Paul Heyman ALMOST Joined TNA After WWE Fired Bryan Danielson!

[@InsideTheRopes]

What would TNA have looked like Heyman in charge? Let us know in the comments below!

[@watersandblue6001]

If Heyman would have went to Tna pre- Hogan and Bischoff Era it could have been perfect, post wouldn't cause he wouldn't be in a high-up position most likely.

[@Colt2OO2]

Better than it did after Hogan and Bischoff were done with their failed attempt to compete with WWE

[@joe.limbus]

If they never signed Hulk Hogan and just hired Paul Heyman the product would've been amazing...the buisness would've still been shady tho lol

[@SaveCrystalGaming]

Not good.

[@chatweekly]

It would have been way better .i feel like TNA will struggle to have a place in modern wrestling .like WWE is for mainstream wrestling fans .AEW is for wrestling fans that want a harder hitting Alternative to main stream wrestling .ROH is for fans that a purist wrestling show .Where does TNA fit in this new wrestling landscape ?

[@nothingislogical]

TNA: “How would you turn our product around?” Paul Heyman: “Let’s drop some of these legends and let the young guys shine.” TNA: “But we don’t wanna.” Paul: “Okay. Peace out then.”

[@AzureRoxe]

Just imagine a TNA with Heyman helping them, that would've actually been insane.

[@TheNeonParadox]

Wouldn't have helped. In 2009-2010 when they were talking, Hogan had a stranglehold on creative, as did Bischoff by way of Hogan. Heyman could have had the greatest ideas in the world, but all Hogan had to do is stroke the Fu manchu and say, "That doesn't work for me, brother."

[@TheBlindEye90]

​@@TheNeonParadox*2010 and on. Hogan wasn't there in 09

[@Mike-rm3gm]

Heyman needs WWE, he will never succeed outside of it.

[@jodystrickland9150]

@@Mike-rm3gmhe built ECW

[@Mike-rm3gm]

@@jodystrickland9150 ECW didn’t and never would’ve survived

[@undertakerfanz628]

Even when he's talking regular sounds like he's cutting a promo

[@garethcullen9604]

The ultimate carny

[@yungblink]

That’s his secret, he’s always cutting a promo.

[@b-rye223]

That’s his NY accent lol he’s just always been a natural at being animated and able to tell a story/get his intention across through communication

[@undertakerfanz628]

@@b-rye223 I'm a lifetime New Yorker and nobody over here talks like that 🙄

[@b-rye223]

@@undertakerfanz628 New York/Jersey accent…I’m not saying anything new here 😂

[@codster9]

Crazy to think TNA survived that era. Heyman had some good ideas.

[@tanyanankiatsuranon9187]

It didn’t survive under old ownership though.

[@livewithsin]

They barely survived after they lost their TV deal.

[@anthonyfaucy2761]

They didn't survive though. The TNA from 2002-2010 doesn't even exist anymore. They got bought out by an equity company who changed the brand to 'Impact' and is completely different to what TNA was even though its renamed back into TNA its still not the same product

[@ThatBoyKlink]

Did they really survive it? Lol

[@anthonyfaucy2761]

@ThatBoyKlink It didn't survive. TNA essentially crashed in 2014. The company you see now isn't really the same company. Its a shell with the same name

[@christopherparcella6925]

5:20 is where the Daniel Bryan part begins.

[@NuMetalfan1996]

I do remember that time in 2010 to 2012. Heyman was having talks with TNA/Dixie Carter at the time. Heyman said 2 things, 1. That he wanted 100% full creative control, and 2. Anyone over the age of 40 wouldn’t have a job on TV. TNA/Dixie Carter said absolutely not to both of those things. Heyman at the time felt TNA’s problem was they were too focused on short term success and think that they needed to focus on the long term. The problem I had was Heyman saying that anyone over 40 wouldn’t be on TV if he had worked with TNA, the problem with that is guys like Kurt Angle, Bully Ray, RVD and Chris Daniels were all in their early 40’s at the time. And Bully Ray was doing the best work of his career at the time. And there were a ton of guys in their late 30’s at the time doing great stuff as well. Imo it doesn’t matter if they're older, just as long as they can still go and draw fans in, then they should be kept.

[@thedj9553]

Would have been awesome to see Heyman in TNA, I get the feeling he would have really leaned in to the name of the company, Total Nonstop Action, and made it a hell of a lot more extreme.

[@years-ti7xl]

Heyman in TNA would be a wild timeline to think about.

[@samdath3439]

Tna around 2010/2011 wanted to be a wwe rip off.

[@Mike33422]

Around the same time hulk hogan, Erick bischoff and Rick flair made their tna debut

[@Gabe_Lopez]

@@samdath3439 and that's what led to their demise

[@blakemeads9225]

TNA at that time felt like I was watching 1999/2000 WCW. It was just as unwatchable, too.

[@Marveryn]

@@blakemeads9225 agreed they brought too many legends and put them on the top of the card. Most of these guys were out of shape and at least 5 years way past their prime

[@NuMetalfan1996]

@samdath3439. And TNA were getting their best ratings at that time as well. WWE at that time had only recently gone PG and TNA were appealing to the Attitude and Ruthless Aggression Era casual demo market that WWE were no longer catering for, and still don’t. And it was working some what. TNA wanted star power, so they got the stars, and they were getting a decent audience, which btw TNA had a bigger audience back then than AEW have today, so what does that say?. The problem TNA had was they didn’t know how to properly book it well enough cohesively. And too much Hogan, Flair, Sting, nonsense was a bit too much. And I remember when I stopped watching TNA, as it was during the time Dixie Carter wanted to heavily push Nick Aldis and EC3, and fans weren’t buying it, and neither was I. Nick Aldis was being heavily pushed and fans didn’t take to it well, the fans were booing him even before he turned heel. Nick Aldis was not over with the crowd, and neither was EC3. Yet Dixie Carter wanted them to be heavily pushed. Austin Aries, Robert Roode, James Storm, Samoa Joe, Abyss, AJ Styles these guys that were over with the crowd, Nick Aldis and EC3 were not over with the crowd. So TNA did try and push younger talent, and ironically it was 2 younger talents in Nick Aldis and EC3 was when the audience went No Thanks. Nick Aldis would get crickets from the audience and Dixie thought it was a good idea to push him to the moon. So people like to say TNA never gave the young guys a chance, they did, but the audience preferred Jeff Hardy, RVD, Kurt Angle etc etc.

[@nicholasthomas6407]

I think sting RVD and Jeff he should have kept. I know they were considered legendary but they had much needed star power and could still compete

[@ghostking6838]

unfortunately 2011 jeff hardy couldnt compete, dont belive me? victory road

[@nicholasthomas6407]

@ghostking6838 I was talking about sober jeff hardy not 2011 victory roads jeff hardy

[@InvictusTahir]

I would also add Kurt Angle and Bully Ray to that list

[@AWrestlingHistorian]

Paul Heyman's plans for TNA: 1.) Youth movement. 2.) Phase out the legends. 3.) Make Bryan Danielson the face of the company. Dixie Carter wouldn't give him creative control and that was the end of that.

[@Gabe_Lopez]

If she had let him, then TNA wouldn't have gone through what they went through, but she wasn't too smart to be in the business

[@HootyFruityOwl]

@@Gabe_Lopez At that time making TNA an off-brand ROH wouldn't have worked. ROH was doing that, was doing it better than Paul would've been able to do it, and still failed. Paul never had any intention of saving TNA, because you couldn't save TNA. He asked for ownership because he knew they wouldn't give it up, and he could later say he would've saved them.

[@blakemeads9225]

@@HootyFruityOwlThe main reason ROH was failing at the time was because Sinclair Broadcasting and Greg Gilliland kept making boneheaded decisions in regards to television and PPV, and they couldn’t get a consistent audience.

[@braddiddy8417]

@@blakemeads9225they couldn’t get an audience because most people don’t care about fake wrestling 🤣

[@InvictusTahir]

Imagine several feuds over the years between Bryan Danielson and AJ Styles

[@NYCrazyRob]

What Paul wanted was exactly what Vince Russo wanted for WCW - Russo wanted to come in and get rid of all the people 40+. However, to get Hulk Hogan and company, Dixie probably had iron-clad contracts with them to the point that, legally, she could not do what Heyman was requesting.

[@popeyedoyle6360]

Couldnt you just pay out the contracts?? Or put them in only commercials or commentary/announcer positions.

[@darianestaves9713]

​@@popeyedoyle6360knowing what we know now about the type of people Hogan and flair are/were. They probably had creative controls and couldn't be placed anywhere but where they wanted. A small promotion like a TNA at the time doesn't have much negotiation ability when it comes to flat out stars & HOFERS...

[@DjDaDj3]

Except Heyman would’ve had booking that made sense…

[@michiganrailfan2141]

IMO what they needed to do was a combination of both. Have storylines where the new dogs are trying to take the bone from the old dogs, while still not throwing the old dogs out of the yard. I do admit that if probably would have been very challenging with the egos that were there at the time.

[@InvictusTahir]

Great idea actually. They could have made an invasion storyline over several years (maybe 2 or 3), where the young talents under the leadership of Heyman feud against the legends led by Hogan and Bischoff. You could give the legends some significant victories, but with a storyline like that you could fulfill their contracts and if the storyline could be successful and establish the talents to stars, they could go Heymans way. But personally I would keep some of the legends like Hardy, Sting, Kurt Angle and Bully Ray.

[@michiganrailfan2141]

@@InvictusTahir When talking about keeping some of the legends around I would refer to one of Heyman's other interviews about the second run of Lesner Vs Goldberg matches. The big take away he said was credibility. It seemed credible that Goldberg could squash Lesner. If the legend could still work and make it look credible, I would keep them around. But, I will agree that they legends you metioned fit into the credible category.

[@fpshooterful]

TNA made a BIG mistake not getting Pauly.

[@timetobspodcast]

They had Jim Cornette who was a better wrestling mind than Heyman at that particular time for a longer period of time. Russo and company fired Corny from TNA in 2009 and it was a shit show since then. Dixie then brings in Hogan (look up how that turned out). I guarantee if TNA never hired Vince Russo in 2006 and kept Corny for idk 10-15 years or so. They’d be exactly what AEW thinks they are and that’s a WWE alternative

[@fpshooterful]

@@timetobspodcast Corny has a briliant mind. Looking at Smoky Mountain Wrestling was actually ECW in some ways, before ECW became a thing. BUT, Pauly would've for sure made TNA better. Just remember why ECW is STILL being chanted till this day at certain moments.

[@timetobspodcast]

@@fpshooterful you’re probably right considering TNA was an ECW alternative for a bit. See 2003-07 for details

[@deadsoulrob]

paul heyman is the slimiest nice guy in the world isnt it? what a contadictory man he is, the talent love him, fans do, and he seems like an amazing family man but he portrays such a slimey ass of a man to, brilliant in all ways.

[@BernardMcMahonIII]

for some reason in Year 2010 Dixie Carter thought if she could bring in Hulk Hogan or Paul Heyman that would make TNA Skyrocket

[@nguiii1598]

Imagine Davey Richards, Bryan Danielson, Eddie Edwards and Roderick Strong as pillars of Heyman’s TNA.

[@HootyFruityOwl]

It didn't work at the time for ROH. Why would it work for TNA? Angle, Nash, and Sting kept TNA on tv for years after ROH fell off. Dixie's big mistake wasn't even letting Hogan and Bischoff milk her for money. It was not keeping the Knockouts happy and not paying AJ. If she had kept Kong and AJ, it wouldn't have been as humiliating.

[@GregMerritt-ws8tq]

I'm kinda disappointed that I didn't hear a stage dive chant at the 4 min 20 sec mark.

[@paulwatson3025]

He would've put them on the map if he became their booker

[@namikstudios]

Bit beside the main point, but WCW's content was far better than ECW's at the time they were both shut down. Not that they were at their best mind you, far from it, but WCW still had a massive base of support that dwarfed ECW's even in 2000-01. As for TNA, Hayman's idea of focusing on the younger talent was probably the right way to go but at the same time those legends helped attract and keep many TNA fans. I started watching TNA because of Sting and I certainly think he and others like Kurt had a huge amount of value left in them even post 2010. Focus on the younger guys like AJ etc, sure, but don't get rid of all the legends. You want the perfect mix, just like WCW had in 97/98 at the peak of the industry.

[@Tucanforpres001]

You can't create new stars if you're not willing to focus on them. The legends were in the way. Their shelf life was limited and they were on the way out. The reason NXT Black and Gold was a success is in part because of the guys TNA refused to focus on ended up there. By the time TNA focused on the rightful face of the brand to lead them into the future as a growing company it was too late. Samoa Joe was always stuck to the sidelines for guys like Sting, Angle, RVD, Hardy, etc to get the spotlight. AJ Styles was the soul of that company and he was busy playing second fiddle to Jarrett, Angle, Cage, RVD, Hardy, Hogan, Flair, etc his entire run there. At no point were any of the young guys given the real focus of the company. The spotlight was always on the legends. Samoa Joe got his title run and who held the belt the majority of his run, Booker T who stole the title and literally wore it around. That ended with Joe getting the belt back but oh here comes Mick Foley, Sting, Jarrett, Nash, and Angle back into focus leading to a literal legends stable in the Main Event Mafia back on the scene for Joe to drop the belt too. AJ wins the world title in 2009 with literally no build in order to build to a fake Sting retirement match followed by Hogan coming it to attempt to make him into Flair 2.0. Which was a dumb idea because thats not AJ. Despite that, AJ just drops the belt to RVD for no real reason other than its RVD. The company just refused to focus on TNA guys. They wanted WCW, ECW, and WWE branded stars. RVD, Hardy, Kennedy, Sting, and Angle are the next 5 champs. TNA as a company was broken on a fundamental level in that it focused on the past and not the future. The main point of having legends is to use them to bring in fans and then display the hot new future attraction to them. In order to get fans to accept and love these new attractions, you have the legends lose to them in a convincing fashion. Joe should've beat all of the legends and been on a position higher than them all. AJ should've been given the same. On a fundamental level, TNA did not understand how to invest in the future in order to be its own brand.

[@namikstudios]

@@Tucanforpres001 while that's somewhat true, TNA did put over guys like AJ and Joe with legends like Sting and Kurt doing the job for them. The real issue was that in 2014 Dixie offered AJ a contract extension that was 60% less than his current deal, according to AJ himself. That's what made him jump to WWE. Dixie also re-hired Vince Russo against the wishes of Spike TV which made them furious when they found out about it right around the time TNA's TV deal was expiring. Until around 2013 TNA was going pretty well but it all went downhill pretty fast after that.

[@aishwaryshukla7400]

Paul Heyman is one of the priceless gems of wrestling

[@MrSkullHead1250]

I've heard a lot of flack about Heyman, but I can never help but to love him when I hear him talk. He's one of those people that can hold my full attention, even if he is talking about a brick wall HAHAH. Heyman knows how to talk, whether it's a promo, or an interview like this. He could sell me pencil, he gives me that kind of vibe.

[@WeeGeeX]

Imagine a world where Heymans got a book over at AEW

[@haikalsyed6064]

So this is actually Paul Heyman coming up with NXT.

[@MistaMagic52]

The biggest mistake TNA ever made. Did they really need Nash, Hogan, and Flair? It should've been a no-brainer. As Eric Bischoff says, you can either be better than, less than, or different than your competition.

[@darrensmith6984]

How long ago was this?!? (Edit) I’m a idiot

[@borfislinepersonalitydisorder]

2010, when Bryan was fired for choking Justin Roberts with a tie

[@markperkins2656]

You’re not an idiot… the question is why is he uploading 8 year old content???

[@judasfire2]

​@markperkins2656 Bryan Danielson is the current AEW Champion and TNA is making rounds again , they just want publicity for the channel.

[@alexalbea2338]

I was also confused

[@SteRDLK]

@@markperkins2656 Why not?

[@ebtsmoked]

love him or hate him he is one of the best

[@ItsJustOneGuy]

He gotta point here TNA should have focused on the younger talent and the 8 sided ring.

[@QuickTalkPH]

I thought that was Lomachenko in the thumbnail 😅

[@jamesroan]

🫵🏾😭

[@johnevans248]

one of the most brilliant minds in wrestling

[@geeksquad2575]

Imagine Cornette and Heyman at the helm in TNA. Especially with TNA having the working relationship they had with ROH and New Japan at the time. They would've been printing money. Oh well...another universe got to enjoy it.

[@williamjohnston5490]

Honestly, Paul is one of the best performers in Wrestling.

[@leviuzumaki3903]

Honestly I bet if they did what Paul haymen wanted and went with the young guys AJ styles might’ve stayed with TNA because that was his biggest issue with TNA.

[@hzzzzz1]

This is literally how AEW was supposed to be but they took the TNA route and booked shows like a AAA show with veterans who are either immature or narcissistic about the business

[@novametallica]

Can we get Paul too book AEW?

[@ajsmith1703]

Just imagined if TNA would’ve let Paul do his thing

[@suggestedtigerr1151]

Man if tna had that energy Daniel Bryan had in 2013 that company would be so over wayyyy over by now

[@ThatKehdRiley]

"If I can't afford everything, there's no show I can put on" Uhhhh, 90s Paul Heyman is calling on a giant cancer-giving phone...

[@Dav1dAkiWithA1]

Wonder how things would’ve been different if he had gone to TNA and stayed. There’d be no Brock back in WWE (most likely)

[@Miguel_morales99]

We probably wouldn't get the bloodline story too since he wouldn't be able to help build them up as a serious threat and fraction

[@Devondavis-fm2dz]

Oh god I couldn't imagine seeing Bryan in tna but all tho I wouldn't mind either

[@misterchubbikins]

Why didn't he? Wiseman: I like money.

[@YVray]

I guess I'll stand up for TNA's perspective here. Fundamentally, wrestling promotions have wrestlers who draw, and wrestlers who don't. The reason why TNA was so desperate for legends was that they were draws because of their popularity from WWE or WCW. TNA had succeeded in creating a few homegrown stars like AJ Styles and Samoa Joe, but it would have been a big risk to get rid of most of their draws to bank on guys with no proven track record of drawing money. In hindsight Heyman was right, and modern TNA looks a lot like what he describes. But that may not have been so obvious at the time.

[@JimCornetta]

Heyman was never going to TNA and he knew that Dixie would never give him part ownership so he asked for that to go to there and rest is history

[@alexanderwright1618]

I love Inside The Ropes clips, but I hate the clickbait caption for the clips. I would have watched this if it was simply titled “Paul Heyman REVEALS how he almost joins TNA”. But now I’m just underwhelmed after watching, because of the expectation the clickbait set for me.

[@lookitskazzy]

Seems like fake news considering that it is well known Heyman had zero intention of going to TNA and intentionally asked Dixie for a share of ownership and full creative control. Which she would never ever agree to.

[@HootyFruityOwl]

That's exactly it. The conversation never got to what he would do with full creative control. So, him saying the old Russo "I'll fire everyone over 40." is a convenient thing to say, but not evidenced. He wouldn't have taken ownership and then turned TNA into a discount ROH, when ROH was already doing that. Paul got he wanted. A story about how he would've saved TNA if they listened.

[@lostintheark5728]

Heyman would've been better for it.

[@mrwarped]

"sports entertainment" is such an outdated term in my opinion

[@Brent_P]

TNA would be a major promotion if Dixie Carter had let Paul E take over.

[@danielberry4765]

They could have even a major promotion like ecw … oh wait

[@mr.c4p]

heyman is full of it. another cable company would have not only picked up ecw but also would have helped finance it. Same thing would have happened to wcw if vkm didn't jump in and buy it, which was an inside job. Heyman never even tried to get another deal anywhere. He wanted it to go. ECW was heymans audition for vkm. The experiment was over and he got his job. Been employed there ever since.

[@tanyanankiatsuranon9187]

Proof?

[@Myhryass]

Ladys and gentlemen my name is PAUL HAMEN

[@Dr.MarvelousGarcia-Martinez]

AEW should hire Paul Heyman as Head Booker.

[@noradia1985]

That will never ever happen, Heyman will forever be a WWE guy.

[@TreegAmsta]

@@noradia1985 No. WWE will always be A Paul Heyman Guy.

[@paulcarpenter7844]

You're out of your goddamn mind😂

[@Lilraw85]

People like him need head of creative not just a booking position if he leaves WWE

[@BarryJL45]

Definitely

[@dcb_75]

Heyman can complain about WCWs product but how many people didn't get paid when WCW went out of business? ECW was never popular enough to draw a large enough audience to make a fraction of the money WCW did. His approach was good, in many ways it was what Jarrett was trying to do with TNA originally. You need some older talent to lead the locker room and for name recognition but they had far too many contributing far too little at that time. Keep Angle, keep the Dudleys, maybe keep Rhino as he looks like a beast, make Sting your authority figure but cut the rest and push the younger talent - would have been something.

[@ProtomanButCallMeBlues]

Also WCW never went out of business and never filed for bankruptcy. They were bought from Warner. ECW did sink. Everyone who left WCW had a lot of money in their pocket. Everyone who left ECW was on the verge of bankruptcy.

[@dcb_75]

@ProtomanButCallMeBlues that's a good point - Vince may have gotten a steal of a deal for it but Fusion was going to pay millions to buy WCW but you don't hear stories of anyone offering to buy ECW from Heyman. WCW was a commodity, ECW was a curiosity.

[@ProtomanButCallMeBlues]

@@dcb_75 I guess with Rock documentary on Vince we at least got clarity that WCW was far from bankrupt, it had 50 Million + from investors ready to go. It wasn't a "distribution" problem as Heyman likes to put it. Heyman tried to get more investors, and instead of facing reality he threw the company on Tommy Dreamer and ran for WWE

[@dcb_75]

@ProtomanButCallMeBlues yeah, Eric and Fusion Media were all ready to buy it until the tv shows got cancelled - had they been able to keep those, WCW would have survived. And I get that ECW was owed money and all that but come on, it wasn't exactly a brand new company - Heyman never could keep that company afloat, there were always money issues going on. He may have a great mind for the business but he had no mind for business.

[@Jsambo]

I downloaded wwe2k24 and I’m shocked to see how many of the people i used to watch as a kid are just nowhere to be seen on it,because vince is just a slimy git who can’t handle others going to another promotion,like how tf can’t you play with Edge and Big Show,pure legends

[@Daniel-ml6tl]

Paul: I'm over 40 I didn't wanna be on tv we need to get rid of the legends have young talent go over Hulk hogan: yeah that doesn't work for me brother

[@matthewsnyder6126]

Paul Fucking Heyman is the goat!

[@numanamjad95]

Dixie killed TNA

[@Machete87]

Heyman woulda likely managed someone like Samoa Joe perhaps.

[@CAOVCorp2]

heyman prolly would've stolen their paychecks lol

[@BigDic-qz8su]

Hunter really hated on him and made it personal

[@ZeeOfTheFlow]

I did think, what if...

[@Cococaityycod]

Paul Heyman should have played Harvey Specter in Suits.

[@davidwenzel717]

So it was more then a rumor

[@Phy-n8l]

I wish Heyman was in aew

[@Machete87]

funny thing bout WCW, they were kikn WWF's ass at least 3yrs up til late 99 early 00 is when it started goin downhill.

[@Kingnotorious22]

nice

[@Gabe_Lopez]

Dixie Carter was dumb not to bring him in and let him do what he wanted. She was too loyal to the legends who weren't going to move the needle anymore.

[@HootyFruityOwl]

All of that's untrue. He never told Dixie he wanted to fire legends, she didn't refuse to bring him in out of loyalty to anyone. He told her he wanted ownership and full creative control, because he didn't want to go and knew she couldn't give him her company. All he ever wanted was to be able to tell you this bullshit story about how he could've saved them. They never actually discussed his plans.

[@Gabe_Lopez]

@HootyFruityOwl he had a meeting with her and told her he wanted to phase them out but she was too loyal to them

[@d3.production]

Video starts at 4:27

[@A-small-amount-of-peas]

And miss those opening words of wisdom? You are doing people a disservice

[@sjsharkfan67]

Wish I saw this 4 minutes and 27 seconds ago

[@novametallica]

Thanks boss.

[@Lumbeeboy1992]

There would probably be no AEW if Paul Heyman went to TNA cause he would have grown that company to be a real competitor but of course the dumbass carters didn’t listen

[@TomRamirez-y9s]

Heaney Ford

[@MiyagiiiYung]

Inside the ropes reposting the same 8 year old content still I see lol

[@jenniferwilliams2840]

He made roman reigns better. The only one who got him over

[@anthonyfaucy2761]

I wish he had tbh. Him managing Roman Reigns was such a waste of talent

[@tykegunter0021]

He's so full of shit whatever he said at one night stand Vince McMahon knew about it or Vince told him to go out there and say what you want if we don't like it we would cut you off and they can it's the same thing with CM Punk's pipe bomb I guarantee they went over with Vince McMahon and Triple H to. I love how they also talked about Paul heyman's Hall of Fame speech he didn't say anything that the heads up of WWE and the people that own a WWE didn't know about

[@WatersRon-d8c]

Metz Hills

[@Rj-pw7zs]

Paul is definitely over selling ECW's quality. Alot of revolutionary things happened with ECW but alot of it was also terrible.

[@ProtomanButCallMeBlues]

And the NWO changed the business and is the only thing that the WWE has never been able to replicate or surpass.

[@nodafy]

First lie that he’s ever told

[@DAV3RAG3]

I’m sorry ecw was not good.

[@EmperorGoliaththeEverliving]

Algorithm aide.

[@muscleT92]

Paul will leave WWE go to aew or WWE his time in WWE he's been stale for a very long time

[@renafan3333]

Lunacy. Nobody is watching so get rid of the few people that people are watching for to hope what you want to do works? I think Paul is Pauling and lying to us again. lol He had Terry Funk as ECW champion. What was Jeff Hardy 30,31 then? Yeah, get oldtimer outta here!

[@Colt2OO2]

You don't get it do you? If you've actually seen what he was doing in ECW, he had Terry Funk win the ECW Title as part of the story of the old-timer getting one last chance to be a World Champion and the fans were into it because they all loved Terry and it's a story that naturally resonates with people, which was his entire point of how effective the fans really are no matter who's making the big decisions whereas Dixie was bringing in Hogan, Bischoff and all these ex-WWE guys solely to attempt to compete with WWE, an idea which was dead in the water before it even got off the ground, just look how how bad their finances were just a couple years later from being WWE-lite. Sure a lot of them were still very popular and helped anchor TNA for a long time and a lot of people watched just for them but it sends a message to the younger guys that you should be trying to build the company around so they can become legends in their own right that the higher ups don't have faith in them and would rather focus on people that certainly didn't need the spotlight despite being well established by that point, why else do you think AJ Styles was so acclaimed before he ever got to WWE? It was all the classic matches he had in the era before Hogan and Bischoff came in and essentially caused him to be almost marginalized and the fact that Dixie wanted him to take such a huge pay cut in 2013 when he was their biggest stalwart homegrown guy from day one while she was willing to pay the older guys even more was outrageous, it basically told him they felt he wasn't worth as much as the older talent that hadn't been there nearly as long as him and I would've been insulted too if I were him. I'm not saying they didn't have any good ideas because they definitely did but because they'd pretty much become a watered down version of WWE due to their similar insistence on highlighting older talent that didn't need it and almost neglecting a lot of the younger members of the roster who'd been there longer in the process, they suffered greatly for it and it's a miracle they didn't go under even at their lowest point, so while I think keeping people like Jeff Hardy, Sting, Kurt Angle and RVD would've been perfectly fine due to how they were still wrestling at a very high level and the equity they had with wrestling fans for it, Heyman's idea of building TNA around the younger talent actually made a lot of sense as it would've been vastly different to what WWE was doing at that time and more people would've started watching, that's literally why WCW picked up so much steam and started kicking their ass every week in the ratings but Dixie of course knew no more about the business than us actual fans do because her daddy bought her a wrestling company when she didn't even grow up watching it and thus couldn't see a side other than hers.

[@HootyFruityOwl]

@@Colt2OO2 So, ROH picked up steam and kicked WWE'S ass right? Because when they fired Bryan, he went back to ROH. So, we're living in the timeline where ROH won the war? They failed. AT THE TIME. You think Paul given ownership and creative control would've really used the guys they were using and delivered the same product? Of course not. He's bullshitting because it's easy for him to say in retrospect.

[@Colt2OO2]

​@@HootyFruityOwl Are you on drugs or something? First off, he did not go back to Ring of Honor after he got fired, he did briefly go back to the indies but never back there and second off, I'm not even talking about ROH here. If you'd read ANY part of my comment, not once did I mention them because I was talking about WCW in regards to competing with WWE and kicking their ass in the Monday Night Wars and TNA trying and failing miserably to do the same after Hogan and Bischoff came in but I guess my detailed replies make some people blind, so I won't fault you too much for it. You can't honestly tell me that Heyman's idea doesn't make any sense or that he wouldn't have done it, I'll even give a couple examples to prove that theory wrong, first let me point out how Paul has said if the original ECW had lasted longer, the guys who ended up in ROH in their early days were people he was looking at bringing in and how I know that is his underling there ended up booking for ROH and later Evolve and likely would've helped bring them in, that being Gabe Sapolsky. In WWE's shitty remake of it, they had the Extreme Elimination Chamber match where both Heyman and Big Show (who was the ECW Champion at the time) were pushing for CM Punk (admittedly one of his guys but a younger talent) to win that match but Vince said no because he wanted Bobby Lashley (yes another young guy but more akin to the type of athlete Vince was obsessed with) to win and that wound up being a big reason in why Paul ended up leaving. Okay sure, Paul had some of the original ECW guys who weren't all necessarily in their prime anymore but he needed them for that watered down version of it because it didn't feel like ECW at all without them but if it was called anything else, it could've worked out better for everybody for sure and let me point out something else, he was the booker for OVW for a time and has admitted that he liked that role as loves helping out the newer talent. He's always had a great eye for seeing untapped potential in people, you don't have to like him and I'm not saying everything he says is gospel but you can't deny that to be true

[@NuMetalfan1996]

People like to say TNA never gave the young guys a chance, yet they did. I remember watching TNA at the time when Dixie Carter wanted to heavily push Nick Aldis and EC3, and the fans didn’t like it. The fans wanted to see Jeff Hardy, RVD, Kurt Angle because the TNA fans at the time were WWE fans pissed off that WWE went PG, so they switched to TNA. Nick Aldis would get crickets from the audience but Dixie Carter wanted to push him to the moon and the fans didn’t buy it. The fans wanted to see Jeff Hardy, RVD, Kurt Angle etc etc, they didn’t want to see Nick Aldis, EC3, Eric Young etc etc. People really have bad memories about TNA during that time, yes they focused a lot on the older guys, because the fans wanted to see the older guys, because it was them getting the reactions from the crowd. I’m a big fan of Heyman and could listen to him talk all day, but one thing that I’m disappointed Heyman doesn’t understand, is casual marketability. Just look at AEW, the reason why they are in the shitter and in the mess they are in is because they chose not to appeal to casual fans. Heyman says the right things in the beginning saying you need content, finance, and distribution, but what he leaves out is marketability to market to a wide audience.

[@tanyanankiatsuranon9187]

I think it’s just a matter of how he’d book and align things up for his vision to be reality. Had he have the reign I’m sure he’d know how to make those names you mentioned over with the fans. John cena entire US title reign was under Heyman’s reign and that’s how he prepped cena for the main event scene for the entire 2 years of that smack down run. There’s also Eddie guerrero that’d more than likely just be a mid card jobber on raw and Eddie was able to stand out past Los guerrero’s run as a single star. Had he have his way with punk in wwecw who knew how that would have turned out too (he had an idea for punk to eliminate big show who was the champion in the elimination chamber match, I think Heyman actually quitted wwe that night.)

[@NuMetalfan1996]

@@tanyanankiatsuranon9187 Heyman got fired after DTD, he didn’t quit, as Heyman was the scapegoat. Personally if it was me booking WWECW, I would’ve kept Kurt Angle around until DTD, as Angle would’ve been my champion heading into DTD, then Benoit wins the chamber match at DTD. And then at ECW ONS 2007 in the Hammerstein it’s Benoit vs Punk for the ECW title in an Extreme Rules submission match, with Punk winning. Why Heyman didn’t convince Vince to put Benoit on WWECW from the get go I don’t know. As for TNA, Bully Ray was in his early 40’s and putting in his best ever work at the time, and Heyman would’ve likely got rid of that. I’m a big fan of Heyman, but I disagreed with his view on older talent, if they can still go and bring in fans, they should be used. But you talk about Eddie and Cena, they had huge charisma and fans loved them. All Cena needed was the mic and he got over.

[@tanyanankiatsuranon9187]

@@NuMetalfan1996 I don’t think he was going to do what he said he was gonna do literally. When he said he’s gonna fire everyone above 40 is prolly an exaggeration to make a point. He’s very good at capitalizing older names to make new names, he did that with his ECW with terry funk and jerry lyn. So what likely to happen is he’s gonna cut off a good chunk of them and leave some of them on roster to make new names. But the older guy is not gonna be featured the same way as they used to (hogging on all the spotlights and main events). I didn’t follow TNA anymore but I agree that bully ray and ace of eights was prolly fire. I only caught parts of it on KZbin and it seems like they had a great program going. All in all I have a great faith in heyman’s work because he has a good track record of not shitting the bed with his chance. I enjoyed smackdown’s six and his raw during pandemic era as well.

[@Maxx_d13]

Paul can sell wrestling to unintelligent marks and that’s all

[@senchoumimikyu]

"Not like New Jack stabs White people" Good Lord Paul. Lmao

[@blehhh420]

First😮

[@dewaynekearns]

I know you're going to disagree with me and probably argue but in my opinion Daniel Bryan or Brian Danielson to himself remind me a lot of Chris Benoit people like that don't belong in the ring

[@HootyFruityOwl]

To my knowledge Bryan Danielson has never murdered anyone. If you're trying to be coy and call him a vanilla midget? Cool. But comparing him to Benoit is a little distasteful. I don't disagree with you, but more than half of AEW's current roster falls under that banner, and pretty much the entire independent scene... So, we either let short people without over the top personalities wrestle, or we have no wrestling.

[@MiniMe8188]

I swear everything that comes out his mouth is just gospel

[@josephrosenbaum3343]

lmao ya'll still riding off the clips of an almost 10 year old interview?

[@01323732202]

That’s the worst lighting I’ve ever seen