Paul Heyman has consistently seen himself in WWE’s main event picture for decades but not as a wrestler, obviously, but as a mouthpiece. The self-proclaimed advocate for Brock Lesnar began working alongside The Next Big Thing in 2002 and maintained some sort of association with him until 2020 when he aligned with Roman Reigns. Now, as The Wiseman to The Tribal Chief, Heyman finds himself entangled in a familial mess that has started to show significant cracks in the foundation of The Bloodline.
Heyman’s success did not begin in 2002 with Lesnar. Prior to that, Heyman served as a manager in WCW before pivoting to his most notable role as a promoter for the upstart, renegade Extreme Championship Wrestling promotion. In an exclusive Inside The Ropes interview, The Blue Meanie looked ahead to WWE WrestleMania 40 in Philadelphia, ECW’s home city, and addressed whether Paul Heyman should be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame class that weekend because of it.
“You could probably want to put him in but I don’t think Paul will be ready to go in, yet,” he said. “Just knowing Paul, I don’t think he would want to do it, yet. To me, Paul, he seems like the kind of guy that, his best work is yet to come, and as accomplished as Paul has been, you know, geez, I mean, he started as a teenager as a ring announcer, and interview guy, and manager, and advocate, and running the company, and making stars, you know?
“The guy has made so many stars. To him, in his mind, his job is still going, it’s yet to be complete. I heard Paul Heyman’s only problem is there there aren’t enough hours in the day to be more creative. So I think they would offer it to him but I don’t know if he would accept it. I would say ‘Hey, maybe a little bit longer down the line.’ But, hopefully, when Mania comes to Philly, there’s a nod to ECW. That’s my wish.”
If you use any quotes from this article please give a h/t to Haus of Wrestling for the transcription and credit Inside The Ropes
You can find the full audio from my conversation with The Blue Meanie courtesy of the embedded podcast player below