Paul Heyman is a prominent figure in the professional wrestling industry, most known for his stint at ECW, where he was hands-on in many aspects. Recently, some major news concerning this organization surfaced. An iconic ECW wrestler suggested that the company had engaged in a variety of criminal activities during the production of the show. Not only that, but their antics were displayed on live TV, which heightened the risk.
A deep dive ensued on The Busted Open podcast as Tommy Dreamer reminisced about the heyday of ECW. He cited that the promotion didn’t purchase a popular wrestler’s theme song’s rights for fair use. This implies that if the owner of the song had sued for unfair use, the corporation could have landed in big trouble.
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Not only that, but the wrestlers freely utilized booze and cigarettes on television, portraying a more edgy product. Moreover, wrestlers were inebriated when they entered the ring, which caused them to perform poorly. Dreamer implied that some of the major wrestling injuries that occurred were caused because the stars were all not in their full senses. The company was even thrown off the air because of some of the stuff they had attempted to do on live TV.
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In the podcast, Dreamer stated, “ECW, we probably would have been all arrested. So that I’ve said, listen, I’m not saying anything that I haven’t said before. We did illegal things. A man we were joking before about the Sandman, his music we had no rights to. He was drinking on the way to the ring. If somebody got hurt, well, you put a guy who’s drunk, he’s smoking a cigarette….. We did push the envelope a few times.”
But how far did the rot extend?
Were other renowned ECW names involved in all of this?
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Many hypotheses are going around among fans right now, and the reason for this is simple: they want to know who had a hand in these illegal activities. Paul Heyman is the first name that comes to mind, but Tommy Dreamer, another ECW icon, is now on the list of suspects. If not directly responsible, the wrestling legend has admitted to having an indirect hand in these affairs.
The explanation for this is simple: Tommy Dreamer worked extremely closely with Paul Heyman in ECW. It seems like he couldn’t be unaware of everything that was going on in that organization at the time. Anything is possible and maybe in the future, more things will be revealed. What are your opinions on this issue of unlawful activities in ECW? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below.