10 Greatest Things About ECW’s Final Year

1. Paul Heyman Shoots From The Hip

ECW Paul E Dangerously Paul Heyman
WWE
"I am so f**king tired of the goddamn f**king network. You know, when we first went on TNN, I thought it was the greatest f**king thing to happen to ECW, until I learned we had to deal with a f**king assh*le like you."

Those were the words uttered by Paul Heyman live on PPV prior to the main event of Living Dangerously 2000.

The assh*le in question was Cyrus the Virus, of course, but Cyrus was merely a vessel designed by Heyman to represent TNN. As such, the vitriol directed the way of Cyrus and his Network faction was very much very real vitriol intended for TNN higher-ups.

By the final year of ECW, Paul Heyman - or Paul E. Dangerously, if you will - had long stopped giving a sh*t about appeasing TNN. Frustrated with the network's treatment of ECW and its wish to scale back the extreme nature so synonymous with Extreme Championship Wrestling, Heyman took pleasure in goading TNN at every turn.

Paul Heyman with a microphone in-hand is always a recipe for success. But a microphone-wielding Paul Heyman with a genuinely personal gripe and zero cares about offending anyone? That was a recipe for absolute gold, as Paul E. cut some of the most impassioned, impactful promos of his illustrious career.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.