Few non-wrestlers have ever been as impactful and successful as Paul Heyman in the wrestling industry. A tremendous career has seen Heyman having noteworthy stories and memories in WWE, ECW, and WCW. Conversations and insight about Heyman’s contributions to the business will see some things that the audience gets wrong about him.
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There are so many twists and turns in the wrestling world that fans will miss the mark when it comes to someone like Heyman. WWE currently is using his brilliance in many ways to continue the growing argument for him as the greatest manager of all time. People usually get the following things wrong about Heyman’s career.
10 WWE Fired Him For Arguing For CM Punk Winning Title
The end of Paul Heyman’s time on the ECW brand under Vince McMahon’s ownership led to him leaving WWE in a controversial fashion. Many fans believe that McMahon fired Heyman the night of the awful December to Dismember PPV for fighting too hard for CM Punk to win the ECW Championship that night.
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However, Heyman remained employed throughout that show even though Vince and others overruled him with Bobby Lashley winning the gold. The post-show argument between Heyman and McMahon over why the show was so bad that it led to him leaving once the spirit of the old ECW had no place in the new project.
9 Raw Creative Team Tenure Failed
Paul Heyman has mostly been an on-screen talent during the last decade of this WWE run. Vince McMahon built more trust for Heyman adding input in the top angles since he managed names like CM Punk and Brock Lesnar.
WWE fully gave Heyman a creative position running the Raw brand a few years back. Heyman was removed from the role relatively quickly to make it seem like a failure. This is not a fair assessment since it turned into Vince calling the shots again. Heyman helped a few talents get more over and set up success beyond his tenure.
8 His SmackDown Creative Team Run Was Well Received
The most beloved time of Paul Heyman’s creative input in WWE featured the early years of SmackDown in the brand split. Heyman was in charge of the SmackDown side when they instantly became the hotter show with more exciting things.
Fans still talk about this as a great era in WWE history with love for the SmackDown Six that was pushed. However, Heyman had a lot of heat in WWE around this time to get mixed reactions for his work. WWE removed Heyman from that role in under a year despite the success.
7 He Cared Most About Hardcore Wrestling In ECW
ECW wrestlers speak bluntly today about hating the criticism that the company was only about hardcore wrestling. Paul Heyman actually had a great idea to create a diverse list of all styles that weren’t being spotlighted in WWE and WCW to stand out more.
WCW ended up signing most of their top luchadors or technical wrestlers like Chris Jericho, Dean Malenko, and Rey Mysterio. The hardcore wrestlers were the main eventers to spend the most time in ECW and make that style feel more authentic. Heyman still always pushed wrestlers of other styles like Super Crazy, Lance Storm, and Tajiri.
6 Hostile Relationship With Stephanie McMahon
The first WWE run of Paul Heyman saw him butting heads with Stephanie McMahon quite often. Vince McMahon put Stephanie in charge of creative after the Monday Night Wars ended. Stephanie wanted more of a traditional television system with writers and often clashed with Heyman’s ideas. Stories leaked of many arguments happening between the two.
Heyman being unable to get on the same page as Stephanie played roles in his SmackDown and WWE ECW tenures ending. However, it doesn’t get talked about how they became friends over the past decade. Stephanie even revealed that Heyman was there for her during a tough time accepting Mae Young passing away.
5 WCW Didn't Book Him Well
Paul Heyman’s WCW time doesn’t get talked about nearly as much as his WWE and ECW runs. WCW was the first major promotion to use Heyman in an on-screen role as Paul E. Dangerously. The Dangerous Alliance is actually an underrated act that warrants more respect.
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Anything to happen in WCW before the Monday Night Wars doesn’t get proper respect since the company was a distant second to WWE. WCW actually used Heyman quite well managing names like Steve Austin, Rick Rude, Arn Anderson, and Madusa. It was the backstage treatment by Bill Watts that made Heyman want to leave.
4 Always Booked Logical Storylines
Most wrestling fans would name Paul Heyman as one of the best creative minds and bookers in wrestling history. Heyman booked some tremendous angles in ECW and had his fingerprints on many of the best WWE angles, including the Bloodline.
However, the good of Heyman shouldn’t erase the bad moments. Heyman loved booking over-the-top angles like the Lana/Rusev/Bobby Lashley love triangle. Quite a few angles lacked logic and were there for the shock factor that felt forced from Heyman’s booking.
3 Was Responsible For Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows Getting Fired
Paul Heyman is loved by many wrestlers, but he has found some enemies along the way. One of the few names that publicly insulted Heyman while working together in WWE was AJ Styles. WWE firing Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson during budget cuts saw Styles blaming Heyman for not protecting them.
Dave Meltzer reported that Heyman didn’t have anything to do with firings, and it was all Vince McMahon wanting to boost his record profits during the pandemic. Styles wanted to put the blame on Heyman for past issues since he wouldn’t publicly insult McMahon for the same reason.
2 Was Always Considered In G.O.A.T. Manager Conversation
Any conversation about the greatest manager in wrestling history now not only involves Paul Heyman but usually sees him as the first name mentioned. This wasn’t always the case before Heyman’s recent run since his legacy was all over the place.
Heyman had a great run managing the Dangerous Alliance in WCW and Brock Lesnar in WWE. The return of Heyman in 2012 is when he developed the most elite managing legacy. Heyman managing CM Punk, Brock Lesnar and now Roman Reigns during the longest world title reigns of this era led to him being the G.O.A.T.
1 Almost Joined TNA
One of the more interesting “what if” scenarios of Paul Heyman’s career is if he joined TNA. Dixie Carter had some chats with Heyman about coming in for a creative role when he was not in WWE. Heyman even spoke about his desire to fire most of the roster and rebuild a younger product.
Carter obviously wasn’t going for that given how much she wanted to add Heyman to the team rather than give him full power. Heyman was never close to truly joining TNA since he had a lot of demands that Dixie clearly was not going to meet.
