Paul Heyman recently appeared as a guest on The Rich Eisen Show for an in-depth interview covering all things pro wrestling. During the discussion, Heyman commented on if knows what he will say in his WWE Hall of Fame induction speech:
“I’m going to take the pulse of the room that night. I’m going to wing this because I don’t really know what the crowd itself is expecting from me. Is this a crowd that wants me to talk about the modern day WWE and Roman Reigns and the Bloodline and the WrestleMania main event, Roman Reigns versus Cody Rhodes? Is this a crowd that, you know, in Philadelphia, wants to talk about ECW? Is this a crowd that’s looking for some inspiration in a speech about pursuing one’s own dreams, etc, etc. I really won’t know until I take the temperature of the room that night. As you know better than I, you always have to know your audience. So once I feel the crowd, I’ll pretty much know what I have to do to deliver for them.”
If Roman Reigns would have been a star in any generation:
“Roman Reigns would be the greatest star in the industry, no matter what generation he came from.”
On Biography: WWE Legends featuring Roman Reigns on A&E airing on March 31:
“The biography of Roman Reigns is an interesting situation because it speaks to the persona and the character of Joe Anoa’i, who is Roman Reigns, because when they approached us, he did not want it to be like any other A&E biography. So the first thing that he demanded was that I direct it and produce it so that it has a different feel to it, so that it captures the core of the man as well as the character and the persona. So our approach was not only, as we do with everything to produce and present, what we hope is the greatest biography that’s ever been seen on A&E, you know, lofty goals admitted, or something that’s worthy of an Emmy if the Emmy Awards would get their heads out of their asses and actually take a look at the work that we’ve been doing together. But also just to present, if you’re a WWE fan, this is what we feel the quintessential, the ultimate, the disruptive, the state of the art biography, and if you’re not a WWE fan, you’ve never heard of the tribal chief Roman Reigns, that this biography is so compelling that you’re riveted by it and you tune in and go down the rabbit hole because you’re so compelled to watch this story.”
On The Rock returning to WWE:
“The most brilliant move Dwayne Johnson has as has ever made is to is to jump on this runaway train of success that all started in August 2020 when Roman Reigns had an opportunity to come back as the Tribal Chief and lift sports entertainment itself, the entire industry out of the pandemic into unfathomable heights to where WWE is part of a $21 billion merger with UFC and Endeavor creating TKO Holdings Group. The Rock sees the success and The Rock sees the global enormity of the success of WWE led by Roman Reigns, and The Rock now brings his considerable star power and his team and his efforts and all that goes with being Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, the single biggest box office attraction in movies today to WWE. To me, it’s yet another merger. Just like WWE and UFC, it’s now the Roman Reigns-lead WWE product and all that comes with The Rock being the biggest movie star in the world and you merge those two universes and now you have a multiverse.”
You can check out the complete interview below:
(h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription)
