Heyman The Goat

Let's establish something as an understood fact before we go any further into this piece. ECW on Sci Fi sucks. It has sucked since day one, and it continues to suck now. The December To Dismember pay-per-view may have been the worst in history from top to bottom. It has been a collosal nightmare.

The only thing ECW can hang its hat on since WWE became involved in it's rebirth, is the overwhelming success of both One Night Stand pay-per-views.

With such limited success, someone HAD to take the fall right? Well someone finally did, but was it the right guy?

In the corporate world, a string of failures would obviously lead to someone's dismissal. Obviously, the CEO is ultimately responsible for the operation of the business, but in most structures, the head honcho isn't looking over your shoulder and telling you what to do on a daily basis.

Bill Gates doesn't tell his programmers how to code and how to do their jobs. They are professionals. They are trusted in their positions to make the right decisions and to govern themselves accordingly.

In WWE, and the wrestling world in general, things are a little different.

Vince McMahon has a very difficult time letting his creative staff do exactly that - be creative. It is rare that an idea ever makes it to air if Mr. McMahon isn't into it. Sure, on occassion he may have been convinced to try something, or one of his kids may have fought to give it a shot. For the most part, Vince rules with an iron fist over McMahonland.

Heyman paid the price for ECW's shortcomings this week with his job. There are those within WWE who believe Heyman has "lost it" when it comes to booking. Then, there are those who understand that Heyman has put forth ideas that have been shot down at every turn. Does anyone honestly believe that Heyman had been given autonomy and was pulling all the strings? Hells no.

It's one thing to spice up your roster with a few WWE regulars, but when a weekly television show has to be scanned carefully to find even one of the dozen or so "originals" - that's a problem.

If the company wasn't interested in using the original ECW stars, then they should have differentiated themselves from the start. Call the show "Tuesday Night Extreme", instead of ECW.

Because it was labelled ECW, the workers, the fans - everyone has pre-conceived notions as to what this product should look and feel like. A month or so in, we had Tommy Dreamer and Heyman towing the company line and asking us to be patient, because this new brand wasn't like the old ECW but would evolve into something better.

Like the transformation of neandrathal to modern man, the evolution of ECW on Sci Fi to a decent program will likely take millions of years.

It doesn't seem fair to me that Heyman is unemployed because he wasn't given the freedom to function as a professional and do his damn job.

Many have e-mailed me, speculating that Heyman may now start a rival company. There aren't many television networks left that would be interested in carrying wrestling, never mind competing with two better established brands.

Not to mention, you need a money mark who's willing to shill out. If TNA didn't have Panda, they would have closed up shop by now. You could even argue that WWE would have been in the toilet if they hadn't gone public at a time when WCW was still very much a threat.

I think Vince and Stephanie need to take a nice long vacation. Not just from their on-air roles, but from active day to day operation of the on-air product. Leave the professionals in charge - the people you hired to do a job. Let them do it!

Is Michael Hayes any better at his job than Brian Gerwitz? I have no idea because I don't know what is Hayes' material and what is Hayes-filtered-by-Vince.

Come back sometime after WrestleMania Vinnie. If things are in the shitter, don't worry. You're loyal-as-hell fans will still be here. Bitchin' like mad, but still here. If however, the professionals you have put in place do their job properly - without the influences of yourself, daughter or son in law...we might actually get some fresh television.

Unfortunately for Paul Heyman, he may never get the chance to really flex his creative mind for a WWE audience.

Tha O Show will endeavor to book an interview with Mr. Heyman.

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