10 Dark Secrets About WWE Legends
1. Paul Heyman's Approach To Business
Paul Heyman won. In professional wrestling, carnies tend to do that.
He revolutionised the industry in the 1990s. His 1994-95 ECW product was intoxicating, transformative, as cool as pro wrestling gets, and both WCW and the WWF flourished by stealing his talent and philosophy. The medium would look radically different - and one could argue far smaller - were it not for his influence.
In addition to that artistic legacy, the street cred, he has made it mainstream as the Advocate and the Wise Man. He - and this is wild, considering he was on abysmal terms with WWE twice historically - is part of the furniture now. He will go down as one of the most memorable characters in the history of the promotion, can retire comfortably several times over, and his creative sparked WWE's resurgence. Everybody told WWE that he was the key. WWE didn't listen in 2002 nor 2006, but when they did, Heyman brought the good times back.
He was also, depending on who you talk to, an evil piece of remorseless self-involved garbage.
As recounted on Dark Side of the Ring, he exploited Chris Candido and Sunny's struggles with addiction, asking Sunny to do another take of her very real confession that she wanted to die.
Heyman used Candido's credit card to book flights for the ECW roster, which scorched the credit rating, and money issues haunted Candido for the remainder of his young, tragic life. His Wrestling Observer Newsletter obituary makes for particularly harrowing reading in light of that story.