All true wrestling fans know the history of Paul Heyman. We know he ran ECW into the ground, we know he got fired from WCW, and we know that he also got fired from WWE back in the day due to some backstage politics, but we do know one thing, he is amazing. Easily one of if not the best there has ever been on the microphone. So why is Paul Heyman so good?
Since the day he picked up the microphone he has dominated the scene. Whether it’s as Paul Heyman or Paul E. Dangerously, as the boss of ECW, Brock Lesnar’s agent or the manager of any other wrestler, Paul Heyman is one of the most captivating wrestling characters of all time. There are very few people in the industry who have the ability to cut a promo that can capture an entire audience. Whether it’s man, woman, or child they all stop talking when he does. That shows the power of this entity.
I think the best way to show it is to go over five of Paul Heymans best promos and their impact on the business.
5) Back in March 2014, Paul Heyman walked into the arena in Chicago and stunned a rowdy audience. CM Punk had been gone from WWE for a couple of months. Chicago was waiting for the return of CM Punk but instead Heyman walked in.
The crowd went crazy when CM Punk’s music hit, but Heyman emerged to a massive amount of heat. Heyman began with bad mouthing WWE on how they handled Punk, but what he did which was absolutely amazing was turn the heat back on the crowd. He blamed them for what happened to Punk before introducing Brock Lesnar.
It was a brilliant way to put the heat on Lesnar and Heyman and actually stopped the CM Punk chants for a while.
4) ECW One Night Stand is one of the most memorable PPV events in recent years. This is mostly down to Rob Van Dam’s victory against John Cena. But what people also tend to remember is Heyman’s amazing speech that destroyed an entire locker room.
He destroyed the competition between Raw, Smackdown, and ECW including a particularly long rant about Eric Bischoff. He then told a silent but stunned crowd to “hide their wives”, before introducing Edge to the ring.
Heyman has openly gone on record to damn WWE on how they booked ECW on its return, and this was Heyman’s chance to shine, which he did in fashion.
3) Paul Heyman will be remembered in history for some of the most shocking things to happen in the wrestling industry. One of the most shocking results was Brock Lesnar beating the Undertaker at Wrestlemania XXX. Paul Heyman’s face when Lesnar scored the winning pinfall was a picture has been shown nearly every opportunity WWE has had.
Heyman talked for near 10-minutes, which contained references to Vince McMahon, The Undertaker and the whole of the WWE locker room in general. Heyman even brought himself into the promo and stated that Lesnar barely tolerates him.
Heyman went on to call the entire locker room a “bunch of wannabes,” which had the audience applauding him as he spoke. Heyman then went on to repeat over and over again that he was the one behind the one in twenty one and one. Did you know his client beat the Undertaker?
2) At number two we have Paul Heymans recent promo on Raw 03/08/2015. This promo had composure mixed with aggression all into one. It was timed beautifully and had moments of remembrance. Heyman knew exactly what to do when building the main event of Lesnar and Undertaker at SummerSlam. Paul Heyman was more than a spokesman; he was composer and conductor in one.
Paul Heyman was a genius, showing the aggression of Lesnar without muttering too much about previous meetings. He allowed Lesnar to rip off the stairs and stand on them like the beast he is. As Heyman went on, he did exactly what he does best, he sold us the event.
He called SummerSlam’s rematch between Undertaker and Brock Lesnar “the match too big for WrestleMania” and gave more than enough evidence to back up this claim. Heyman managed to elevate the delivery of a sales pitch and the delivery of an in-ring promo to another level.
1) For me this is the best promo I have ever heard come out of Paul Heymans mouth. It was part of the build up to The Alliance vs. WWE at Survivor Series 2001. Paul Heyman and Vince McMahon had many promos with each other but this one will stand out for the masses.
This was a no-holds-barred approach to a promo and it was phenomenal. This was more than a promo, it was real life frustration between two of the biggest names in the industry at the time. Heyman destroyed Vince and blamed him for the downfall of ECW. He accused McMahon’s closest friends and allies for wanting him to “burn in hell”. He even brought his kids into the equation.
Paul Heyman even tried to have a dig at Vince’s other failed attempts of business like the XFL franchise. What we do know of this promo is that it was driven by pure emotion. You can tell what this business means to Heyman and I believe that is the main reason of why he is so good. He has failed at attempts of a manager with characters like Ryback, Cesaro, and Curtis Axel, but what he has done is prove to everyone that when it really counts, there is no-one better than Paul Heyman.
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