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Brian Damage
The ‘If Factor’ are a series of articles that takes a look at real scenarios in pro wrestling that at one point or another were suggested, planned, considered…but did not get the green light to continue. What would the landscape of professional wrestling look like if these ideas came to fruition?
The If: Billy Corgan Buys Ownership into ECW
In 2000, Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) was reeling financially due in part to the TNN cable channel pulling ECW programming. Billy Corgan, the front man for the rock band Smashing Pumpkins was a big fan of wrestling and ECW. ECW owner Paul Heyman contacted Lou D’Angeli aka ECW manager Lou E. Dangerously and also previously ‘Sign Guy Dudley’ who was friends with both Corgan and Heyman to set up a business meeting.
Before Corgan agreed to meet with Heyman, Corgan approached several wrestlers for the promotion and asked how much money they were owed by the company. After which, Billy Corgan agreed to meet with Heyman in New York City. Their meeting was set at a famous deli in Manhattan and the two talked about the potential of Corgan financing the company. According to Corgan, Heyman asked him to invest one million dollars into ECW.
Corgan asked Paul, ‘What do I get for my million dollar investment?’, to which Heyman replied a 10% stake of ownership. Corgan who already did his homework leading up to the meeting said that ECW at this time wasn’t even worth 10,000 dollars. Heyman countered by saying…”Oh, I don’t know. You should think about that.” Corgan never got back to Heyman on his offer and a few months later…ECW was sold to Vince McMahon and WWE. Billy Corgan did have a small regret in not giving at least a counter offer to Heyman. If he had and agreed to an ownership stake, Corgan would have been able to be involved in negotiations with WWE for the ECW sale. What if Billy Corgan agreed to invest in ECW? Would ECW still be around in some form today? What would the company look like under Corgan’s ownership?
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