NWA Eastern/Extreme Championship Wrestling (1993–2001) Paul Heyman

heyman @ ecw show in 1998



heyman addressing crowd @ ecw television taping in 1999

after departing wcw, heyman attempted start new promotion in texas jim crockett, jr., crockett wanted build traditional wrestling brand while heyman declared traditional wrestling antiquated , new take on genre needed.

at time, eddie gilbert booker philadelphia-based promotion, national wrestling alliance (nwa) s eastern championship wrestling, did under ownership of local pawn shop owner named tod gordon. heyman came in gilbert teach younger wrestlers how perform on interviews, gilbert s erratic behavior became gordon, had major falling out gilbert right before ultra clash event on september 18, 1993. point forward, heyman in charge of creative direction of company. paul e. dangerously, managed few wrestlers, including sabu , 911.

a year later, company flagship promotion of struggling nwa. tournament scheduled held in august 1994 nwa world heavyweight championship, @ ecw-hosted event featuring ecw wrestlers. proposed outcome current ecw champion shane douglas becoming champion, heyman conspired douglas , gordon without knowledge of nwa president dennis coralluzzo have douglas (and extension, ecw itself) publicly denounce nwa , tradition after winning tournament. in post-match speech, douglas aggressively assaulted title s lineage, throwing belt down, proclaiming nwa dead organization , declaring ecw title world-level championship. plan shoot screwjob known three.

that same week, heyman , tod gordon rechristened promotion, eliminating regional branding eastern , declaring promotion extreme championship wrestling. broke company away nwa, , ecw became own entity. heyman encouraged wrestlers express true feelings wwf, nwa, , wcw. heyman bought out gordon , became sole owner of ecw. during time in ecw, heyman found ally in vince mcmahon s wwf. mcmahon had sent wwf wrestlers ecw (under wwf payroll) develop them , interested in ecw wrestlers, such terry gordy , 2 cold scorpio. mcmahon paid heyman $1,000 per week rent scorpio.

in final days of ecw, heyman did not appear on show , replaced leader of backstage , creative ecw wrestler tommy dreamer. ecw entered bankruptcy in 2001 (just weeks after wcw sold wwf $2,000,000, after aol time warner wrote off on $100 million in debt), company $7,000,000 in arrears, on $3,000,000 owed company indemand pay per view.