In one of the most shocking confessions ever, Tommy Dreamer revealed that he wanted to murder Paul Heyman at WrestleMania X7. He planned to run into the ring and shoot the former ECW boss, before turning the gun on himself live on pay per view.
You can read the full details of the planned murder here, but you’ll be thrilled to know that Dreamer did not go through with the murder. The world of wrestling would be incredibly different if he had killed his former boss, creating a ripple that would stop Rob Van Dam becoming the WWE Champion, and even end in Brock Lesnar failing to end The Streak.
WrestleMania X7 Is Re-Done On Raw
If Tommy Dreamer did kill Paul Heyman live at WrestleMania X7, there is no chance that the show would go on. Owen Hart’s death was still a recent memory, with the company being chastised to this day for keeping the show going for his accidental death.
A murder is even worse, and would immediately force the show to stop. Fans would likely be refunded for their tickets, which would be a huge monetary loss for the WWE. Assuming Dreamer did the deed early on in the show, matches like Steve Austin vs The Rock would likely have been missed out, instead repeated on Raw the next night (or maybe a week later, giving the wrestlers time to deal with their grief).
This would likely make that episode of Raw one of the best and highest rated episode ever. A jam-packed Raw, featuring the TLC match, Rock vs Austin II and Vince vs Shane McMahon could be an iconic episode of the flagship WWE show, even with the horrendous circumstances surrounding the show.
ECW Is Given The “Chris Benoit” Treatment
With two of ECW’s biggest stars being involved in a murder-suicide live on pay per view, there is no chance that the WWE continue to refer to ECW with much reverence. The company will likely be wiped from existence, with Vince McMahon paying for the company’s tapes to lock them away for good, forgetting ECW ever existed.
They will be treated like Chris Benoit was after his death. ECW will not be mentioned on TV, with all references to them scrubbed from the archives. ECW stars who wrestled primarily in the hardcore “ECW Style” will be either repackaged, or not hired in the first place, with the history of ECW alumni like Rey Mysterio and the Dudleys being completely rewritten.
Read more about Chris Benoit’s death
The Invasion Never Happens
With an outsider invading WrestleMania and killing a WWE employee, it would be tasteless for the WWE to go on with their Invasion storyline. The story originally saw WCW and WCW join forces as “The Alliance”, aiming to take down Vince McMahon and the WWE once and for all.
With Heyman’s death on PPV, WWE decide not to go through with the invasion. Some ECW talent, like Rob Van Dam and Rhyno, would be brought in as their own characters, with no ties to ECW mentioned whatsoever. They would be treated as brand-new characters, with not even a hint at their extreme past.
WCW talent would come in as well, but not as a collective. This could lead to the likes of DDP and Booker T being treated better, and it could give us the DDP vs The Rock “People’s Champion” feud that fans had clamored for. Missing out on the disappointing invasion storyline isn’t the worst thing in the world, but separating Rob Van Dam from ECW does cost us one of the all-time great WWE Championship title changes.
Rob Van Dam Never Becomes WWE Champion (Plus The Cancelled ECW Reboot)
At ECW One Night Stand 2006, Rob Van Dam won the WWE Championship for the first and only time in his career. After years of badgering Vince McMahon to revive ECW, he finally relented for the first One Night Stand event the year before.
With the massive success of the event, McMahon was prompted to put on a second event to join the planned ECW reboot later that year. Rob Van Dam beat John Cena to win the WWE Championship (as well as the new ECW title) at the event, with Paul Heyman counting the pinfall to win his the belt.
Without Tommy Dreamer (who booked most of the talent for the first One Night Stand) and Tommy Dreamer(who was a key part of ECW), the reboot never happens and RVD never becomes world champion in the WWE. This could prove a good thing, as he likely never gets caught with weed by the police when travelling with ECW teammate Sabu, so Rob Van Dam never leaves the WWE in disgrace in 2007.
Read about why Rob Van Dam left WWE.
CM Punk and Daniel Bryan Never Become Stars
Without the support of Paul Heyman and the revival of the ECW brand, it is unlikely that CM Punk ever becomes a WWE Superstar. It has been made clear over the years that WWE wanted to fire Punk while in developmental, and it was only Paul Heyman who saved his job and got him called up to ECW.
Without his support, it is likely CM Punk is fired by the company before he ever makes his debut in the company. In 2006, Punk would likely go back to Ring of Honor, or even sign for TNA in its early years. He previously wrestled for TNA, but left due to an issue with him also wrestling in ROH. If that remained an issue, he would likely wrestle solely for ROH in the US, while possibly trying his hand in Japan too.
Because CM Punk is never given the chance in the WWE, Vince McMahon likely never takes the chance on other indie talents. Paul Heyman dying would ultimately lead to Daniel Bryan never being signed to the WWE, and his incredible journey to the main event of WrestleMania 30 never coming to fruition.
Learn more about Daniel Bryan’s WrestleMania 30 journey.
Brock Lesnar Never Ends The Undertaker’s Streak
Brock Lesnar was paired with Paul Heyman when he made his debut in 2002, starting a partnership that would last for decades. Lesnar was never comfortable on the mic, employing Heyman as his advocate to speak for him and leaving The Beast to do his business in the ring.
However, if Tommy Dreamer killed Paul Heyman, it is unlikely that Lesnar reaches the heights he does. Brock Lesnar is an unbelievable talent, but his partnership with Paul Heyman was the perfect mesh of styles, and helped make him a main event-level wrestler faster than anybody before him.
It is unknown exactly what would happen to Lesnar without Heyman. However, I feel confident in saying that he would not have been given such a massive push upon his return in 2011 without Heyman by his side, with the company not having Brock Lesnar break the Undertaker’s undefeated streak at WrestleMania without his manager there every week to gloat about it.
Does the Streak get broken at all? In all likelihood, Roman Reigns would beat The Undertaker at WrestleMania 33 as he normally did, although the entire roster would be affected by the change in Brock Lesnar’s status with Paul Heyman as his manager.
There is no way to accurately predict what would have happened if Tommy Dreamer killed Paul Heyman, but we’ve given it a good go. Let us know what you think down in the comments section, or click this link to learn about why Daniel Bryan left WWE.
