Credit: BleacherReport.com
Paul Heyman recently spoke about the success of the Undertaker and more. Here
are the highlights…
On WCW Releasing The Man That Would Become The Undertaker:
“What happened in WCW is the same thing that happened there with a variety of
talent. WCW was far too concerned with existing star power and investing in
those that already had equity in their names. They had no vision of brand or
talent development. The key to WWE’s success and longevity is that they are, as
modern and as relevant as the company may be in modern social media and
platforms and contemporary distribution, the company is still built around
old-school promotion. Who are these two fighters? Why are they wrestling? And
why should I pay to see it? In order to answer those three questions you have to
build up the talent. And you can’t just build up talent that has equity in their
names. You have to make new stars. And that’s the mantra that has always worked
best in any period that you could call the glory days.”
On The Success of The Undertaker: “I don’t think it was as
much the character as it was the man behind the character. I think The
Undertaker is, much like Brock Lesnar, a once-in-a-lifetime wrestler, a
once-in-a-lifetime athlete and a once-in-a-lifetime performer. You can’t just
put somebody in that slot. You need someone who can own up to the role and
someone who makes the role theirs, who walks in the skin of the character. When
that gels, when the athlete and the performer come together, then you have
someone who is truly box office. This is not something that someone else could
have accomplished. You couldn’t have given that name and that character to
anybody else – they would have never survived.”
