Basically, Austin asked Heyman about how they'd gone under when the impression had been that ECW was in a really good place in regards to merchandise, fan following, etc... Heyman revealed that 2000 had actually been their most profitable year ever, what with drawing several thousand fans in attendance in places near Toronto, Detroit itself, Chicago, in Texas, etc...
He also went on to explain that ECW basically entered a chokepoint (where the deal can go off the rails, basically/get choked out, etc...) because they were being denied money by In-Demand owed to them (2.8 million dollars), keep paying his wrestlers, run the television shows (which cost 10 mil apparently), promote any video game, PPV, licenses, t-shirts, etc... while TNN/Viacom brought on the WWF to replace them after ECW proved wrestling could be a ratings draw for them.
The plan was to jump to the USA Network in response, but one of the head guys refused to having another wrestling company on if it wasn't the top company and consequently rebranded the show. There was a chance for a show on Fox Sports, but they wanted a 30 minute daily show that would have been unfeasible both financially and production-wise especially when Fox Sports wasn't willing to pay enough to keep the company afloat, and of course TNT/TBS wasn't going to replace WCW for ECW when they were selling off WCW as it was.
The In-Demand guys refused to give him the money because they figured if he couldn't get another tv show then he was going to go bankrupt, and that they could afford to pay pennies on the dollar if he did and they'd pay him out if he didn't. Most of his allies in the company were on the way out or outranked by the guy who'd ordered it (and had done it to another guy mentioned who sued and settled), so he was fucked because he didn't have the money to fight it.
He also pointed out how stupid it was, as the collapse of WCW, ECW and several other groups involved with In Demand saw Vince basically able to dictate his terms at gun point and saw more companies join In Demand because they were out of PPV content from ECW/WCW, and it would have helped negotiation wise with UFC, boxing later. They'd also actually ordered seven PPVs for 2001, while still screwing them over on the 2.8 mil.
So 7 million dollars in debt of which 4 million was to his own family, cutting it down to 3 million, which was roughly what he was owed from In Demand. He argues he could have kept the company going past 2001, drawing on rising indie stars like Bryan, Punk, Cabana, Hero, etc... as his next generation of stars while still keeping on guys like RVD, etc... and maybe more negotiating strength in regards to a Fox Network show.
