Pro Wrestling: Paul Heyman Takes Broadband Television To The Extreme

Paul Heyman has led an extreme life.

The owner and creative genius behind the original Extreme Championship Wrestling promotion in the 1990s became one of Vince McMahon's most controversial insiders in 2001.

Heyman's behind-the-scenes clashes with McMahon were always good fodder for those seeking backstage information, as the outspoken New Yorker was assigned the task of running "b-show" Smackdown against the flagship broadcast of Monday Night Raw.

But Heyman had non-WWE ideas, and Smackdown took an identity of its own, leading to a point in history where Smackdown was actually outdrawing Raw in terms of ratings, viewers, and households.

Heyman's tenure in WWE's developmental system, taking over Ohio Valley Wrestling's television show when WWE removed Jim Cornette from the position, led to a great number of new characters being introduced, including Mr. Kennedy, Armando Estrada, Elijah Burke, Beth Phoenix, and an unknown that WWE would not sign to a contract.

His name was Anthony John Carelli, and Heyman fought for him until talent executive John Laurinaitis finally signed him. He's now known as Santino Marella.

But Heyman's falling out with WWE Chairman Vince McMahon in December 2006 over the relaunched ECW brand only fed Heyman's need for a new creative outlet.

While he's reportedly working on two different movie scripts (no details available), he's launched "The Heyman Hustle,"  the flagship show of NewsCorp's broadband television network based in the UK.

The show is quite a wild ride, and employs not only a famed Asian Movie executive in Peter Poon (former General Manager of Fox's Hong Kong production and distribution arm, Fortune Star) but also hi-def pioneer Mitchell K. Stuart of New York's Looking For Larry Productions.

If you check the credits carefully, you'll see some involvement from Ron Buffone, the former director and producer of the original ECW product, who was on "The Rise and Fall of ECW" DVD and was publicly thanked by Heyman during his famous shoot promo at the first ECW One Night Stand pay-per-view in 2005.

The Heyman Hustle is a tough show to describe, because Heyman keeps the show moving in different directions. He talked politics with Ice-T, but also with Ice-T's sex symbol wife Coco, and it was a very funny yet poignant discussion.

He talked with Duff McKagan about a Guns N' Roses reunion, but also talked about rock n' roll fantasies with McKagan's supermodel wife Susan "The Body"
Holmes.

He talked about the success of "Gossip Girl" with the breakout star of the show, Taylor Momsen; talked about boobs, sex, and Jenna Jameson with Danity Kane's Aubrey O'Day; drove around Manhattan with YouTube divorcee and socialite Tricia Walsh Smith (and hysterically took her to a burger dive for cheeseburgers, pizza, and french fries); and discussed the theatre with James Lipton and "Legally Blonde" star Laura Bell Bundy.

"The Heyman Hustle keeps you guessing," Buffone stated in an interview for this story, "because there's just so many ways to look at someone famous, and Paul is always going to try to find the layer that hasn't been exposed yet. And if not, he's going to let you in on the secret of that person's Hustle!"

You can check out the Hustle for yourself at http://www.heymanhustle.com.

My personal favorite? No question about it. Heyman interviewing former pro wrestling valet Missy Hyatt. Even if you never saw her before, you'll be a fan after watching that episode.

DAN MANLEY June 25, 2008