Thursday, March 28, 2024
NewsColumn: You Can't Handle The Truth: Heyman's Choice in Fate

Column: You Can’t Handle The Truth: Heyman’s Choice in Fate

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Paul Heyman is arguably a legend in the wrestling business. He has done a lot in his time within the business. From being a manager to owning a promotion that changed the wrestling business, Heyman has always been a guy to take seriously at the right time.

The problem with Paul is that he is an idea man. And while this is normally not a bad thing, not all ideas work. And sometimes things can break down and go wrong.

There is no better example than ECW itself. While it brought us people such as Sabu, Rey Mysterio, Chris Jericho, Steve Austin, and the Dudleys, it was not known for creating stars, despite Heyman’s ability to do so.

ECW was known for being a hardcore company that basically did everything hardcore all the time, always pushing what should be done in a ring for simple entertainment purposes. Matches done here would never be done today and the show even kept a TV-MA rating due to it.

At the end of the day, WWE and WCW were far surpassing ECW. ECW simply could not keep up because these companies were big before, then they added hardcore matches to compete. This pretty much watered down ECW for some. Add in that many of the stars were leaving ECW for WWE mainly due to a deal between Vince McMahon and Paul Heyman, and you had a promotion that was not going anywhere any time soon.

When it went down, Paul came over to WWE soon after. He worked with WWE as a commentator once King left for a bit of a break. Then he became a part of the Invasion angle WWE decided to do once they bought WCW. Once that was over, WWE decided to use Paul to help build one man. While he was known for having ideas to help build up factions of people or companies, this time he only had one person to worry about.

That man was Brock Lesnar. He was an instant hit and he worked perfectly as a mouthpiece for Lesnar who was, and is still to this day, a monster.

Heyman was always good as a manager, even dating back to his time with WCW. To me, he is one of the top 5 best managers of all time due to his skills at what a manager needs to bring to the table.

He is known for bringing back or building up, even helping to create certain wrestling talents. Other than Lesnar, who he may be best known for managing; Paul has a ton of names which he managed to success. People such as The World’s Greatest Tag Team (Shelton Benjamin/Charlie Haas), Kurt Angle, Big Show, RVD, and even guys like Steve Austin and Rick Rude.

The moment you are associated with Heyman, its instant recognition. You are automatically on everyone’s radar because of it, and there is no one in the wrestling business today that has the same power. WWE wants Curtis Axel to be a star, so they gave him Paul Heyman. He is already an Intercontinental Champion and taken seriously by both wrestlers and the WWE fans.

Vince McMahon never really managed a lot of people in the wrestling industry, despite his ability to do so, because he was not the best at doing everything needed to be great at it. Vince is a brilliant businessman, and that much is proven by how well he has done with WWE to make it THE wrestling company in the world today. But while he is good in business and even marketing, Paul Heyman makes his world around the people he manages. They are his entire being.

He drives them to success due to this. Whereas Vince does what he can PLUS runs a company. This is why WWE realizes what Heyman brings to the table. They realize that at the end of the day, while Vince can do well, Heyman can do great. Mainly because doing well with his “client” is

his only focus.

This is why he being with CM Punk was interesting to me. Punk didn’t need Heyman like Big Show or Brock Lesnar did. He was already WWE Champion for quite a while before Paul Heyman decided to show up in Punk’s life again. Punk then went into a heel run and became the number one heel in the company.

Punk was great before, but now with Heyman, he was arguably unstoppable. The two were a perfect pairing. Punk is “The Best in the World”, and Heyman made sure he knew it. He told him every day he could. Paul didn’t manage this time with Punk, oh no. He was no longer the manager Heyman that he was known for.

This time, he was the friend, the confidant, the emotional rock. He was there to encourage and help when he could. He didn’t have to worry about marketing Punk or making you remember his name. You already knew it.

Paul Heyman was not making Punk a star. He was not trying to get him into the main event. He was helping him stay there. He was helping him keep the star that he was. And he was doing the best he could to do it.

The interesting part is that he succeeded. Did you ever forget about Punk? Did you ever not want to see what he did next week? Like Lesnar, Punk alone does not really need Heyman to be there. But “need” is not always the case. It’s the “want”. It’s also, the simple interest.

Does John Cena really “need” the WWE Title to be over? He’s had 12 other World Titles, why does one more mean so much to WWE to give him? It’s the intrigue. It’s the fact that it’s wanted. It may not be by everyone, but it is by many.

Heyman and Punk are now in a cross-roads storyline. It’s an interesting one to say the least. Lesnar and Punk will square off eventually. They will cross paths. Then Heyman will have to choose. Will he go with the Best in the World or will he go with a Monster? Either way, Heyman for the first time truly loses.

Did Heyman order a Punk attack or did Lesnar do it on his own? The question may never be truly answered. It’ll be hearsay. But what will be interesting is what side Heyman will go to.

The partnership between Heyman/Lesnar and Heyman/Punk will be of interest. Mainly because it could be the end of one.

Paul Heyman is an idea man, he’s a former promoter for a well-known wrestling company, and he has helped in the development of stars. But now he is faced with a choice. So the story with Punk and Heyman will, to me, be WWE’s big Summer story. And usually those are always mixed with interesting plot twists.

But what do you think happens? Does Punk/Heyman end? Or will Paul

Heyman finally be telling truth and really stay out of the Lesnar/Punk story?

I want to know your thoughts on it all. So let me know below.

Follow me on Twitter: @JoeBurgett_WE

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