The Secret History Of ECW | Wrestling Timelines

May 25, 1998 - Attitude

The WWF is white-hot, fuelled by Attitude and propelled by the momentum of working class anti-hero Stone Cold Steve Austin. Outsmarting evil owner Vince McMahon, to the delight of the fans, Austin has McMahon arrested on Monday Night Raw. As Vince is led away in cuffs, Austin douses him in beer.

This must be doubly frustrating for Heyman.

Firstly, Austin’s act, which is drawing more money than ever for the WWF, is patterned after Heyman’s creation of the Sandman. Austin is a less than virtuous babyface who drinks beer at a ridiculous rate and enters the ring to an anthemic rock track. Worse still, a prototype of this version of Austin was debuted in ECW by Heyman himself, in 1995.

Secondly, the prescient Heyman was amongst the first to endorse Austin, all the way back in 1991, and now somebody else gets to monetise him.

Paul Heyman was half-right, when he said that wrestling should be more like Nirvana. Eventually, the form did evolve into something darker and with a more transgressive feel. Heyman’s vision, however, has been fully supplanted by the WWF. ECW was never Nirvana, but rather Green River: the precursor to a new movement that, while acclaimed and credited for their innovation, doesn’t sell the records.

ECW is rapidly losing its appeal, purpose and staying power. Its identity is no longer unique, and if Heyman does build a new star, there’s every chance that star won’t be his for too long.