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LOOKING AT THE LEGACY OF PAUL HEYMAN ON PROFESSIONAL WRESTLING

It's one things to make plans for it. It's another thing to stand under it.  Hulkamania will die with Hulk Hogan, The ‘Whoos’ will die with Ric Flair, but ECW will live on long after Paul Heyman is dead”

Paul Heyman 12.3.2006

In 1995, I was still a rabid wrestling fan.  In the coming age of the Internet, there was a group of people who gathered around a Usenet group called  rec.sport.pro-wrestling; RSPW for short. 

The group had several different factions (for lack of a better term).  There were the fans of the WWF.  They commonly loved everything WWF and loathed everything WCW.  There were the fans of WCW (see the WWF fans, only the exact opposite).  There were fans of Japanese wrestling that simply hated the “North American” product because that product forgot that the name on the marquee is wrestling.  This news group also had fans of smaller independents.  However there was one fan base that stood out, declared themselves the “smarts”, and made everyone aware of this ‘rogue’ wrestling promotion.  This rogue promotion was called ECW. 

I am not currently writing a wrestling eulogy.  I think not having surfed the many wrestling sites over the last couple of days, I can safely say, that has been done, and by much bigger fans and better writers than I.  No, the purpose of this column is emphasize the opening quote, and to let the reader(s) of this column know that when it comes to the world that is known as professional wrestling, no truer words will ever be spoken.

I was no fan of what was known in 1995 as Extreme Championship Wrestling.  I had personal reasons for not liking the product.  I was a WCW fan, but the greater influence of my dislike for the product was in fact, its fans, the ones that reported the events of bingo hall turned wrestling arena in south Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  Reading rspw was like clockwork. You knew you could Tidbits, 900 hotline news, read excerpts from the various wrestling “dirt sheets”, get some television arena commentary, and yes.. read about the weekly events of the ECW arena.  I hated those reports… but I think I was the only one who did.

I couldn’t have been more biased against these weekly reports, but I read them.  Some 11 years later, I have to admit, it was those reports that revolutionized the phenomenon now known as ECW.  It was those reports, full of endeavors of people chowing down on cheese steak hoagies while waiting for the arena to open.  It was those reports, the birds eyes views of events of the fans of ECW waiting in line for the doors to open that made the rest of the wrestling related Internet aware of the history was to be created.  Weekly, we read about the escapades of not just a couple of friends heading to the Philadelphia Bingo Hall, but comrades in arms, driving from the Jersey Shore, New York City, Baltimore, Washington, and just about everywhere from the East Coast.  These escapades grew so popular that by the end of the year that was 1995, those who were writing their weekly reviews for Internet newsgroup, worked hard to get the promoters of this tiny wrestling promotion to engage in an RSPW convention, a true wrestling fan’s weekend experience that climaxed with the card at the Bingo Hall now known as the ECW arena.

ECW grew its popularity by importing wrestling talent known for their in-ring ability.  This breed of wrestler had an ultimate goal: to perform for the fans.  They performed for the fans insomuch that those fans became part of the show.  When you read today how hot a WWE crowd is, you can thank Paul Heyman and ECW “original” fans, because these people knew how to make their product electric, and the ECW fans bought and fell in love with the respect that the product had for them.

Only in these ECW recaps did the readers get to know fans named Sign-Guy, or Hat Guy, and only in these ECW recaps did you ever read about the chant wars, and only in these ECW recaps for RSPW did one scratch his head wondering who the face was and who the heel was.  The reason the lines were fuzzy was because each and every performer had one ultimate goal.  To perform for their loyal base.

As time went on, the ECW faithful started keeping a unique counter for each show:  the broken table counter.  That’s right, shows were being rated by the number of broken tables, an original innovation of ECW originals.  By 1996 when the famed “Monday Night Wars” became all of the buzz, WCW raided ECW talent along with ECW storylines.  In short, the 1995 version of ECW became a national force.  In short, the 1995 version of ECW molded the product known as professional wrestling in the late 1990’s into 2000 and 2001. 

While you can’t say today that WWF ‘Attitude Era’ is a derivative of the ECW product, it sure had the ECW blueprint on it.  Likewise, the New World Order ‘gimmick’.  While you can’t say today with certainty that the re-establishment of smaller ‘indy’ promotions is directly related to the rise of Paul Heyman’s ECW, you surely could make a strong case for it. 

Fast forwarding to the December to Dismember WWE produced ECW PPV, the staff at Pro Wrestling Insider all but declared the ECW they lined up in the parking lot to see, the ECW they recapped weekly for rspw dead for all intents and purposes.  Looking at the promo Paul Heyman gave Sunday night during the show, I can’t help to think that at the moment in time, Paul Heyman made the decision to separate himself from the bastardized ECW product produced by those geniuses known as WWE Creative, Vincent Kennedy McMahon and Stephanie Levesque-McMahon (or whatever her name is) that day, or at that instant. 

Heyman's quote above was prophetic… but more importantly to the entire wrestling world… his quote above is true.  The product known as ECW, the brain child of Paul Heyman will leave its legacy to the wrestling world, and as long as there is an arena that doesn’t bear the letters WWE on the marquee, the once proud fans of the product that emanated from the Bingo Hall in 1995 will take pride and solace in knowing that they were a part of wrestling history, and bigger still, re-writing wrestling history.

Thank you Paul Heyman.