We don't see a lot of manager figures in wrestling these days, but Paul Heyman is making up for that in a big way. The influential promoter and ECW founder returned to WWE this past year and quickly was in the spotlight again, becoming manager to both CM Punk and Brock Lesner. With both of these superstars lined up for huge WrestleMania 29 matches Sunday, I spoke to Heyman about backing both men, whether there's a line you can cross as a heel and more.
IGN TV: You’re all over this WrestleMania. You’ve got an integral role in two major matches. I assume that’s got to be a lot of fun for you?
Paul Heyman: Yes, considering that I watched last year’s WrestleMania on an illegal pirated stream, to manage two of three main events at this year’s WrestleMania is quite an upgrade.
Paul Heyman
IGN: I watched Punk’s DVD, and I was really fascinated to see the backstory between the two of you and how you really backed him to the WWE. So how great was it for you to see him ascend and then for you to come in and join him in this whole storyline?
Heyman: An absolute career highlight. What an honor it is to work with him. I learn from him every time I get a chance to see him perform. He is as intense a performer and as driven and ambitious a performer as I’ve ever had the privilege of working with.
IGN: What was it you saw in him that at the time a lot of people weren’t seeing?
Heyman: I’m very uncomfortable with any label that I’m a visionary or I was a genius for seeing something in CM Punk that nobody else saw. I think it’s an indictment on the decision makers back in the middle of that decade that they didn’t see it in him. How can you see CM Punk and not understand immediately that you’re looking at a top-rank, number one, best in the world WrestleMania main eventer? I don’t understand how anybody could miss that. So just because I saw it, it’s no great credit to me. It’s to the discredit of those that didn’t.
CM Punk and Paul Heyman
IGN: The two of you have this great partnership right now and you are uber-heels in a way that we don’t see a lot these days. Is it interesting for you to go out there and ponder if there’s a line? “Can we keep pushing this?”
Heyman: We are the best of friends, and we get to revel in our role at the moment and enjoy pushing the envelope. It’s what I’ve done my whole career. And CM Punk has defied the odds since day one. They sent CM Punk to developmental for me to fire him. The RAW writers did not want him. The Smackdown writers had no vision for him. He only got on the main roster because I brought him with me to the new ECW. He wasn’t supposed to last, but he did. He wasn’t supposed to be WWE Champion, but he was for 434 days, the longest consecutive title reign of the past 25 years. He is not supposed to beat the Undertaker at WrestleMania. He’s not supposed to be in a main event at WrestleMania. CM Punk is not supposed to be a focal point of Monday Night RAW, but he is. He consistently defies the odds. So every single solitary day that CM Punk is in this industry, he’s pushing the envelope just by being there. So for us to have an opportunity to push the envelope, to go against the grain, to see how much we can piss people off, is a dream job and a dream career at the same time.
IGN: I have to think Paul Bearer would be loving all of this.
Heyman: Look at this way: there is a locker room full of Superstars that won’t get to make it onto WrestleMania this year. One of the focal points, the final segment of the last show of Monday Night Raw before WrestleMania, was all about Paul Bearer. How much more exposure can this man get? There are people who would do anything to have that type of exposure.
Paul Heyman and Brock Lesner
IGN: Meanwhile, what initially brought you back on TV was Brock coming back. What’s it like to work with him again after quite a few years?
Heyman: I’m managing two of the three main events at WrestleMania with my two best friends in the world in my hometown. I’m a very blessed man. Brock Lesnar is a once-in-a-lifetime athlete, the only man to hold the NCAA Division I Heavyweight Championship, the undisputed UFC Heavyweight Championship and undisputed WWE Heavyweight Championship. There is no one as physically gifted in the history of this industry or the history of UFC as Brock Lesnar is. There’s no one that’s ever come out of college wrestling that has such a diverse resume afterwards as Brock Lesnar. What a magnificent, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that I have to work with him.
IGN: You obviously have a different dynamic with these two guys, because for Brock you’re often saying a lot for him. CM Punk though is very much on the mic himself.
Heyman: It’s the best of all worlds for me. Brock Lesnar doesn’t like human beings, he doesn’t like to speak to people, because he doesn’t like people. So I get to speak for him. Therefore, I don’t really need to go out and find a real job. CM Punk, he’s just looking for some moral support, a buddy, a friend to hang out with, someone who can laugh at the absurdity of the things that he’s going to say and do. I learn from him. The teacher has become the student in that relationship, because I am just in awe of his presence inside the ring, whether he’s wrestling or articulating his viewpoint.
Continue to Page 2 as Heyman talks about whether he’d want to manage a third wrestler, Undertaker’s streak and what other matches he’s excited for at WrestleMania 29.
Source : ign[dot]com
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