10 Things Paul Heyman Wants You To Forget About ECW

10. Violence Against Women

ECW's violence was widespread. No one was spared from the chairs, piledrivers, DDTs, or punches and that included managers, referees, and fans. That list also included women. While women can certainly contribute in the wrestling business if used properly, extreme violence against females is considered a major no-no in the context of professional wrestling. Simply put, people don't want to see big hulking men bloodying a 105 lbs. woman. ECW's fan base was 99.9% male and the vast majority of these men were under 35 years old. Women on ECW television were usually portrayed as manipulative, promiscuous, and untruthworthy. This younger male demographic tends to have a hatred towards "evil" women, so the fan base was usually cheering for some male-on-female violence. The only problem with this is that advertisers are never going to sponsor a promotion that has men beating up women. Even back in 2001, this was a very touchy subject and made people extremely uncomfortable. ECW's problem was that they made the majority of their females heels, thus guaranteeing men would have to beat them up in order to satisfy the bloodthirsty crowd.