WWE Hall of Famer Paul Heyman spoke with Justin Barrasso of Undisputed on a number of topics, including seeing fellow WWE Hall of Famer Stone Cold Steve Austin for the first time in WCW.
Heyman said, “Steve already had problems with his knees. Yet, when he got into the ring early in the day and started hitting the ropes, with a velocity I’ve only seen from two other people –- one being Brock Lesnar, the other being Bron Breakker. I looked over at Jim Ross and said, ‘This is it.’ I could see he was going to be an enormous star in this industry. And I still remember Jim saying, ‘Just look at him. Of course he is.’”
On seeing similar potential in Roman Reigns:
“I never wanted credit for saying so early that Steve Austin was going to be ‘The Man’ in the industry. I always thought it was to everyone else’s discredit that they didn’t see it. It’s no different now. I don’t know that I deserve credit for seeing what Roman Reigns had to offer. It’s to everyone else’s detriment that they didn’t.”
On how he and Reigns started working together:
“Roman Reigns and I had been discussing this for quite a bit of time before it actually happened. I’d had such a long run with Brock Lesnar, and neither Roman nor I wanted something that was merely going to be a bridge to the next step in our bodies of work. We were looking for a professional marriage, similar to what I had with Brock Lesnar. So we were always judicious in our planning because we knew this wouldn’t be a short-term relationship; we wanted a partnership to last the rest of our careers.”
