WWE Rivals: Paul Heyman in New A&E Biography Show

Brock Lesnar finally had the pleasure of taking revenge on… SummerSlam.

A detailed, nuanced and action-packed storyline came to an end on Saturday night, and Lesnar’s cathartic moment finally happened when he punched Paul Heyman on the announcer’s table with an F5. Heyman was his longtime on-screen advisor (or, as Heyman would say, “lawyer”). For years, if you were to see Lesnar, the next person in your peripheral vision would undoubtedly be Heyman.

While still close behind the scenes, their on-screen story changed six months ago when Heyman swore his allegiance to Roman Reigns instead of Lesnar. It was satisfying to watch Lesnar finally wrap up his story with Heyman, which was immediately followed by the violent ending of the Lesnar-Reigns program. There was a reason Reigns speared Lesnar right after hitting the F5 on Heyman; ever the opportunist, Reigns seized the moment when Lesnar was distracted, then he and his Bloodline brothers Jimmy and Jey Uso embarked on their beating and the string of false finishes that ended SummerSlam in a dramatic way.

Reigns was victorious in that Last Man Standing match, meaning Heyman was, of course, too. That’s a storyline that spills over into real life. Entering his fifth decade in pro wrestling, Heyman has built a distinct legacy. He laid the groundwork for his future as a vastly underrated manager at WCW, later returning to an evolved version of the role, most notably with Lesnar and Reigns. He has found success – and yes, plenty of controversy – at every stop along the way, carving out an iconic legacy as the Chief Operating Officer of Extreme Championship Wrestling in the mid-1990s. That will be the reason for Heyman’s performance this Sunday at A&E’s WWE Rivalswhere he will share a perspective unlike any other WWE-WCW battle during the famous “Monday Night Wars” era.

Heyman played an integral part in that fight, but it wasn’t because he aired a competitive show on Monday night. Often you couldn’t find ECW on the air until two or three in the morning. Long before DVR, there was a leap of faith to trust your VCR to record as it was programmed in the hope that you would witness an uncut, uncensored and extreme version of professional wrestling.

“What was it like to compete in the most hyper-competitive environment in the history of this industry?” says Heymans. “With absolutely no sponsors, no advertisers, no major backers or trust funds behind me? It was exciting.”

ECW has been a constant factor in determining the hot hand in the weekly WWE-WCW battle for wrestling supremacy. That was partly because it initially seemed that the talent imported from ECW would influence the ratings. When Public Enemy and Sabu signed to WCW, or when “The Franchise” Shane Douglas left for greener pastures and had the chance to capitalize on Vince McMahon’s brilliant mind, there was no doubt that ECW’s slow death came sooner than expected. . Yet an unexpected turn of events shaped the entire next generation of pro wrestling. It wasn’t just the wrestlers who Monday night Raw–nitro fighting, but rather the attitude. ECW, led by Heyman and a phenomenally talented, evolving roster, pushed the industry to its limits. In terms of content and athleticism, ECW still stands as the blueprint for every major wrestling promotion in North America, especially WWE and AEW.

“My role was not to be a dollar-for-dollar competitor,” Heyman says. “My role was to be the disruptor, the catalyst for change in the company. I understood it. I also understood that history would see ECW as a business, not a company, and eventually we would fall victim to that designation and stigma because it would become a self-fulfilling prophecy. It was impossible that we would ever survive fighting two billion dollar corporations with no money, no muscles and no mouthpiece. All we had were balls, bulls and bravado.

“In my 35 years as an orator, I haven’t found a better sound bite than Bubba Ray Dudley, who said we were Napster. We were not meant to survive. We were meant to disrupt. We were a business, an organization whose ideas are still being implemented and exploited and from which the industry benefits. That’s who we were, the disruptors, with a Faustian zeal, of an entire generation.”

There is no shortage of “Paul Heyman Guys” in wrestling, with Steve Austin and The Undertaker leading the way. Still, it would be hard to find anyone more closely associated with Heyman on screen than Lesnar or now Reigns, a combination that has exceeded all expectations.

“I understand the level of greatness that both men can achieve,” Heyman says. “I’ve had the easiest job for the last 20 years. Look who I can hype. But as much as I hype them up, I still promise too little and they still deliver too much.”

If Lesnar and Reigns were ever to step into a time machine with now 56-year-old Heyman, somehow travel back to the future and land in Philadelphia – a city that knows a thing or two about being revolutionary – in front of a rabid crowd in the ECW Arena in April 1997, Heyman believes there would have been only limitless possibilities for in-ring magic on the screen.

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“Rob Van Dam could have hung out with them, or anyone for that matter,” Heyman says. “I think Taz was a compelling character who could believably hang with anyone. The Dudleys can get along with anyone.”

ECW’s biggest misconception is that it was all blood, guts and nudity. While these were all prominent hallmarks of the brand, it would never have lasted if there had only been style without substance. The backbone of ECW has been wrestling, whether presented by Rey Mysterio, Dean Malenko, Chris Jericho, Tommy Dreamer, Too Cold Scorpio, Bam Bam Bigelow, Mick Foley, Mikey Whipwreck, The Great Sasuke, Lance Storm, Psicosis or the aforementioned stars such as Van Dam, the Dudleys, Sabu and Taz. That gave the promotion a pulse, a justification for all the wrestling fans who had become frustrated with a product that no longer appealed to them. And ECW wouldn’t have been – and couldn’t have been – ECW without the legendary, timeless Funk, who would have made a masterpiece against Reigns of Lesnar.

“Terry Funk was a very different style,” Heyman says. “He was a genius at executing the vision and expectations of the audience he performed for. The bar, the standard for classic professional wrestling, in terms of wrestling, remains Flair vs. Steamboat and the Briscos vs. the Funks. While Terry Funk’s reputation is lauded for his wild antics, he was also one of the great mat technicians of his day who could credibly play 60 minutes with Jack Brisco anywhere in the world. And when Terry Funk was paired up with Jack Brisco, that was the feat he delivered. When Terry Funk was paired up with Harley Race, you saw a dejected, bald-boned brawl. When Terry Funk was paired with Ric Flair, you saw Terry Funk’s wild man antics against the purity and fluidity and finesse of Ric Flair.

“What Terry Funk was good at was understanding what people were paying for. He did not define a specific role. He controlled them all. So anyone against Terry Funk would be great because he would make it great.”

There is no known way to travel through time, but there is an attractive alternative. Heyman’s presence on Sunday rivals will provide an illuminating view of the past, present and future of professional wrestling, all through the lens of his most advanced mind.

“I’m going to shed light on some of the history that A&E does a biographyh on,” says Heyman. “So far I have been blown away by the quality and story told on this A&E biographies. I answered truthfully for historical purposes, and much to A&E’s credit, they’ve hired some top flight directors to present these stories.

A fascinating topic for the show is Heyman’s 1997 collaboration with WWE, which led to a memorable edition of Monday night Raw and the introduction of Van Dam as “Mr. Monday Night.” By separating fact and fiction, Heyman made it clear that his time as partner of Vince McMahon came with its own set of risks for ECW.

“The understanding I had with Vince in ’97 didn’t stop him from competing with us, or us from competing with him,” Heyman says. “There was just an understanding that if an aggressive move was made, I would at least be notified in advance that it would be made. I got the same tips in WCW through Kevin Sullivan. When Sullivan ran out of power, those tips stopped. Then they just aggressively came after talent signing bonuses instead of a phone call to let us know they’re ready. That was the heads up I would get from WWE. It was, ‘Hey, we’re interested in this person. How can we make sure this doesn’t harm your business?’ That was a courtesy of Vince McMahon to ECW. But it was still all business, and ideas and concepts and talent could be raided.”

Heyman’s longevity is remarkable, as is his ability to tell a story. The two irrevocably connect with each other and that can be seen this weekend. Just days after Lesnar, Reigns, Heyman, The Usos and referee Chad Patton received a standing ovation backstage from their colleagues on SummerSlam out of genuine appreciation for the classic competition that was presented, viewers now have the opportunity to learn how the past has become the present. While the ovation backstage was a topic Heyman wouldn’t discuss, he won’t hold back this Sunday rivals.

“These episodes are of such high quality,” Heyman says. “If they aren’t nominated for Emmys, something is wrong here.”

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Justin Barrasso can be reached at JBarrasso@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @JustinBarrasso.

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