PAUL HEYMAN

From: Scarsdale, N.Y.
Career Highlights: ECW Representative, owner of ECW from 1993-2001, SmackDown general manager, Monday Night RAW color commentator
Associate: Big Show

In 1993, Eastern Championship Wrestling promoters Tod Gordon and Eddie Gilbert had a falling out. It was then that Gordon sought the help from a 28-year-old named Paul Heyman. Heyman had just been released by WCW and was looking for a new challenge. With Gordon's blessing, the first Heyman-era ECW show took place on Sept. 18, 1993 and featured the debut of an unusual tag team known as Public Enemy. After that night, Gordon asked Heyman to become the full-time matchmaker for Eastern Championship Wrestling. Heyman was interested, but only if he could realize his vision for what a wrestling promotion could be -- a product no one had ever seen before.

As ECW began gathering momentum, Heyman brought in competitors such as Sabu, Tazz, Shane Douglas and Tommy Dreamer. Each one brought a different style to the table, pushing the envelope further than it ever had gone before. But Heyman wanted to push even more; he wanted to cross the line of what was considered acceptable in the world of wrestling. The result over the years was the most vicious, innovative, emotional and bloody promotion in wrestling history, where the "E" in ECW stood for "Extreme."

Heyman cultivated an unprecedented relationship between ECW's wrestlers and hard-core fans -- making matches interactive, crowd-pleasing and shocking. Heyman also used ECW as a forum to showcase all styles of combat -- from hardcore matches to Lucha Libre to strong-style wrestling. As stars were made and defected to more lucrative promotions, Heyman simply restocked with fresh, see-it-to-believe-it talent. And while Heyman wasn't considered the most reliable employer when it came to paychecks and the like, he was undeniably loyal and dedicated -- and his wrestlers mirrored his impassioned example.

Heyman succeeded in taking ECW to the heights of pay-per-view stardom before it all came crashing down in 2001, but ECW lives on in One Night Stand, which returns to pay-per-view on June 11.