Paul Heyman Talks ECW's Popularity, Changing Wrestling

Paul Heyman is making the media rounds for his upcoming DVD release, titled "My Name is Paul Heyman," including British site The Independent. Heyman spoke about how he and ECW changed the wrestling business, and why it needed to happen. Heyman, the former owner of ECW is often credited with aiding in the push of more risque and controversial storylines throughout the 1990's. €œI thought that the business, the industry, the presentation needed to change in the same way music had changed. Because music was all about Poison and Mötley Crüe and Winger and all these hair bands, and then along came Nirvana and *BAM*! The whole industry changed. So in the same way, I thought wrestling needed to change, in that wrestling had become the equivalent of hair bands, and we needed wrestling€™s version of Nirvana to come along and just shake everything up," Heyman said. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3n7WCOmAZmg Heyman's ECW reached cult-following status, as the company, performers and fans willed it to success. €œI was on 57th Ave. in New York City and there was a three-car pileup and a bunch of people looked at the car wreck and started chanting €˜ECW€™. It€™s become part of the country€™s lexicon. It€™s an accepted, acknowledged phrase," said Heyman. The controversial Heyman has appeared for the WWE sporadically over the past two years, working as an advocate for the likes of Brock Lesnar, CM Punk, Cesaro, Ryback, and Curtis Axel. He and the WWE had a messy split in 2006 when the ECW brand in which he was captaining was not given the creative freedom he desired. Heyman's DVD, "My Name is Paul Heyman," releases next Tuesday in the United States and has received overwhelmingly positive advanced reviews. WWE continues to keep the ECW brand alive through the WWE Network and their home video catalog, releasing no less than a half dozen ECW specials.