May 1, 2000 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Justin Credible wins ECW Heavyweight Championship, safety concerns in Japan, tons more

When the smoke cleared after nine months of title changes largely forced upon him and designed to surprise, Paul Heyman finally went back to the original Plan A–as the latest surprise.

Justin Credible (Peter Polaco), who Heyman had planned to be ECW heavyweight champion dating back more than 18 months, with the idea of not putting the title on him until he had a national television outlet, and being the wrestler that Rob Van Dam would chase in the company’s top program, wound up with the title after two more switches at ECW’s “Cyberslam” show on 4/22 in Philadelphia at the ECW Arena.

The title changes over the past year have all been mandated not by long-term planning, but by short term-reactions to various problems. The original plan was for Shane Douglas to hold it until getting a national outlet, going to Credible for a long run, finally building for Van Dam’s big chase. But that was changed several times along the way. 

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