How Paul Heyman Changed Wrestling and WWE Forever

Sportskeeda Wrestling

Paul Heyman is the man who has played an important role in the evolution of professional wrestling. From a very young age, he got involved in the world of professional wrestling, made an industry-changing move by building ECW, and played key roles in WWE. He has also enhanced the careers of numerous wrestlers, with prime examples being Brock Lesnar, Roman Reigns, and CM Punk. In recognition of his contributions, WWE has finally decided to honor him by inducting him into the Hall of Fame class of 2024. We at Sportskeeda Wrestling are here with a very exciting retrospective of Paul Heyman's wrestling career.  Make sure you like this video, share it, and subscribe to the channel for more exciting wrestling content.  You can also visit our site: https://www.sportskeeda.com/wwe  #paulheyman #wwehof #romanreigns #brocklesnar #wwe #wrestling #sportskeedawrestling

Transcript

00:00 Paul Heyman is a lot of things, and a lot more than you may even realize.

00:29 He is possibly one of the most influential people in the history of professional wrestling.

00:36 Today you know him as the special counsel of the tribal chief Roman Reigns, one of the

00:40 top stars in the business.

00:43 Most people who started watching wrestling after the year 2000 remember him for his association

00:48 with Brock Lesnar as his advocate.

00:51 And there aren't many in professional wrestling right now who have the gift of gab the way

00:55 that Heyman does.

00:57 And it isn't just the way he runs his mouth and sells the big matches that got him into

01:02 the WWE Hall of Fame this year.

01:05 In terms of being a manager, he is undoubtedly on that Mount Rushmore, with names like Bobby

01:10 the Brain Heenan, Classy Freddy Blassie, Paul Bearer, Miss Elizabeth Sensational Sherry,

01:15 Jimmy Hart and many others.

01:18 It is not hard to claim that he may be arguably the greatest manager in modern professional

01:23 wrestling, especially considering that he has managed 6 world championship superstars

01:28 throughout his career, and has been a reasonable moving player in reaching a new level of business

01:35 success, even if he wasn't directly involved with them on screen or in the ring.

01:41 Also let's not forget how he made wrestling extreme with ECW, which helped launch the

01:49 blockbuster business attitude era of WWE and WCW.

01:55 Ladies and gentlemen, let's look back in this deep dive video at how Paul Heyman became

02:01 a WWE Hall of Famer.

02:04 This is Sportskeeda Wrestling, I'm Kevin Kellum, let us know your favorite Paul Heyman

02:08 moments and memories in the comments below.

02:11 Let's go back to where this story started, let's rewind nearly 6 decades ago to 1965.

02:18 Born to a Jewish American family, Paul Heyman had an interesting background right from the

02:23 start.

02:24 For one, his mother was a holocaust survivor, while his father was a WWII veteran and a

02:29 lawyer.

02:30 The second part is the most important, because it was watching his father as a lawyer that

02:34 helped Paul Heyman develop his communication or to put it simply, his ability to run his

02:40 mouth.

02:41 Heyman was always a business minded guy, and even began working in his early teens running

02:46 a mail order company.

02:48 He had a newsletter called the Wrestling Times Magazine, and the guy was just hitting puberty.

02:55 That's right, Paul Heyman worked for the dirt sheets first.

02:58 He was just 13 years old when he decided that professional wrestling was the industry he

03:03 was going to make his name, fame and money in, so that should give you an idea of just

03:08 how unique a character he would become.

03:11 In 1979, at just the age of 14, when Vince McMahon Sr. was still in charge of WWE, then

03:18 known as WWWF, he sent a letter to the parent company Capital Wrestling and somehow worked

03:25 his way into a backstage pass to take photos of live WWE events.

03:32 He used these opportunities to network and build connections with pro wrestling stars,

03:37 many of whom saw something special in the young kid.

03:41 In 1981, he took a photo alongside Captain Lou Albano, Classy Freddy Blassie and another

03:48 beloved wrestling manager, The Grand Wizard, all of whom would become his influences for

03:55 his managerial career in wrestling.

03:57 The photo itself served as a little bit of a prophecy for young Paul Heyman.

04:02 A couple of years after this, Heyman, ever one to make himself present, made the bold

04:07 decision to somehow sneak into an NWA production meeting wearing a baseball cap covering his

04:14 face.

04:15 Of all the people who would catch him doing this, it was none other than the American

04:20 Dream, Dusty Rhodes.

04:23 Dusty would call Heyman out in the room and ask him what the hell he was doing there,

04:27 and Heyman responded enthusiastically by saying that he was there to learn from Dusty.

04:32 We can only imagine how taken aback the American Dream must have been, but he responded by

04:37 telling Heyman that he came to the right guy before making him sit in the back of the room.

04:42 The young Heyman was asked about what he learned from sitting in on the production meeting,

04:46 and after giving an impressive enough answer, Dusty told him that he could join in on the

04:50 meetings whenever he wanted to.

04:52 He couldn't do it for every show because NWA wasn't based out of the New York territory,

04:56 and while Heyman was there, he used the opportunity to learn the production side of professional

05:02 wrestling from the ground up, while also building connections with even more people and even

05:07 more important names within the industry.

05:09 He got involved with Jim Crockett, one of the top promoters with the NWA at the time,

05:14 and once he built that connection, he connected with the beast from the east himself, Bam

05:19 Bam Bigelow, the superstar he would try to push into training to be a wrestler.

05:24 But Heyman knew from the beginning that he had zero interest in being an actual pro wrestler.

05:30 He seemed to be more keen on the backstage side of things, and he also seemed to know

05:35 early on that he was more suited to being that type of person, or maybe even a manager

05:40 on screen.

05:41 At the young age of 21, Paul Heyman made his on-screen debut as a manager on the independent

05:47 circuit before getting a job at the much more popular Championship Wrestling from Florida.

05:53 He there managed the duo of Kevin Sullivan and Oliver Humperdinck, becoming a man named

05:59 Paul E. Dangerously.

06:02 This early character was inspired by popular actor Michael Keaton's Johnny Dangerously,

06:08 and he sported a mullet and shades, the typical 80's in a suit douche bag look, yeah, the

06:14 stock bros of today.

06:16 His character was a bona fide d-bag anyway, bragging about his wealth and connections

06:21 while carrying around an oversized mobile phone.

06:24 Yeah, the phones were as big as a brick back then.

06:27 So yeah, if you got hit with that phone, it would hurt.

06:30 After time in AWA, the American Wrestling Association, CWA, the Continental Wrestling

06:36 Association, Heyman would then be at the side of Tommy Wildfire Rich and Austin Idol against

06:42 Jerry Lawler, his next important career move will be jumping to the Continental Wrestling

06:47 Federation.

06:48 For younger fans, this may sound a little confusing, but this was the nature of the

06:52 territorial wrestling system of the time, something Heyman wasn't exactly a complete

06:57 fan of, but we'll get back to that later on.

07:01 He would join a wrestler by the name of Eddie Gilbert, who was the husband of the valet

07:06 Missy Hyatt at the time.

07:07 While Eddie Gilbert was the head booker of the Continental Wrestling Federation, Paul

07:12 Heyman became his assistant.

07:14 It was during this time that he developed a reputation for being one of the biggest

07:18 behind the scenes up and comers in the business, garnering praise for his writing and vision

07:24 and approach to putting wrestling characters on television and how that television should

07:28 be produced.

07:29 It's really important to remember that he was just 22 years old and he was being noticed

07:35 as someone who could be at this level.

07:37 His next major stepping stone was the NWA, where he became the manager of the original

07:42 Midnight Express against another great hothead manager, Jim Cornette, and his new Midnight

07:49 Express.

07:50 It's also around this time when he managed a young star by the name of Mean Mark Callis,

07:55 a man you may now know as The Undertaker.

07:59 Heyman was already an on screen established character, a backstage player, and now he

08:04 was going to add another major skill set in the NWA, commentary for the company that would

08:09 soon become WCW.

08:12 Alongside Jim Ross, he was now learning the ropes of broadcasting professional wrestling

08:18 and helping to tell the stories for the fans at home for what was going on in the ring.

08:22 But Heyman ultimately was in demand when WCW needed some real slimy heels and he was the

08:28 centerpiece of what would become a very formidable faction, the Dangerous Alliance.

08:35 The Alliance had already been created four years ago, but once Heyman, along with Eddie

08:40 Gilbert and Missy Hyatt were signed to WCW, it was decided to bring it back with its biggest

08:45 and most impressive lineup yet.

08:48 The storyline saw Paul E dangerously get fired from his commentary role and he plotted his

08:54 revenge against WCW because he was still a managerial licensed professional.

09:01 He used ravishing Rick Rude against the United States Heavyweight Champion Sting and conspired

09:07 to wreak havoc on the company.

09:10 In the end, he formed a faction comprising Rude, Bobby Eaton, Arn Anderson, Larry Zabisco,

09:18 Medusa, and this young kid named Stunning Steve Austin.

09:23 There was a lot of potential in this group, I mean look at that lineup, but it was seemingly

09:27 wasted.

09:28 Arn Anderson called the Dangerous Alliance one of the greatest gatherings of talent in

09:32 wrestling history.

09:33 When you look at those names, it's hard to disagree.

09:36 They dominated WCW for a year or so and saw some championship success with Stunning Steve

09:42 becoming the TV Champion, Rick Rude capturing the US title, Arn Anderson and Larry Zabisco

09:48 along with Bobby Eaton winning the tag team titles.

09:51 But bad booking and a creative misfire stifled the potential of the group who could have

09:56 done a lot more than they got to do.

09:59 Dangerous Lee's group even went to war in WARGAMES but came up short against Sting's

10:07 squadron.

10:08 Some have speculated that the controversial take of head booker at the time of WCW Bill

10:13 Watts was something in conflict with Paul Heyman, something that he may have found hard

10:19 to agree with because he would find himself in constant disputes with Watts.

10:25 This would lead to a bitter dispute where Heyman got fired, leading to him to file a

10:29 lawsuit for wrongful termination and ethnic discrimination, a case that was settled out

10:36 of court.

10:37 Once done with WCW, Paul Heyman knew one thing, the territory days were well behind wrestling

10:44 and the future of wrestling was something completely different.

10:48 Once again, he had a vision for what was coming up.

10:54 WCW may have been implementing a different strategy from the traditional territories,

11:02 but it was Vince McMahon's big expansion with WWE into global television at this point

11:08 that was an approach and emphasis on expanding that resonated with Paul Heyman even more.

11:15 He wanted to create something different, something that wasn't akin to the old ways, while

11:21 also being a viable alternative to the giants that were in place in WWE and WCW.

11:27 Heyman would reach out to the hot hand of his close friend once again, Eddie Gilbert,

11:32 now a part of the NWA territory known as ECW, Eastern Championship Wrestling.

11:38 Wait, wasn't it Extreme Championship?

11:41 We'll get to that.

11:43 And it was here at this point that the whole story evolved to the defining chapter of Paul

11:48 Heyman's legendary career.

11:51 ECW had first evolved from a promotion called TWA, Tri-State Wrestling Alliance, very regional.

11:58 It was formed by a man named Joel Goodhart, who sold his share of the promotion to his

12:03 business partner and pawn shop owner Todd Gordon.

12:07 Todd Gordon would turn this into Eastern Championship Wrestling and had Eddie Gilbert as its lead

12:13 booker who insisted that they join the National Wrestling Alliance, which they did.

12:19 The issue of owner and booker became a real problem with Gordon and Gilbert not getting

12:24 along and having a major falling out.

12:26 Since Gordon was the one in charge with the money, he fired Eddie Gilbert and replaced

12:31 him with Paul Heyman, who is now 28 years old and seeking greener pastures, new opportunities

12:38 to make his mark on the wrestling industry his way.

12:42 And he made a lot more than just a mark.

12:45 Heyman was going to play the long game.

12:47 Rather than strictly focusing on big names of ex-WWE stars, though they would be utilized,

12:53 he decided to gamble more time on younger, more unknown wrestlers like Tommy Dreamer,

13:00 The Sandman, Sabu, and former WCW star Shane Douglas to name a few.

13:06 Second, he began to push the envelope and encourage more extreme, violent content, perhaps

13:12 seeing a change in demographics or in pop culture in general that weren't being reflected

13:17 in pro wrestling.

13:19 Thirdly, he got some extremely talented wrestlers from the international landscape of professional

13:25 wrestling in Japan, Mexico, and a variety of styles and promotions that blended their

13:31 way into ECW.

13:33 ECW quickly became the crown jewel of the NWA, and it was decided that the now-vacant

13:40 NWA World Championship would be given to ECW star Shane Douglas in a tournament.

13:46 But what NWA officials didn't know was that behind the scenes, Heyman and Todd Gordon

13:52 were planning something earth-shattering.

13:55 We mentioned a couple times now how Paul Heyman had a fundamental disagreement with the NWA's

14:00 vision of professional wrestling, and he felt that the time for their partnership had come

14:05 to an end.

14:07 After Douglas won the tournament, he became the NWA World Champion, a title whose lineage

14:13 goes back decades and ties to some of the biggest names in the history of the business.

14:18 But still, the time for a break seemingly was envisioned and implemented, and he cut

14:24 a promo that truly shocked everyone watching, because everyone was caught off guard with

14:31 what came next.

14:33 After Douglas won the tournament, he outright rejected the NWA title and said that he didn't

14:39 want to be the champion of a dead promotion that died years prior.

14:44 He raised the ECW Championship and instead presented it as the real World Championship.

14:52 An NWA representative tried making a public statement by rejecting the sentiment and threatened

14:58 to strip Shane Douglas of his title, but Todd Gordon would then make the announcement official.

15:04 As of that day, it was no longer Eastern Championship Wrestling, an affiliate of the NWA.

15:11 Instead, it was Xtreme Championship Wrestling, and they were set to make their mark, bloody

15:19 and bruised on the face of professional wrestling.

15:23 Heyman's next big strategic maneuver was to buy out Gordon's share of ECW and take

15:29 full control of the promotion.

15:31 ECW would quickly make their name out of the Philadelphia region and became the most revolutionary

15:36 company in all of professional wrestling.

15:39 With ferocious names like the Dudleys, Rob Van Dam, Dreamer, Sabu, Tez, and many more,

15:45 ECW truly was the alternative product that broke all of the rules and influenced the

15:51 other key figures in the business to follow with bigger budgets.

15:56 These were not the standardized looking wrestling talents of the day, these were outlaws on

16:01 an outlaw wrestling brand who were now getting the endorsement from beloved veterans like

16:06 Terry Funk.

16:07 It was an F you to the big players and the old territory ways.

16:12 Todd Gordon later described ECW as "lightning in a bottle."

16:16 Practically nobody told them what to do or gave them restrictions.

16:22 And there was a feeling that this was a well known thing within ECW over how special it

16:27 really was.

16:28 Bubba Ray Dudley, now known to many as Bully Ray, said that when Paul Heyman made his speeches

16:34 backstage "you wanted to go to war for him" and the locker room was willing to

16:39 die in battle for ECW.

16:43 They wanted to do whatever it took to be noticed.

16:46 ECW was hip, ECW was cool, and WWE needed to be hip and cool while they were fighting

16:52 with WCW.

16:53 We even got to see some of those extreme stars kind of have cameos with WWE on Monday Night

16:58 Raw.

16:59 But not everything was perfect.

17:01 This is reported but not confirmed.

17:03 For one, Paul Heyman made a deal under the table with Vince McMahon and the WWE and became

17:09 sort of an ally, sending talent to WWE while Vince McMahon sent his talent to specific

17:16 ECW shows to develop.

17:18 It coincided with the time of their first pay per view event, which was a huge achievement

17:24 for the company.

17:26 But Paul Heyman hadn't wisened up a lot of the locker room to the WWE deal, which

17:31 seemed to cause a bit of a rift in the underbelly of ECW.

17:36 Wasn't this going against the vision of them being rebels?

17:40 Apart from the superstar seemingly turning on him to some degree, there was speculation

17:45 that McMahon was keeping ECW up and running and throwing funds here and there, and ECW

17:51 was notorious for struggling to pay the wrestlers on time.

17:55 But there were also other issues of people abusing drugs and alcohol backstage.

18:00 This was the Outlaw Show, and regardless, they managed to secure a pay per view deal.

18:05 Further drama would strike the locker room when former owner Todd Gordon was accused

18:09 of being a mole.

18:11 How you ask?

18:12 He allegedly worked with WCW behind the scenes and helped set up other stars and better deals

18:17 for ECW talent.

18:18 Once word got out of his connections to WCW, other talent reportedly asked him to negotiate

18:24 a deal.

18:25 Heyman found out and he was furious.

18:27 To handle the situation privately and quietly, Gordon was told to leave ECW and prevent a

18:32 further divide within the locker room, as well as to avoid any possible issues with

18:37 the broadcast partners.

18:39 To add to that, Heyman much preferred his talent going to WWE because of his relationship

18:45 established already with McMahon.

18:48 In 1999, ECW secured a broadcast cable TV deal with TNN, one that reportedly was a really

18:57 bad financial deal in the long run.

19:00 One that helped give ECW though national television exposure instead of sporadic town to town

19:07 syndicated TV deals.

19:09 There was minimal advertising, but the three year deal did help get a lot more eyes on

19:14 the product.

19:15 ECW quickly became the highest rated number one show on TNN, but the lack of funds was

19:22 hurting the company badly.

19:24 There was an increasing amount of liabilities, especially when it came to the wrestlers salaries.

19:30 The next big challenge for Heyman was the talent raid from WWE and their biggest competitor

19:36 as well, WCW.

19:39 ECW's budget simply couldn't compete.

19:42 Apart from the Dudley boys going to WWE, Heyman was hit with a huge blow that reigning ECW

19:48 champion at the time, Mike Awesome, signed with WCW without any prior knowledge.

19:54 Eric Bischoff, head of WCW at the time, wanted to pull off another type of Medusa stunt where

20:00 she appeared with the WWE Women's Championship and threw it in the trash.

20:05 The feeling was, this was going to happen with the ECW belt.

20:09 The paranoia that once hit WWE with the Montreal Screwjob was now hitting ECW.

20:15 There was not going to be any screw jobs needed here though because Paul Heyman, once again

20:19 the son of a lawyer, filed a legal notice to WCW and prevented the dustbin angle from

20:26 ever happening.

20:28 Instead he negotiated what would become one of the weirdest deals in wrestling history

20:33 that went in three very big directions.

20:36 Mike Awesome would drop the ECW title to Taz, who was then a WWE contracted superstar by

20:43 this point.

20:44 Taz would then drop the ECW title to an ECW star, Tommy Dreamer, to end this entire crazy

20:51 thing.

20:52 The unpaid wrestler wages kept piling up and it was getting a bit out of hand and the pennies

20:58 were being earned from television deals that weren't really helping out very much.

21:03 RVD, Douglas, and Dreamer were owed $100-$150,000 while Joey Styles and Commentary, Rhyno, and

21:12 Francine were also owed reportedly around $50,000 or slightly less.

21:18 There were several more names ranging from a few dollars to a few hundred dollars if

21:23 not more, wages that were reportedly as high as $710,000 plus.

21:29 TNN would unfortunately drop ECW from their programming just a year after the three year

21:36 deal was signed and replace them with WWE Monday Night Raw.

21:42 In retrospect it was a shrewd business move.

21:45 WWE purchased the rights to WCW and the name, the video library, and everything and didn't

21:50 breach the contracts giving them a loophole to not pay off the liabilities.

21:56 This would mark the brutal death of ECW.

21:59 Lightning in a bottle for sure and around for less than they should have been, they

22:04 were still highly influential, but the ending was bittersweet.

22:08 Betrayal, controversy, drugs, and a bunch of carny illegal activities, but it did bring

22:14 out one of the greatest eras in wrestling history.

22:18 Just as quickly as ECW rose, it fell down with one swift hammer by the industry itself

22:23 and it would kickstart the next chapter of Paul Heyman's insanely turbulent career.

22:39 Paul Heyman stayed in the pro wrestling industry, working for WWE.

22:43 Yes, the same WWE that helped keep ECW afloat was now the one he was going to work for and

22:49 was positioned on commentary right next to Jim Ross replacing Jerry "The King" Lawler.

22:54 Yes, the same Jim Ross that helped get his broadcasting career going in wrestling years

22:59 prior.

23:00 When the invasion angle happened, with elements of WCW and ECW now under the WWE fold playing

23:06 out on WWE television, at the Survivor Series, the story came to a boiling point in the alliance

23:11 group that Heyman was a part of lost to Team WWE, ending the first part of what would be

23:16 the tumultuous first few years of Heyman as an on-screen character in WWE.

23:22 He once again decided to work behind the scenes and accepted a big role that could have gone

23:26 wrong.

23:27 WWE just introduced the Raw and Smackdown brand split.

23:31 Heyman was assigned a very special role, being the lead writer.

23:36 McMahon encouraged the separate teams of Raw and Smackdown to have a real competition in

23:41 order to elevate the product overall, and Heyman passed with flying colors.

23:46 During his period with Smackdown, he was the guy who spearheaded what has been dubbed the

23:50 Smackdown 6 of breakout, ruthless aggression talent Kurt Angle, Eddie Guerrero, Rey Mysterio,

23:57 Edge, Chavo Guerrero, and he who we don't really need to name.

24:02 One of the most significant that he would work with during this period was a young,

24:07 tattooed, covered superstar to be made that was in the making in CM Punk.

24:13 Around this same time, WWE revived the ECW brand.

24:18 With a very successful DVD documenting the rise and fall of the company, with Heyman

24:23 playing a central figure, it prompted WWE to do a one-off show, One Night Only, a one-night

24:29 stand in 2005.

24:32 Following it up once again in 2006, WWE felt it was time to relaunch ECW as its own defined

24:39 weekly televised brand.

24:41 Paul Heyman would be in charge of it, like he should have been, but unlike the 1990s

24:49 version, it didn't bring out Todd Gordon's share of ECW.

24:55 This would lead to some of the more infamous creative clashes for Heyman, with him butting

24:59 heads with Vince McMahon and other people on WWE's creative team, with the two constantly

25:04 not on the same page while they're trying to produce the pages for the TV show.

25:10 It created a lot of tension between the two, and it's not hard to see why Heyman felt

25:14 like he, and maybe the thing he created in ECW, were not being treated properly.

25:20 More disagreements week to week, traveling up the roads, building up to a big pay-per-view,

25:25 and it came to a boiling point at one of those pay-per-views.

25:28 WWE's version of ECW's own solo pay-per-view, the much maligned and critically trashed December

25:36 to Dismember, was really bad, and the backstage sentiment got even worse, with McMahon and

25:44 Heyman getting into a reported verbal argument about it.

25:47 They were on Vince McMahon's private jet, and Heyman got heated, and it was confrontational.

25:52 ECW wing, the story of the invasion angle, and how badly it delivered on expectations,

25:59 has been covered time and time again.

26:03 The invasion fell flat for most fans, but one of the highlights saw Heyman go off on

26:08 Vince McMahon for what felt like an off-the-script promo.

26:12 In reality, McMahon gave him the go-ahead to put him on full blast, so Heyman voiced

26:16 his real frustrations with the most powerful man in the pro wrestling industry, accusing

26:21 him of stealing ECW's edgy style and content, and simply relabeling it as "attitude."

26:28 It had been nearly 30 years since Heyman started in the wrestling ranks as a young boy, and

26:33 some felt like he was looking to do something else with his life.

26:36 But there was also reported major speculation that Heyman could join the real challenger

26:41 brand in the wrestling market at the time, TNA Wrestling, but he would really only be

26:46 number two to the main promoter and facilitator of the funds for that company, Dixie Carter.

26:52 Heyman reportedly had a few demands to join TNA.

26:55 He wanted a 10% ownership in the company, the opportunity to potentially take the company

26:59 public at some point, and to purge the roster of older legends.

27:05 The third condition was enough for Dixie Carter to decline since she took the approach of

27:09 using established legends to come into the brand and be the pillars of it, an idea that

27:14 Paul Heyman was never really a fan of going all the way back to his ECW days.

27:18 If he was going to bring in a big outside name, they were going to be positioned to

27:23 build up one of the names within the company.

27:25 Over five and a half years had passed since Heyman still felt the same way, and he wasn't

27:30 interested really, it felt like, in returning to pro wrestling.

27:33 Brock Lesnar, on the other hand, was.

27:36 Lesnar had served his time as a real attraction in the UFC, proving that he could hang with

27:42 the best in MMA, and negotiated a deal to shockingly return to WWE on a part-time schedule.

27:49 Lesnar has had his issues with WWE's very demanding schedule.

27:53 When Lesnar realized that he still wasn't the most comfortable on the mic, he needed

27:58 someone who had personality, someone who knew his character, someone like Paul Heyman.

28:05 Although Heyman couldn't imagine himself back in WWE, everybody has a price, and Heyman

28:10 said he got an offer that was just too good to refuse, and the idea was for him to be

28:16 there until just about Wrestlemania 29 the next year.

28:20 Heyman was back in the spotlight, he was the guy talking up some of the biggest matches

28:25 with the biggest players in the game.

28:27 Lesnar and Heyman became the heel act in WWE in the early 2010s, with massive victories

28:34 and conquests, pay-per-view main events with names like John Cena, Triple H, and many more.

28:40 But then Paul Heyman had another Paul Heyman guy to work with, CM Punk.

28:45 They of course had history dating back to OVW, and it kept Heyman in the picture and

28:50 also evolved CM Punk's heelish character to a new level.

28:55 The next year at Wrestlemania 30, he was an integral part of the moment of moments when

29:00 Brock Lesnar shocked the world and ended The Undertaker's undefeated Wrestlemania streak.

29:08 You can never forget the look on Paul Heyman's face at ringside.

29:12 Heyman has expressed that when he was a part of that historic moment, that he knew he would

29:17 be in WWE for life.

29:20 By all accounts, he hasn't really had much of a clash with Vince McMahon in recent years,

29:25 mostly not on the creative side of things, at least from what we know.

29:29 That was until 2019 when he was given the executive role of Executive Director of Raw.

29:35 That was an instant difference in Raw until there wasn't.

29:39 Once again, he didn't really have the final say, it was still a WWE show under the control

29:44 of Vince McMahon, and his creative clashes were something that was maybe more evident

29:49 or at least more manageable this time around.

29:52 It wasn't surprising that he was removed from that role on the Raw creative side, but

29:56 his next move would be undoubtedly solidifying his status as one of the greatest managers

30:01 in the 21st century.

30:03 Heyman was a kingmaker with Brock Lesnar and CM Punk, bringing them to world title glory.

30:08 Following that, he would be a part of six more world championships by Brock Lesnar from

30:15 2012, one of which saw Lesnar break CM Punk's 434-day streak as champion to take his spot

30:22 as the longest reigning world champion in WWE since 1988.

30:27 The next move saw him work with someone we never saw coming, someone who needed a fresh

30:32 take, someone who needed their own reboot, Roman Reigns.

30:38 In the scenes, Reigns and Heyman had plotted the idea of the Tribal Chief character.

30:43 Roman, who in the eyes of some was simply put upon the WWE audience, beloved by others,

30:49 vacated the WWE Universal Championship heading into the pandemic times, he decided to pull

30:57 back and at that no-fans WrestleMania, Roman wasn't there.

31:05 He came back as a new character who said as he reinserted himself into a triple threat

31:13 match for the Universal Championship at the Payback pay-per-view that he would wreck everyone

31:18 and leave.

31:19 And this was not a prediction, this was a spoiler.

31:23 But wait, that's Paul Heyman's line, the camera pull back, and there's Paul Heyman, he was

31:28 with him this whole time, and then Paul Heyman saying believe that, he's using Roman Reigns'

31:33 line, wow what a reveal.

31:35 And as you may know now, they have truly reigned on, the bloodline, all the different things

31:41 that Roman has been able to do with all the different challengers, taking the WWE Universal

31:46 Championship through some of the most challenging times in the history of the company.

31:51 Paul Heyman has been there for the entire ride, and he's brought Roman Reigns to such

31:56 success as a champion that he's surpassed the records of CM Punk and Brock Lesnar to

32:01 become one of the longest reigning champions in WWE history.

32:06 When you have such elite talent seeking to have you as a figure with them on camera,

32:11 it says what you are worth.

32:13 When you are the guy that so many people want crafting their story, you become the guy.

32:20 There's no clear detail of how much power Paul Heyman has creatively, but he has been reportedly

32:26 a key part in the success of the Bloodline story, which whether you want to believe it

32:31 or not, is one of the most bankable and profitable stories that WWE has had in the last 10 years.

32:37 The Wise Man as he's recently been dubbed may have never had the complete idealistic

32:42 version of creative influence he's wanted in WWE, but he certainly has had it in the

32:48 better part of the last few years while also having the duality of being an on screen performer

32:54 for it.

32:55 And if that doesn't sum up his impact on WWE alone, then what else will?

32:59 It's a story of a man who came from a working class background, where he learned to be shrewd,

33:05 cunning and tactical in a life, in a business that itself can be cutthroat and emotionally

33:11 draining.

33:12 How he strategically moved up the pro wrestling pyramid and pulled back when it felt right.

33:19 His greatest lasting legacy may still be ECW, something that truly changed the wrestling

33:24 business, could be considered controversial by today's standards, it still created a

33:29 brand and impact that is felt throughout all of wrestling at all levels today, and subsequently

33:35 he has single handedly had more influence than most of the people who may have ever

33:40 stepped in the ring since ECW.

33:43 His impact on ECW will always be defined as a revolution that formed decades to follow

33:49 of wrestling content.

33:51 Still Paul Heyman is a once in a lifetime figure who has thrived on camera and off of

33:57 it.

33:58 He is single handedly one of the best talkers in professional wrestling, if not the history

34:02 of it, and not many people know the immense versatility that he's had on the creative,

34:08 commentary and production side of things in pro wrestling, making him a rare all around

34:14 talent.

34:15 If there is any argument against him going in the WWE hall of fame, or any pro wrestling

34:21 hall of fame, we're not hearing it because there really isn't an argument against it.

34:26 When Paul Heyman's career in pro wrestling is done, people will look back at it as one

34:31 of the greatest of all time.

34:33 That is not a prediction, that's a spoiler.

34:36 Thanks for watching, let us know your favorite moments from Paul Heyman's career in the comments

34:40 below.

34:40 [music]

34:47 [music]

34:54 (gentle music)

34:56 (upbeat music)

Category

Transcript

Recommended