A former WWE star revealed that she wanted to put a bullet between Paul Heyman’s eyes after he cost her $170K.
While speaking to Inside the Ropes, Sunny talked about her time in ECW and said Paul Heyman was very good at convincing people of anything, which is why she called him a “hypnotist.” She then explained why she wanted to put a bullet between Heyman’s eyes. According to her, Heyman ended up costing her and Chris Candido $170,000.
“My transition into ECW… I call Paul Heyman the hypnotist because he could basically make you believe anything. He could make you believe the ocean is yellow and this guy is rainbow-colored with green polka dots. He’s that good at manipulation. Let’s just say, if there’s anybody in the world I’d like to put a bullet between his eyes, it’s Paul Heyman. And that’s because he cost me $170,000.”
Sunny said that she and Candido handled ECW’s travel arrangements and booked plane tickets for the entire roster using their personal American Express card. Each month, they would turn in the receipts, receive a check from Heyman for around $30,000 to $35,000 and then pay off the card balance without problems.
“Our transition from ECW to WCW was mostly because of that $170,000 Paul Heyman cost us. Long story short, Chris Candido and I had to sign off on $170,000 that Paul owed us to pay our AMEX bill, because Chris and I were the travel department. Every month, we would book the entire company’s plane tickets on our American Express card. At the end of the month, we’d give Paul the receipts and the bill — usually around $30,000 to $35,000. He would cut us a check, we’d pay the card, and it was fine.”
Because ECW was a small company, wrestlers helped out with office jobs, so handling travel made sense. The problem started when Sunny and Candido stopped working for ECW, but ECW kept booking flights through the same travel agent, charging everything to their card for months. They were no longer working or getting paid, but their card kept being used.
“All the wrestlers had another office job because we were trying to make the company work. Everybody pitched in, not just in the ring, and we handled travel because I was really good at it.
Once we weren’t working for ECW anymore, Paul’s office continued using the same travel agent we used. I told her, ‘Just keep charging it to the card you’ve been charging it on.’ Even though we weren’t working for the company anymore, all these tickets for months were being charged to our American Express bill.”
At the same time, they were trying to get jobs in WCW. However, ECW kept blocking their debut by telling WCW that they were still under contract, even though they weren’t being paid. This happened four weeks in a row, right before they were supposed to go on TV.
“We were trying to get a job with WCW, but we were still technically under contract with ECW, even though we weren’t getting paid. For four weeks in a row at Nitro, we were dressed and ready to go out, and right before we walked out, a fax would come into WCW Production saying, ‘No, they’re still under contract with ECW. They cannot work.’”
Sunny said they were told they could only sign with WCW if they agreed to give up the $170,000 they were owed and promised not to sue Paul Heyman. If they refused, they would stay stuck under ECW contract for two more years and wouldn’t be able to work anywhere else. They decided to give up the money so they could finally move on with their careers.
“We had to sign off on $170,000 and agree not to sue Paul Heyman if we wanted our releases to start working in WCW. If we didn’t sign and tried to sue him instead, we would still be under contract with ECW for two more years and we wouldn’t have been able to work anywhere. So we had to swallow $170,000 because of that beast.”
Sunny’s story shows a surprising look at what was happening with money behind the scenes in ECW. Paul Heyman played a huge role in shaping wrestling, but based on what Sunny said, trusting him came with a heavy price. It cost her and Chris Candido a lot financially, and it had a major impact on their careers in the end.
Do you believe Sunny’s story about Paul Heyman and ECW’s financial practices?
Should wrestlers trust management with their personal finances, or should there always be protections in place? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
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November 23, 2025 2:58 pm
