Mikey Whipwreck On Whether WWE Contacted Him During ECW Relaunch, Working With Paul Heyman

Former ECW World Heavyweight Champion Mikey Whipwreck recently spoke to Andy Malnoske of Wrestling Inc. During the interview, Whipwreck discussed his time in ECW, working with Paul Heyman and more.

In addition to winning the World Heavyweight Championship, Whipwreck also was a two-time World Television Champion and three-time World Tag Team Champion, making him the third Triple Crown winner in ECW history. As one of the mainstays of ECW, Whipwreck said he believes the superstars who stayed with the company enjoyed the creative freedom they were given and they embraced the feeling of competing against the bigger promotions.

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"I think a lot of guys that were there were rejects at first from WWE and WCW, so they really didn't have anywhere else to go. Plus, it was the whole atmosphere and the whole attitude of us vs them type of deal, and Paul Heyman wasn't micromanaging at all," Whipwreck said. "He would just tell us where we were going and this is what he has in mind and everything else would be up to you. He'd give you A and he would give you Z, but B through Y was all up to you, so there was a lot of creative freedom to do what you want to do. It was a really fun time."

Whipwreck said he particularly enjoyed working with Heyman because of his leadership style. Heyman knew how to motivate his superstars and Whipwreck admired they way he handled the ECW roster and how hard he worked.

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"Paul did not sleep. They called him the Mad Scientist because he was. There were plenty of times when it was like 7 p.m., and show would start at 7:30 p.m. and he would have a napkin and pencil and would make decisions that way, asking who I would want to work with that night. Paul Heyman was very good because he was very motivating. He was that cult-like leader where you would believe in everything he was saying," Whipwreck said. "He could have been lying through his teeth, which many times it was the case, but he knew how to motivate you. He had his hand and still does have his hand on pop culture. He knew what the people wanted and where the pulse was so he had it down pretty good and is still doing pretty good today."

Whipwreck was also asked if WWE contacted him for the ECW relaunch in 2006. He said Heyman reached out to him, but the schedule would not have worked for him. He believes his body wouldn't have held up and his tenure wouldn't have lasted very long.

"Indirectly they did. Paul Heyman brought it up but I said that I don't think I can do it, but my body probably would not have been able to handle the schedule," he said. "If they had done TV Friday and Saturday with house shows on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, I probably could have handled it, but considering you were doing house shows on the weekend and then TV was on Monday and Tuesday, my body wouldn't have handled it well. It would have ended quickly for me."

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Peter Bahi contributed to this article.

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