Paul Heyman believes professional wrestling is better off with competition, and says AEW’s style carries clear influence from ECW, the company he built in the 1990s. He also revisited his 2010 talks to take over TNA, and why they fell apart.
Speaking on INSIGHT with Chris Van Vliet on YouTube, Heyman was asked whether wrestling is in a better place because AEW exists. He gave a long answer that ran from talent pay to AEW’s in-ring style.
“Oh, I certainly hope so. I mean, it sure changed the compensation packages for a lot of talent, because there was a wolf across the river named Tony Khan that had a billion dollar checkbook that he could afford to pay a lot more money for talent than talent was making back in 2017, 2018, 2019, so it certainly changed the compensation for talent, and they’re on a viable network. They have a style that’s different than WWE. They present an alternative, if not a competitive brand,” Heyman said.
He then turned to what he sees as ECW’s imprint on the product. “I look at AEW, and I realize the influence that ECW had on that product. Not just, for example, like Moxley is a total ECW Sandman, New Jack style performer, but if you look at the AEW style, it’s Rob Van Dam versus Jerry Lynn from 1999. If you were a fan of what RVD and Jerry Lynn were doing in 1999, a lot of what AEW presents today is derived and is influenced by what RVD and Jerry Lynn were doing back then,” he said. Van Vliet added that the same style fed into Pro Wrestling Guerrilla, which he sees as a basis for AEW today.
Asked to sum up his view, Heyman said he welcomes the competition and wants more of it. “So, am I glad that they’re there? Absolutely. Love the fact that there is an alternative for an audience. Love the fact that there’s something else out there. Love the fact that there’s something that captures the imagination of the pro wrestling slash sports entertainment, if we still use that phrase today, audience. I wish there were more promotions out there right now. It’s just going to make us work harder to be better than all of them, and we certainly have the advantage in terms of distribution and in terms of lineage of this industry,” he said.
The conversation had reached AEW by way of TNA, the promotion Heyman nearly took over in 2010. He said the talks, which involved Spike TV, broke down over the company’s reliance on its veteran stars, and he pointed to the younger roster he believed was being held back. “What could have been done with them, but instead they were all playing second fiddle to these big names from the attitude era that were no longer relevant or no longer had the cache to present innovative progressive storylines that would capture the imagination of a new audience. They had a niche, they served the niche, they were never going to expand from it. Narrow casting versus broadcasting,” Heyman said.
He said the sticking point was the company’s unwillingness to move its stars aside. “What it boiled down to was TNA did not want to let go of the legends, did not want to forsake the appearances by the legends on the television show, did not want the legends to be fed to the younger guys, so the AJ Styles and the Samoa Joes, and all the young talent that was there, was always going to be secondary to the legends, and therefore you’ve capped, you’re stuck, you’ve hit the glass ceiling,” Heyman said.
He framed his pitch as a clear alternative rather than an imitation. “If you want my input, we’re going in a completely different direction, and it’s going to be a different style, and it’s going to separate itself from what WWE is offering, or all you’re getting is WWE light,” Heyman said.
The full interview is available on Chris Van Vliet’s YouTube channel.
