

“Not in 2006.”

The WWE star would go on to comment that interest arose in 2010, revealing how close he came to taking up a potential TNA Wrestling offer, saying:

“Depends on the perspective of the person that you’re asking. You’re asking me, was I ever close? I don’t know.

“I certainly told them what my five-year plan was, and I talked about this on Ariel Helwani’s podcast back then, going to get rid of everybody over 40, going to get rid of all the legends, going to keep one. Back then they had way too many legends. It was an old-timers game, and some of them had years left to give, but they got lumped in with the other veterans, so they seemed older than they were.”

A broad spectrum of experience also saw Heyman weigh in on the positives of the introduction of AEW into the professional wrestling space, commenting that it has improved compensation packages for stars.

A Single Vision Seen From Multiple Angles

The problem with any creative vision is that different people see it in different ways. Whether it’s one person enjoying a movie that someone else dislikes, someone telling a “funny” joke that doesn’t land with its audience, or a wrestling storyline that sounds like it’ll be gold only to be dismissed by others, there are degrees to who is right in each situation.

Stepping back for a moment, it all boils down to opinion and that can very much change over time.

For WWE, whether it be under the direction of Vince McMahon or Triple H, many voices are likely to share what should happen, be it talent or names in creative, and it all needs filtering before it makes it anywhere near the television screen.

It’s easy to sit back and say “well, so-and-so was right”, but that’s from the benefit of hindsight and with a level of interest in the side of the argument that best fits whatever perspective best suits our argument.

Stepping closer to the situation, Heyman and McMahon were clearly both very strong business minds and there was always going to be a clash of personalities. When it comes to such conflicts in the workplace, it isn’t unusual for the one who sits at the top of the mountain to be the victor, as well as the one who can see further, even if their vision is obscured by all that is below.

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• wwe
• Vince McMahon
• paul heyman
• ecw
• tna wrestling

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