9. Tod Gordon
When it comes to the success of ECW, of course everyone looks to Paul Heyman, who shook up the entire wrestling world in the 90s with his inventive ways and being the on-screen persona of the product that was so revolutionary and in-your-face. While Heyman deserves every bit of praise he gets for ECW, it's Tod Gordon who is usually overlooked. Gordon founded the original ECW, back when it was Eastern Championship Wrestling, and was there when the company broke away from the NWA and was re-branded as Extreme Championship Wrestling. Gordon brought Heyman in as the lead booker, and they concocted a plan to have Shane Douglas throw down the NWA Heavyweight Title belt and declare the Eastern Championship Wrestling Title as his new belt. The company left the NWA umbrella and became their own entity. Gordon would continue to own ECW for two years, before selling it to Heyman, and then staying with the company for a while in an on-screen authority figure role. Under the helm of Heyman, ECW reached the highest heights it would reach, but without Gordon's vision, the original ECW may have been just another NWA promotion that failed to get with the times and would ultimately have no choice but to fold as their fans looked elsewhere for "cool" trends.