Paul Heyman Went Scorched-Earth After C.W. Anderson Accused Him Of Abandoning ECW

ECW has been out of business for 16 years now, and even the WWE version of ECW has been defunct for seven years, but the promotion still inspires rabid devotion to this day, from both fans and wrestlers alike. One of the men who was a part of ECW in its final few years was C.W. Anderson, and apparently he still holds a bit of a grudge against ECW mastermind Paul Heyman. Unfortunately for C.W., you never try to go toe-to-toe with Paul Heyman in a war of words.

Anderson was recently on an episode of The Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling podcast, and he accused Heyman of more or less abandoning ECW in its final days, and leaving Tommy Dreamer to run the shows. He also says Heyman never called anyone to tell them ECW was done, they just had to sort of read the tea leaves. (Transcript via WrestleZone.)

“I was devastated. I had no idea. We had heard the rumblings even when we were in Arkansas everybody said this was our last thing and on the car ride back I was with Lou [E. Dangerously] and Jack [Victory], and [Steve] Corino didn’t show up to that show and RVD didn’t show up to that show because they didn’t get paid and they saw the writing on the wall. Not me though, I was die-hard to the end because I thought this can’t be it and ECW can’t fold because Paul will figure out something to be done. He always told us that he out in California working on a deal with USA for us but we’ve come to find out that he was filming the movie Rollerball.

“I went into a depression spell after that because I was on a high being in ECW and than there was nothing. There was a lot of us like that and a lot of us weren’t told anything. No phone call, no kiss my ass or anything along those lines we weren’t given anything. It was just rumbles that we were done …

“There was a lot of times that [Heyman] didn’t show up and it was left to Tommy [Dreamer] to run everything and that is where Tommy’s genius came in. He kept us afloat for the longest time. [Paul] would always have big meetings with us before shows and give us this “rah-rah” speech and still throw it in there even while we weren’t getting paid and we still believed him. Guys would have their own issues behind the scenes by themselves and I think what [was] one of my downfalls as a wrestler is that I’ve never been a confrontational guy.

“The only time I ever lost it, I had met with him and Tommy one day and broke down because I was riding to the show with the Dupps and the car had broken down and we were in Boston so I had no idea how I was getting home since I was only making $75 a night at the time and was losing money. I said I’ve got to have a raise to continue. He wanted to know how much I wanted and I said I’ll leave it in his hands to pay me what he thinks I’m worth to him. He came back to me again and once I started getting pushed and wanted to put me under contract and guys that I was wrestling were making $3,000 a week and I’m making $400-$500 a week depending on how many shows we had. But he could make you believe anything. That was the gift he had and he knew his stuff when it comes to wrestling and that was his forte.”

Well, very little gets said about Paul Heyman that doesn’t eventually find its way back to Paul Heyman, and the mastermind of ECW took some time out of his delicious Korean BBQ lunch on Sunday to go on an extended Twitter rant.

The following is pulled directly from Heyman’s Twitter and condensed into one block quote, for ease of reading. You’re welcome.

I saw an interview in which C.W. Anderson claims I was in L.A. shooting Rollerball instead of trying to save ECW back in 2000. It’s absurd that people have done nothing to talk about in 17 years so they are constrained to address their heartbreak about 2000/01. Of course, that makes me an even bigger schmuck to feel compelled to ANSWER these moronic comments, but the food is cooking, so …

1. Rollerball was never filmed in L.A.. It was filmed in Montreal and then in Yonkers, NY.
2. My scenes in Rollerball were shot in June and July, 2001. Not when ECW was in business. I was actually booked for the movie through WWE.
3. The insinuation that I was shooting movie(s) in L.A. instead of trying to save what was my life (at the time) (ECW) is beyond ignorant.
4. Not only did I desperately try every angle to save the company, I put in every last dime I personally had, even when the ship was sinking.
5. I have zero regrets over any of this. I went bankrupt trying to save ECW, and have never regretted my investment and never will.
6. So when someone repeats a blatant lie about my commitment at the time to the product to which I devoted seven years of my life, it’s nothing short of ignorance on full display for the entire world to see.

It’s a shame I waited this long to correct the record on this BS that has lingered for all these years, but I remember sitting on the WWE plane with Vince McMahon, and someone has said something so outlandish about him, and everyone was trying to get Vince to reply. He turned to me and said, “I focus on revenue-producing public statements. Anything else is a waste of my time, and my time is limited. I have things to do.”

I also sit there every week and see Brock Lesnar laugh at every rumor, every innuendo, every claim made about him. And when I say, “So … Brock, is there a retort?” He laughs out loud and says, “Not a chance!” So today, I decided to lower myself and answer a claim that people with nothing to do seem to repeat with no regard for accuracy.

I accept all criticism for this diatribe, and confess I should have been above it all, and offer no excuses as to why I decided to address it.

Oh, I almost forgot: to answer C.W.’s nagging self-question as to why he was paid $75 a night when others had more (at least on paper) … That was the going rate for a lower-level stooge who reported on the locker room to Dreamer. But admittedly, he was a damn good one. PROPS!

My god, Paul. Between this and Remy Ma, we may have exhausted the Earth’s entire supply of ether in one weekend.