Paul Heyman
News (Page 2)

With ECW drawing strong ratings, the Sci-Fi channel has agreed on a deal that will keep the extreme brand on national TV through at least December, 2007.

Needless to say, Paul Heyman is a bit happy about that.

“This extension means that we now have the ability to think long term. What do we envision for Big Show at WrestleMania? The twists for RVD, Sandman and Sabu. When will C.M. Punk be put to the test? Who are the next breakout stars that have yet to debut on ECW?," Heyman said.

"In the original ECW, Sabu vs. Tazz was the number-one storyline for 18 months, and they never touched each other until our first pay-per-view. We had the luxury of long-term planning. Now, we finally have that luxury again, to take the time to tell these kinds of epic stories.”

Right now, ECW on Sci-Fi is just a one-hour show. Heyman fully supports that frame for now ... but woudn't be adverse to adding another hour, of course.

“I love the one-hour format because it’s different,” said Sabu's recent opponent. “It’s so fast paced. You’re just slurping down your first beverage when the main event is headed to the ring. I would also love to see a 75 or 90 minute offering of ECW as well, but if they told me tomorrow, ‘we are going to two hours’, we’d be ready.

"It would give us more time for longer matches, more characters like C.M. Punk to introduce, more time to explain the background of legends like Sabu, Sandman and Tommy Dreamer. But right now, one-hour is a god-send. It sure beats marketing only the memories. Now, we’re creating new moments, new characters and new memories. This is a fantasy come true.”

Now that his baby, ECW, is sort of back, how does Paul Heyman feel about the brand? The creator of extreme professional wrestling recently sat down with The Poughkepsie Journal and talked about this brand revival, among other topics.

On ECW''s audience: "The biggest star in ECW was always the audience and the crowd in Poughkeepsie never let us down. What appealed to me about Poughkeepsie was they always had a great history of delivering a great TV audience in WWE. We would have done more there, had we stayed in business.

You had people coming from Albany, White Plains and across the river, over the Mid-Hudson Bridge. It was a rabid crowd and a great audience."

On his role in the new ECW: "I thought it was great closure. It was a night everyone waited five years for. But people wouldn't stop buying the DVDs, the books, the t-shirts. It became this huge domino effect. It's far different. Before I was the sole proprietor. I was doing the creative and I was taking creative input from everybody, whether it was the top star or the janitor.
Here, it's a huge corporation and as lead writer, the buck stops with Vince McMahon. I organize all the pitches and the concepts, but it's much different. It's much more a large entertainment conglomerate than eccentric and personality-driven."

On working with Vince McMahon: "It's an interesting clash of two eccentric personalities with two totally different takes on the business, but who respect each other's visions. Familiarity breeds contempt. I think Vince got too familiar with me."

On why ECW cannot be just a nostalgia show: "You really need to help people understand that this can't be a nostalgia show. It's great to go to Yankee Stadium for Old Timers' Day. It does great business one day a year. But nobody wants to see Stan Musial step up to the plate. They want to see A-Rod. Well, maybe not how he's hitting today.

But they want to see the A-Rods, the Mike Piazzas, the Johnny Damons. Once a year, it's wonderful. But presenting these guys as though it were still 1999 is not going to happen."

On C.M. Punk: "You have to look into the eyes of a guy like C.M. Punk. Five years down the road, this is the guy that stands in Rob Van Dam's and Sabu's and Kurt Angle's shoes. The groundwork from today has to be laid for tomorrow."