Paul Heyman Comments on the Success of ECW and why he wouldn’t Go to TNA for EV2.0

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Here’s what Heyman had to say:

“When I wrote Smackdown,” he said, “it didn’t look anything like ECW. Neither did the time I spent in OVW. I would never script/write/book anything that would even resemble the ‘style’ or ‘pace’ of ECW in the 1990s. That era, that style, the contemporary elements surrounding pop culture and sports culture have all changed. I would script/write/book for what I would gamble on being hot not only today, but in 2011 and 2012, when the effects of what you do today are truly felt, if you have somewhat of a chartered course. The best example I can give you is I don’t want to see Al Pacino do the same scenes from The Godfather today. An update? OK, sure. But to play THAT role? Mel Gibson as ‘Mad Max?’ OK. But not the same 24-year old Mad Max that he played in 1981/83.”

“Restarts don’t work because, besides the issue of ‘contemporary forces’ and ‘pop/sports culture,’ the low hanging fruit is to go with what worked back then,” Heyman said. “Shane Douglas playing The Franchise (the guy who could take over, should take over, and ‘they’ are afraid to let him take over) at 45 or 50? Yuck. Tommy Dreamer as Bruce Willis’ character in Die Hard, the normal guy pushed to extreme measures by extreme enemies and extreme/dire situations? Very groundbreaking in 1995-99. Played out in 2010. Mikey Whipwreck. Lovable, endearing character. The loser who finds a way to win through the most trying of circumstances. The character ran its course, so he doesn’t try to play that guy anymore. Neither does Taz. They’re smart.

“It’s the same reason I would never play Paul E. Dangerously anymore. Can’t be seen as that guy. No one will view me as that guy. I’m not the hyperkinetic, fast talking young kid overthrowing the establishment anymore. I’m 45. I’m fat and bald and ugly and I don’t fucking want to do it.

“And who uses those Gordon Gekko cell phones nowadays, anyway?”

Glazer is a former senior editor at Pulse Wrestling and editor and reviewer at The Comics Nexus.