Tuesday, December 05, 2006

WWE Fires Paul Heyman

The WWE has never liked anything they didn't create. This theory has once again proven itself with the departure of Paul Heyman.

Following a somewhat lackluster December to Dismember pay-per-view, WWE officials informed Heyman that they were letting him go. Their reasoning was that Vince McMahon was dissatisfied with Heyman's involvement with the ECW brand. McMahon felt that Heyman was holding on to the past instead of embracing the "new vision" of ECW (also known as the WWE version of ECW).

You cannot have ECW without Paul Heyman. He created the organization and therefore, Heyman is ECW. It was his vision that led the brand to acquire it's cult status during the late 1990's. It must have killed Heyman to only be a consultant and not take part in the booking and writing, when WWE resurrected the brand earlier this year. Watching the new ECW, you can notice the heavy WWE influence. This is especially the case with the old ECW stars (Dreamer, Sandman, Guido, Sabu, etc), who are made to look very weak and easily dominated by the WWE-trained talent (C.M. Punk, Mike Knox, Kevin Thorn, Test, etc).

I cannot understand why the WWE is afraid of letting Paul Heyman play a major role in the script writing. When he was the head writer for Smackdown, the program was at its best. There's also the great work he's done with WWE's developmental territory, Ohio Valley Wrestling.

Heyman knows how to put over talent. He would have made stars out of the new talent, as well as making sure that the old ECW stars, were made to look strong and have the same presence as they did in the past.

Once again, Vince McMahon's ego has got in the way of the product. This is what happens when you have a monopoly and lack the threat of serious competition. Hopefully, organizations like TNA and Ring Of Honor will hire Heyman and give him full control. In order to compete successfully with WWE, Paul Heyman is a crucial element to have.

The Hek

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