Jim Ross On Why WWE Did the ECW Angle at Mind Games in 1996, Vince McMahon Working With Paul Heyman

– On the latest Grilling JR, Jim Ross looked back at the ECW angle at WWF Mind Games in 1996. Mind Games took place in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania which at the time was most notable in wrestling for being the home of ECW. Early in the show, Bradshaw was facing Savio Vega when Tommy Dreamer and Sandman were seen at ringside, and they got involved in the match before being thrown out of the arena. This would be the beginning of the relationship between the two companies, and JR recalled why WWE decided to do the angle.

Highlights from the discussion, and the full podcast, are below:

On why they did the ECW angle on the PPV: “Well, we just felt like it was Philadelphia, they have a very passionate following in a lot of areas. Philadelphia being their hub, referring to ECW, and you know, we had kind of a vested interest in their success. Vince and talent relations that were out of my end of the budget were helping Paul. Because it was a place that we would have a great recruiting ground when time came. And I signed a lot of those guys that came to work for us, and a lot of them were Hall of Fame-type talents. And some will in the future.”

On Vince McMahon working with Paul Heyman: “So it was a mutual thing, and also Vince knew Paul was a very bright guy, brilliant guy. You get a guy that’s — you’re aware of that sort of his creativeness, you don’t get too far from him. The wrestling business has not got an overabundance of really creative people that understand the big picture, and Heyman does. Vince could feel that, and if you look back at that, going back from time to time, he’s gone back to Heyman for different roles. Then he’s off, he’s back, then he’s off. And now he’s back again working on Raw, so McMahon spots talent, and he generally keeps them very close, to arm’s length at worst.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Grilling JR with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.