WWE News: Paul Heyman says Vince McMahon never understood the Tommy Dreamer character and made the call to kill off the original ECW characters

Paul Heyman recalled Vince McMahon's lack of understanding of the Tommy Dreamer character in his latest UK Sun blog. "While many members of the creative team, like Ed Koskey and David Lagana, actually grew into wrestling fanatics cheering in the bleacher section of the ECW Arena during the 1990s, Vince McMahon just didn't understand the character.

"'Paul,' the Chairman of the entire industry would say, 'what exactly IS a Tommy Dreamer? I don't get it!' This was never more apparent than a few weeks into the re-birth of ECW as a television property in 2006, when Vince had an epiphany.

Kill off the originals. All of 'em. Well, we'll keep Sabu and Rob Van Dam, but the first week after Big Show won the ECW title, Vince wanted the newly-minted 'Heel Heyman' to come out on television and publicly fire Sandman, Balls Mahoney, Little Guido, Francine, Al Snow and especially Tommy Dreamer. Vince declared: 'Time to let people know that concept is dead, and so are those guys, one and all.'" To read the full blog, visit the UK Sun.

Powell's POV: A sad story regarding Vince's take on the original ECW brand, yet a good story regarding everything Dreamer overcame to get his ongoing run with the ECW Title. As much as I enjoy WWE's Tuesday night show and it's no frills approach, it still bothers me that Vince never got behind the original ECW concept.