My thoughts on Paul Heyman's dismissal, ECW's future and Vince McMahon
By Art Shimko
schlocknhyperbole@verizon.net
schlocknhyperbole.blogspot.com
After all this time following wrestling and learning of the politics and egos involved I am still amazed how Vince McMahon is willing to destroy his product, especially a product that he owns yet never had a hand in creating. And I love how other people get the blame passed to them for mistakes made, from talent to management figures to creative and so forth. At the end of the day it's Vince's stamp of approval that seals the deal and fate of his company. I didn't watch the ECW December To Dismember pay-per-view on Sunday night but read reports, listened to a rundown on Live Audio Wrestling and was told by my friend at the office on Monday that it certainly wasn't the best show he'd ever seen.
On June 24th Me and said friend along with another friend went to the old ECW Arena in South Philadelphia to witness the first ever ECW house show put on by WWE. From that moment on we should have seen the writing on the wall, I mean we did but I think there was maybe some hope for a decent product. Boy was I gullible. It was basically a WWE house show taking place in a venue held sacred to many wrestling fans, and one interesting part was Paul Heyman witnessing negative reactions by a large portion of the crowd. He had to please WWE brass by plugging ECW's upcoming July 4th TV taping at the Wachovia Center not too far away from the ECW Arena, at the same time you could tell he was trying his best to convince the crowd to stick with him and things could potentially get better. On Sunday night in Augusta, Georgia, Heyman was a defeated man, finally after WWE tried to give him the bad end of the stick many times during his tenure. When he was booking Smackdown we saw some of the best TV WWE had to offer, even better than their flagship show Raw. After getting into it with Stephanie McMahon, who pretty much hates Heyman's guts, he was demoted to a TV role and made lemonade from lemons. Next thing you know Heyman's sent to OVW to book after long time matchmaker Jim Cornette was fired, this move probably was another way to screw with Heyman, you know break him down. Instead Heyman did a pretty decent job down in Louisville, some shows may have been overbooked or repeated Heyman trademarks way too often but he did better than anyone figured and made a star out of CM Punk in that territory.
Vince McMahon lives in a bubble. Plain and simple. There isn't that threat of competition, at least not in his mind. UFC is doing record business the last year and Vince may be paying attention but at the same time probably feels he's safe as long as WWE makes lots of cash. He can bury a wrestler, kill a brand which is part of his company and even with those actions being a waste of time WWE is making money no matter what because with PPV buyrates tanking, house show ticket sales not doing so hot over the last four years or so and so-so TV ratings the company has its ancillary products like home videos, t-shirts and other merchandise as well as international pay-per-view buyrates and international house show markets making a good chunk of change for Vince. So with that in mind he doesn't feel the need to do what's right for business, it's obvious that PPV on Sunday should've never turned out the way it did, from the lack of promotion of matches to a mundane undercard to main eventers coming and going before entering the Elimination Chamber... the level of amateurism would rival most independent promotions, the only difference being that WWE has plenty, no excuse me, an abundance of resources and money and people to organize a big show for a mainstream audience. Does Vince want to lose money? It's a question I'm sure is asked many times over by fans and journalists who study the business, but even the loss in profits WWE takes on December to Dismember is a drop in the bucket. As long as certain people and other brands (mainly Raw) are protected that's all that matters.
So where does Heyman go from here? TNA? I can imagine how many message board threads and blogs are contemplating that one. I don't know if I see a jump anywhere else right away, Heyman may just be sitting out his contract at home and there may be a possible "no-compete" clause afterwards. Heyman could also be burned out with the business especially after this incident, but when utilized properly I'm sure Heyman can still be a valuable asset to any wrestling promotion, whether it be TNA or even Ring Of Honor. There had been talk a while ago about his interest in promoting mixed martial arts, slight possibility but he'd have to work extra hard (which he probably would) in order not to be another fly-by-night promoter like the WFA. The possibilities are endless but only time will tell... would he end up back at WWE? Stranger things have happened.
Where does this leave ECW? On The LAW radio show Sunday night there was discussion of the brand lasting up until Wrestlemania, some listeners voted in a LAW poll that ECW could perhaps last forever... not sure what "forever" really means in wrestling these days but WWE has that programming slot on the SciFi Channel for another year... of course Vince can pull the plug at any moment and replace it with another WWE-related show.
On Sunday night Vince McMahon basically took the old dog known as ECW behind the woodshed with a shotgun and blew it away in front of anyone who was brave enough to witness the carnage. Things look bleak at the moment but I'll tell you what, I am curious what happens on ECW this Tuesday night and how (and if) Heyman's dismissal will be explained.
Yep, just another day in the world of professional wrestling.
Check out SNH's daily updates for the latest pro wrestling, mixed martial arts and music news and commentary, we've got live PPV and TV coverage on WWE, TNA, UFC, Pride, IFL, etc., concert reviews, CD and DVD reviews, "Funk's Corner" by Dory Funk Jr., "The Half Guarded Truth" by Michael Coughlin, "As I See It" by Bob Magee, radio recaps of The Dr. Keith~! Show, Ultimate Fighter episode recaps by Erin Bucknell of MMACalifornia.net, press releases plus so much more! Thank you as always for your support.
schlocknhyperbole@verizon.net
schlocknhyperbole.blogspot.com
After all this time following wrestling and learning of the politics and egos involved I am still amazed how Vince McMahon is willing to destroy his product, especially a product that he owns yet never had a hand in creating. And I love how other people get the blame passed to them for mistakes made, from talent to management figures to creative and so forth. At the end of the day it's Vince's stamp of approval that seals the deal and fate of his company. I didn't watch the ECW December To Dismember pay-per-view on Sunday night but read reports, listened to a rundown on Live Audio Wrestling and was told by my friend at the office on Monday that it certainly wasn't the best show he'd ever seen.
On June 24th Me and said friend along with another friend went to the old ECW Arena in South Philadelphia to witness the first ever ECW house show put on by WWE. From that moment on we should have seen the writing on the wall, I mean we did but I think there was maybe some hope for a decent product. Boy was I gullible. It was basically a WWE house show taking place in a venue held sacred to many wrestling fans, and one interesting part was Paul Heyman witnessing negative reactions by a large portion of the crowd. He had to please WWE brass by plugging ECW's upcoming July 4th TV taping at the Wachovia Center not too far away from the ECW Arena, at the same time you could tell he was trying his best to convince the crowd to stick with him and things could potentially get better. On Sunday night in Augusta, Georgia, Heyman was a defeated man, finally after WWE tried to give him the bad end of the stick many times during his tenure. When he was booking Smackdown we saw some of the best TV WWE had to offer, even better than their flagship show Raw. After getting into it with Stephanie McMahon, who pretty much hates Heyman's guts, he was demoted to a TV role and made lemonade from lemons. Next thing you know Heyman's sent to OVW to book after long time matchmaker Jim Cornette was fired, this move probably was another way to screw with Heyman, you know break him down. Instead Heyman did a pretty decent job down in Louisville, some shows may have been overbooked or repeated Heyman trademarks way too often but he did better than anyone figured and made a star out of CM Punk in that territory.
Vince McMahon lives in a bubble. Plain and simple. There isn't that threat of competition, at least not in his mind. UFC is doing record business the last year and Vince may be paying attention but at the same time probably feels he's safe as long as WWE makes lots of cash. He can bury a wrestler, kill a brand which is part of his company and even with those actions being a waste of time WWE is making money no matter what because with PPV buyrates tanking, house show ticket sales not doing so hot over the last four years or so and so-so TV ratings the company has its ancillary products like home videos, t-shirts and other merchandise as well as international pay-per-view buyrates and international house show markets making a good chunk of change for Vince. So with that in mind he doesn't feel the need to do what's right for business, it's obvious that PPV on Sunday should've never turned out the way it did, from the lack of promotion of matches to a mundane undercard to main eventers coming and going before entering the Elimination Chamber... the level of amateurism would rival most independent promotions, the only difference being that WWE has plenty, no excuse me, an abundance of resources and money and people to organize a big show for a mainstream audience. Does Vince want to lose money? It's a question I'm sure is asked many times over by fans and journalists who study the business, but even the loss in profits WWE takes on December to Dismember is a drop in the bucket. As long as certain people and other brands (mainly Raw) are protected that's all that matters.
So where does Heyman go from here? TNA? I can imagine how many message board threads and blogs are contemplating that one. I don't know if I see a jump anywhere else right away, Heyman may just be sitting out his contract at home and there may be a possible "no-compete" clause afterwards. Heyman could also be burned out with the business especially after this incident, but when utilized properly I'm sure Heyman can still be a valuable asset to any wrestling promotion, whether it be TNA or even Ring Of Honor. There had been talk a while ago about his interest in promoting mixed martial arts, slight possibility but he'd have to work extra hard (which he probably would) in order not to be another fly-by-night promoter like the WFA. The possibilities are endless but only time will tell... would he end up back at WWE? Stranger things have happened.
Where does this leave ECW? On The LAW radio show Sunday night there was discussion of the brand lasting up until Wrestlemania, some listeners voted in a LAW poll that ECW could perhaps last forever... not sure what "forever" really means in wrestling these days but WWE has that programming slot on the SciFi Channel for another year... of course Vince can pull the plug at any moment and replace it with another WWE-related show.
On Sunday night Vince McMahon basically took the old dog known as ECW behind the woodshed with a shotgun and blew it away in front of anyone who was brave enough to witness the carnage. Things look bleak at the moment but I'll tell you what, I am curious what happens on ECW this Tuesday night and how (and if) Heyman's dismissal will be explained.
Yep, just another day in the world of professional wrestling.
Check out SNH's daily updates for the latest pro wrestling, mixed martial arts and music news and commentary, we've got live PPV and TV coverage on WWE, TNA, UFC, Pride, IFL, etc., concert reviews, CD and DVD reviews, "Funk's Corner" by Dory Funk Jr., "The Half Guarded Truth" by Michael Coughlin, "As I See It" by Bob Magee, radio recaps of The Dr. Keith~! Show, Ultimate Fighter episode recaps by Erin Bucknell of MMACalifornia.net, press releases plus so much more! Thank you as always for your support.
Labels: Art Shimko, ECW, OCC Opinion, Pro Wrestling News
posted by Art Shimko at 12/05/2006 12:19:00 AM
1 Comments:
Nice work on this.
I'd love to be a fly on the wall the day Vince McMahon finally realizes how much money he has lost himself over the years by trashing former competitors he now owns. I realize this day is likely to never come.
ECW was a mess from the day the brand was relaunched and I knew this wouldn't end well. Having said this, it is worse than I could've imagined.
I don't know what Heyman will do next. A run in TNA would be interesting but I fear with the personalities involved that would be a case of too many chiefs, not enough Indians.
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