Want more wrestling news, rumors, and results? Be sure to visit PWInsider.com and PWInsiderXtra.com.
In his first interview since leaving World Wrestling Entertainment, Paul Heyman spoke to the UK Sun (which, as it turns out, is going to be a partner for his "Heyman Hustle" broadband video online project, which debuts online on 2/18) about his departure from the company and more. Highlights include:
Why Heyman Left WWE: "I think what it boils down to is Vince McMahon and I have totally separate and distinct visions for what a wrestling or sports entertainment product should be. There’s nothing wrong with having those different visions, the problem was that Vince started to take the difference of opinion personally. And once that personality conflict comes into play, when you’re trying to steer the direction of a product, it becomes a bad work environment. So Vince didn’t like working with me anymore and I didn’t like working with Vince anymore. And it’s his company, so obviously he has to stay!"
ECW Being Revived as a full-time entity: "The brand should never have been brought back after the very first One Night Stand in 2005. The follow-up show in 2006 made money, but only because it served as the platform for Rob Van Dam to beat John Cena. Then Sci-Fi Channel was willing to give a test run for the brand ECW and they currently pay a lot of money for that TV show. So the theory of bringing ECW back and making it profitable worked as a business move. But the expectation from the audience that ECW was being brought back only served to be a monumental letdown."
Heyman on the new ECW: "By comparison, if someone were to resurrect The Beatles and say: “You know what, we want to make them more globally accepted, so we’re going to have a white guy, an Asian female, a Hispanic Bisexual and an African-American with a Scottish accent.†In the land of WWE that actually makes sense. But no matter how you look at it, it’s just not the Beatles. So in the same light, it’s just not ECW. ‘Extreme’ doesn’t mean blood, or tables, or barbed wire. ECW was always about progression, moving forward, giving more bang for the buck. For example, a finish in most every match. Simple thought. A winner and a loser. And a story with it that makes sense. But if you voiced that opinion, Vince would take it personally. If you look at the attempts to recreate the nWo, to re-create Goldberg and, even now, trying to recreate Ric Flair’s career on the line, Vince’s magic only happens when he creates it from the get-go. If Vince doesn’t create it from the get-go, he can’t embrace the formula."
The December to Dismember PPV: "I thought the undercard was horrible. I thought that the design of the show itself made no sense. I just felt that the entire layout of the show, the entire complexion of the event was a downer. I also thought that we were doing Bobby Lashley no favours the way he was going to win the title. Lashley winning the title, especially if you eliminate Rob Van Dam and CM Punk early, would be leapfrogging over RVD and Punk. Van Dam was the sentimental favourite, Punk was the kid that all the crowd was getting behind and they wanted to see the upset. If you don’t appease the need for the audience to see that new hero get crowned like Punk did the week before at Survivor Series when DX let him say ‘Are you ready?’ then the audience will feel ripped off. If you don’t put that spotlight on Van Dam, with whom the paying customers have just taken this long ride back into the title chase, then the paying customer will feel ripped off. My opinion was to start the chamber off with the Big Show saying: “I’m a seven foot tall, 500lb giant, I’m gonna mow through every one of you.†And the first to take him on would be Punk. Playing to the fact that UFC is so hot and in the public consciousness, Punk chokes out Big Show in the first round of the Elimination Chamber, four-and-a-half minutes in, and now the champion is out. You know for a fact, before any two contenders lock up, I’m getting a new champion at the end of this match. Then, the first guy to come out after Big Show v Punk, would be Van Dam. You let Van Dam and Punk fight it out, and then you start feeding in the heels. Vince hated this. He especially hated the fact that Big Show liked it."
The Heyman Hustle: "Our goal is to break ground in the wireless/broadband and digital/mobile platforms, which get so much attention from the entertainment industry right now because its unchartered turf and no-one has been able to figure out what the future holds on this constantly evolving concept. We want to peel back the layers of celebrity and we’re going to demonstrate that larger-than-life personalities are not only found on television and the movies. We’re going to find the extraordinary in the ordinary and find the ordinary in the extraordinary. So, we’re just diving in as deep as we can go and trying to be the leaders of the exploration of this new universe. So, we’re content providers in a brand new, exploding, and already rapidly changing field."
In the interview, Heyman also discusses his final day with WWE, turning down an offer to take over WWE developmental and why, how Stephanie McMahon tried to mend the fence between he and Vince McMahon, his negotiations to purchase MMA company Strikeforce and why that didn't go down, and more.
You can read the entire interview at this link.
