The Sun in the UK recently conducted an interview with Paul Heyman where he talks about the disagreements between himself and Vince McMahon that lead to his WWE departure, the "new" ECW and more. Here are some highlights:
On what happened between him and Vince McMahon:
"I think what it boils down to is Vince McMahon and I have totally separate and distinct visions for what a wrestling or sports entertainment product should be. There’s nothing wrong with having those different visions, the problem was that Vince started to take the difference of opinion personally. And once that personality conflict comes into play, when you’re trying to steer the direction of a product, it becomes a bad work environment. So Vince didn’t like working with me anymore and I didn’t like working with Vince anymore. And it’s his company, so obviously he has to stay!"
On bringing back ECW has a new brand:
"By comparison, if someone were to resurrect The Beatles and say: “You know what, we want to make them more globally accepted, so we’re going to have a white guy, an Asian female, a Hispanic Bisexual and an African-American with a Scottish accent.” In the land of WWE that actually makes sense. But no matter how you look at it, it’s just not the Beatles. So in the same light, it’s just not ECW. ‘Extreme’ doesn’t mean blood, or tables, or barbed wire. ECW was always about progression, moving forward, giving more bang for the buck. For example, a finish in most every match. Simple thought. A winner and a loser. And a story with it that makes sense. But if you voiced that opinion, Vince would take it personally. If Vince doesn’t create it from the get-go, he can’t embrace the formula."
Why he didn’t more control of the "new" ECW:
"Because that goes against everything that is Vince McMahon. Vince is such a control freak that if he sneezes, the next 10 minutes of any meeting are ruined because he is so p***ed at himself for not being able to control the sneeze. And it’s worked very well for him in life. He is a billionaire. He has his own luxury private plane and, by the way, it’s a really nice plane. He has things and property and cash that every other wrestling promoter in the world doesn’t have. He has achieved these goals HIS WAY and so Vince is not about to let anyone have free reign over anything in his kingdom. That’s just not going to happen."
On what was the final straw during his stay in WWE:
"The final straw was the December to Dismember Pay Per View. That show was just a wreck. I knew it going in. I kept trying to pitch different things for the show that week, that weekend, and even the day of the show. All day long on the day of the show, I kept coming to Vince saying: “The people are going to throw this back in our face.”"
To view the full interview where Heyman talks about his original plans for the December to Dismember PPV (which was an idea Big Show liked), rumors of him looking to purchase an MMA company and more, visit http://www.thesun.co.uk.