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PWINSIDER Q&A: JJ DILLON-VINCE MCMAHON HEAT, IF ECW WAS SO GREAT WHY WASN'T IT A BIGGER SUCCESS, HEYMAN-TNA AND MORE

Why doesn't TNA sign Paul Heyman? Is he stll under contract? Do you think Paul Heyman is interested in joining up with TNA?

Paul Heyman is not under contract to anyone and is working on his Heyman Hustle project with the UK Sun as well as shopping around screenplays and TV pitches he's been working on since his WWE tenure.  I am sure the right offer would change his mind, but he's claimed he doesn't want to work within wrestling anymore.  The basic feeling within TNA is that they have their way of doing things and they are happy with their creative team.

Why wasn't there a match for the WWE's women title at Wrestlemania 24? Surely they could have put it somewhere, perhaps first. Any reason given?

It was more important to promote the Playboy partnership with the Lumberjack match.

Is there any specific reason that the WWE begins their shows with America The Beautiful as opposed to the National Anthem?  I thought there was a law that all sporting events, granted this is Sports Entertainment, must begin with the Anthem?

It's simply a company decision based on tradition.  They use the national anthem quite a bit as well, just not at Wrestlemania.

Hey guys, love the site. My question is about JJ Dillion. On the Ric Flair retirement Raw, lots of people were surprised that JJ Dillion was there due to his heat with Vince Mcmahon. I was wondering why there is heat.

JJ Dillon worked for a number of years alongside Vince McMahon and Pat Patterson as one of the top executives for the WWF.  In his excellent autobiography, Wrestlers Are Like Seagulls, Dillon wrote extensively about working on a one-on-one basis with McMahon and being put in the position to take the heat for McMahon's decisions when it upset the wrestlers working for the company.  Dillon noted in the book that he was concerned about being left in the open as a public scapegoat for the company's original drug testing plan since he was the administrator and if they didn't stick to the policy as written, it was on his head.  During the same time period, WWE reduced the salary of a number of their office staff and executives to stave off financial problems coming out of the Vince McMahon steroid trial era, which put Dillon, living in CT (which is expensive) behind the eight ball financially.  When his family was finally able to sell their home, Dillon tendered his resignation.  According to Dillon, McMahon, worried that Dillion was going to crap all over the company publicly (the same week as Shane McMahon's wedding) made an offer to take care of Dillon on the way out.  Dillon agreed and said he would sign following a family vacation that weekend. When he returned, the offer had been pulled because he had "allegedly" had discussions with WCW.  Dillon claimed in his book, those discussions were nothing more than his family running into Scott Hall's family while at the Magic Kingdom when both were on vacation.  He also claimed that McMahon lied about his departure, telling others that JJ had attempted to "extort" from the company.  Dillon said that he made a conscious decision at that point to never work for WWF again, and in his appearances on the Horsemen DVD and the Flair Farewell, were done more out of respect for history and wanting WWE to get the story and moment right, than in seeking out a paycheck.  Dillon now works as a prison guard in Delaware.

From what I read on the internet and hear from my friends ECW could do no wrong. So my question is, if ECW was as half as good as I heard it was, then home come they never became a bigger company than what they did?

A number of factors, most of which were captured perfectly by WWE's Rise and Fall of ECW documentary.  The company never had a solid financial infrastructure and was basically run out of Paul Heyman's bedroom for most of the run.  WWF and WCW taking talent and concepts hurt the company as well.  By the time the company had gotten a national timeslot on TNN, most of what brought them to the dance had been used elsewhere to death.  Still, for a company that had no multimillion dollar backing or national TV deal, they broke down the walls like no company before or after ever will.  From an artistic and creative standpoint, I still stand by my belief that from 1994-1997, ECW had the best weekly TV and live events I've ever seen in my life.  No other company had launched itself on PPV and survived and ECW did for several years.  They developed more stars than they are given credit for and the company was much, much more than the blood and guts most assume it was all about.

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