Paul Heyman Reflects On ECW's Impact On The Wrestling Industry

Paul Heyman was recently interviewed by Squared Circle Pit, where he spoke about ECW's lack of music licensing and Jimmy Iovine investing in the company.

“An investor in ECW, in our very, very last days, was Jimmy Iovine. The most powerful man in the music [industry] of the past 30-40 years. He sold Beats to Apple for $3.2 billion. At the time, Jimmy was the Co-Chairman of Universal Music Group, which was Geffen, A&M, and Interscope. Jimmy was a fan of ours because he started a rebel music label called Interscope and disrupted the entire music industry. So he understood the struggles of ECW. Our only exposure besides when we did some co-promotion with WWE and then WWF on USA Network was after we were off TNN, we would get these little snippets on Jimmy and Doug’s Farm Club, which was on USA Network, because Jimmy Iovine was trying to expose ECW – again, in our very last days – not just to his audience but also to the USA Network. We were negotiating with Stephen Chao, the President and at the time, the Charmain of USA, Barry Diller.”

Heyman spoke about his experience with ECW.

“It was seven and a half years of stress. I mean, it was also, I can’t say the best time of my life because, to me, the best time of my life is tomorrow, that’s just the way I view things. I don’t regret a single day of it. It was a seven-and-a-half-year struggle to survive. There’s a certain adrenaline rush to that that you just can’t duplicate.”

Heyman also spoke about ECW's impact on the professional wrestling industry.

“We disrupted the game. I mean, we were a cause. We weren’t a business, we were a cause. Sometimes, the collection agencies and the lawyers and the need to pay bills will catch up to you. We were juggling those chainsaws for seven and a half years. It’s an interesting idea for people to say, ‘Well, it’s an interesting business model. You made people drink the Kool-Aid, you made people buy into the cause.’ No, we were the cause. If anybody drank the Kool-Aid, I probably drank the Kool-Aid more than anybody or certainly as much as anybody. We were a cause and I can’t recommend it as a business model for most other people. I think Bubba Ray Dudley says it best, we were Napster. We weren’t meant to last. We were meant to completely change the game. We were meant to disrupt the industry and we were meant to go away and live on as martyrs. That’s the story of Napster and whether fortunately, or unfortunately, that’s the story of ECW.”