The initial premise upon which the viral success of Extreme Championship Wrestling was built was that Paul Heyman was the booker of a rag-tag crew of professional wrestlers not wanted by "hated" mainstream wrestling organizations. While yes, WCW dislike was a major issue in ECW (given the fact that Heyman sued WCW for damages upon his firing from the company), WWF hatred was largely cooked up as a way to engender "smart mark," "pure wrestling" and Internet fan support for the promotion. One need only look back into Heyman's own pro wrestling history to note that any perceived ill will had by a Heyman-led ECW toward WWE was baseless conjecture. Heyman's first pro wrestling job came from working with the WWWF as a Madison Square Garden photographer in the 1970s, with Federation heel managers Grand Wizard, Freddie Blassie and Captain Lou Albano being the individuals credited with "breaking in" Heyman in the wrestling business. As well, there's the fact that at a certain point of the mid-90s, it was impossible to tell WWF's developmental and the ECW roster apart, as between Brakkus, Justin Credible and more, two companies that hate each other can't exchange that much talent with any level of heat between them.
Besides having been an independent professional wrestling manager for a decade, Marcus Dowling is a Washington, DC-based writer who has contributed to a plethora of online and print magazines and newspapers writing about music and popular culture over the past 15 years.
