10 Things Everybody Gets Wrong About ECW

10. ECW Was Self-Sufficient

Common thinking would claim that ECW existed approximately one million miles outside the child-friendly limitations imposed on both the WWF and WCW in the '90s. ECW was everything those groups weren't. Brash, unapologetically violent and "damn proud of it" (as Paul Heyman would remark), it was a true alternative.

It was also being kept afloat by Vince McMahon's millions.

Back then, people could be forgiven for thinking ECW was a self-sufficient beast that could survive without the bigger companies. That's not true. Thanks to podcasts from Bruce Prichard, Jim Ross and others, it's become clear that Paul Heyman's organisation relied on financial support from McMahon's WWF to stay in business.

Stripped of those kickbacks, there's a chance ECW would've been dead before it produced pay-per-view or hit national television. No, Heyman's league wasn't self-sufficient. He happily took McMahon's cash to maintain his dream of writing a product to be proud of.