An Extreme Termination
An Extreme Termination
"I said 'You wanna fire him? Then you're gonna have to fire me too, because I'm not firing this kid.' Then they fired me."
- Paul Heyman in a 2012 interview
"I said 'You wanna fire him? Then you're gonna have to fire me too, because I'm not firing this kid.' Then they fired me."
- Paul Heyman in a 2012 interview
October 2005 was a surprising month for wrestling fans, as news hit the wire that WWE fired Paul Heyman, a revered creative mind who had run ECW back in the mid-to-late ‘90s. As the story goes, Heyman had been sent down to work in WWE’s developmental territory, Ohio Valley Wrestling. At OVW, he first met indie darling CM Punk and the two became close friends.
However, despite Heyman’s crowing about Punk’s talents, WWE had no interest in him and said that not only were there no plans to put him on WWE television, but they saw him as not deserving to be on OVW television. The top brass at WWE wanted Punk fired, but Heyman wouldn’t budge. The arguments between Heyman and Vince soon tipped over and finally, Heyman was fired along with CM Punk.
Many speculated over Heyman’s future in wrestling, suspecting he would soon join TNA in a booking capacity. However, Heyman stayed quiet on matters for some time, but during those many months, he and Kevin Kleinrock, the former vice president of California-based XPW, were steeped in negotiations with MTV.
Kleinrock, now working for Big Vision Entertainment, had met Heyman in passing a few times and eventually got into contact with him to see if he wanted in on Kleinrock’s new venture; a wrestling TV show designed with a gritty, underground fight club aesthetic. Heyman, now free of the WWE and with a top-tier talent in need of work, took Kleinrock up on his offer.
Heyman, who was often just as much a smooth talker behind the curtain as he was on camera, was able to iron out some of the finer details and demands that MTV was bringing to them. He managed to nix their plans for pyrotechnics and special effects, though in exchange allowed the network to put attractive plants in the front row seats.
The network wanted to control the style of wrestling, citing fears of imitation after similar incidents plagued Beavis and Butthead. Heyman was able to argue for a late night slot, arguing that 9 PM eastern would be late enough that kids were either in bed or having dinner and wouldn’t be able to watch the show, and that the slot would still catch the coveted 18-24 male demo they were hoping for. He also managed to argue for a single hour of running time and talked the execs into giving them Wednesday nights. In exchange, Heyman agreed to their choice of comedian Bret Ernst on commentary opposite Kleinrock’s choice of XPW play-by-play Kris Kloss.
Being this was MTV, there was a push for musicians to play a part in the show. Heyman quickly worked that out by agreeing to feature live performances if the company allowed them four yearly two-hour live specials, promising that the artists would be given time on those shows for performances.
Negotiations lasted for many weeks, only getting pen to paper in January 2006, but soon enough, Heyman and Kleinrock were able to get a TV deal out of MTV and with their connections, were able to wrangle up a decently-sized roster of wrestlers. On February 10, they would tape their first episode, which was set to air on the following Wednesday.
That Wednesday, February 15, the debut episode of WSX: Underground was aired on MTV.
No one had any idea just how big this was going to be.
