WNS Home
WNS on X WNS on BlueSky WNS on Discord WNS on Facecbook WNS on Instagram WNS on Threads WNS on Google News Navigate up
RSS Feed

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

Posted By: Joe West on Nov 22, 2021

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.”

Your Rating –/10
Average: 0.0 / 10
Total votes: 0

⚡ Explore WNS

Load Popular Hashtags
Popular Tags
Discord
Join WNS Discord

⚡ Events

WWE Saturday Night's Main Event

Washington, District Of Columbia

Dec. 13th 2025

#snme

WWE Monday Night RAW

Hershey, Pennsylvania

Dec. 15th 2025

#raw

WWE NXT

Orlando, Florida

Dec. 16th 2025

#nxt

WWE NXT

Orlando, Florida

Dec. 17th 2025

#nxt

WWE Friday Night SmackDown

Grand Rapids, Michigan

Dec. 19th 2025

#smackdown

WWE Monday Night RAW

Grand Rapids, Michigan

Dec. 19th 2025

#raw

AEW Dynamite

New York City, New York

Dec. 20th 2025

#dynamite

AEW Collision

New York City, New York

Dec. 21st 2025

#collision

WWE Friday Night SmackDown

USA

Dec. 26th 2025

#smackdown

ROH on HonorClub

USA

Dec. 26th 2025

#honorclub