Paul Heyman

Paul Heyman
Paul Heyman on a 2014 Raw edition.
Data
Surname	Paul Heyman
Ring name	Paul Heyman Paul E. Dangerously
Additions to names	The Advocate The GodFather Of ECW
birth	September 11, 1965 Westchester County , New York
debut	1986

Paul Heyman (born September 11, 1965 in Scarsdale , New York ) is an American wrestling manager , promoter and television commentator. He became known through his work at Extreme Championship Wrestling in the mid-1990s , which he brought to national recognition in the USA through innovative ideas.

Heyman is currently under contract with the WWE .

Wrestling career

Beginnings

Heyman made his debut on March 18, 1985 at Northeast Independent Circuit . He then worked for various organizations, such as B. Florida Championship Wrestling , Continental Wrestling Association, and the American Wrestling Association .

World Championship Wrestling (1988–1993)

In 1988, Heyman began working for the new NWA World Championship Wrestling promotion run by Ted Turner . There he took on the role of manager of the original Midnight Express . He then also worked as a commentator alongside Jim Ross . After a short break, Heyman became the manager of the Dangerous Alliance team in 1991 , which consisted of Bobby Eaton , Rick Rude , Arn Anderson , Steve Austin and Larry Zbyszko . The Dangerous Alliance dominated the action in the WCW and had their biggest feud programs with Sting , Ricky Steamboat , Nikita Koloff , Barry Windham , Dustin Rhodes and the Steiner Brothers ( Scott and Rick Steiner ). At the end of 1992 Heyman left the WCW in a dispute with the then chief booker Eric Bischoff .

Extreme Championship Wrestling (1993-2001)

Paul Heyman at an ECW event in 1999.

In 1993 he was hired by NWA Eastern Championship Wrestling as a booker. Heyman and Shane Douglas in particular were responsible for the ECW leaving the National Wrestling Alliance in 1994 and renaming itself to Extreme Championship Wrestling .

In 1996 he acquired the ECW from owner Tod Gordon. Under Heyman's direction, the organization became one of the most popular wrestling promotions. Heyman shaped the ECW through hardcore wrestling and superstars such as Shane Douglas , Tommy Dreamer , Raven , The Sandman , Cactus Jack , Terry Funk , Sabu , Mikey Whipwreck and Taz and later Eddie Guerrero , Chris Benoit , Dean Malenko and Rey Mysterio . Despite the great success, the doctorate developed into a financial failure and had to file for bankruptcy in 2001.

World Wrestling Entertainment (since 2001)

Manager of Brock Lesnar and SmackDown General Manager (2001-2004)

After the bankruptcy, Heyman went to World Wrestling Entertainment . There he was active as a commentator for RAW until November 2001 . In addition, he was also the founder of an ECW table, which later formed an alliance with the WCW faction led by Shane McMahon.

In March 2002 he was employed as a manager , that is, as a ring companion for Brock Lesnar . He helped this, among other things, to the Undisputed Championship . After that, Heyman and Lesnar were separated. Both played a steel cage match , which Lesnar won .

Heyman was subsequently appointed general manager of the WWE show SmackDown . At the WWE Draft Lottery on March 22, 2004, he switched to RAW, but he did not want to work for Eric Bischoff , whom he described as one of the reasons for the downfall of the ECW (Bischoff had poached several ECW stars as WCW president) left the WWE. In the course of 2004 he was used again at SmackDown as manager of the Dudley Boyz (D-Von Dudley and Bubba Ray Dudley) as well as by Heidenreich in the shows.

The Return of ECW and Termination of Contract (2005-2006)

Paul Heyman at an ECW event (2006).

In June 2005 Heyman was involved in what was originally a one-off WWE Major Event (PPV), the ECW One Night Stand . There he appeared again in the role of chiefly responsible for the ECW and, after the success of the pay-per-view with Vince McMahon , managed to hold an ECW One Night Stand in 2006 as well .

In June 2006, the WWE announced that there would be a comeback for the ECW as a weekly show, this time not as a separate show, but as a roster of the WWE. The first show took place on June 13th, two days after the PPV ECW One Night Stand . From then on Heyman was sold to the public as general manager of ECW.

In August 2006 Heyman won an Extreme Rules match against Sabu after Big Show and Hardcore Holly intervened in his favor. This broke up between Heyman and Sabu and Rob Van Dam .

After a dispute with the owner of the WWE, Vince McMahon , about the interpretation of the new ECW as a WWE roster, Paul Heyman was given leave of absence on December 3, 2006, after the major event December to Dismember . Then Stephanie McMahon had offered him to take over the leadership of the WWE Junior League Ohio Valley Wrestling . But Heyman had meanwhile largely lost interest in active wrestling business, so he ultimately turned down this lucrative offer and in September 2007 prematurely terminated his WWE contract.

In an interview with the English newspaper The Sun on February 4, 2008, Heyman explained the reasons for his leave of absence: The concept of wrestling between Vince McMahon and him is fundamentally different. In his opinion, differences of opinion would be an asset to the wrestling business, but Vince McMahon ultimately found legitimate reviews to be a personal attack. Both sides would have spoken out in favor of a leave of absence.

Return as manager of Brock Lesnar (since 2012)

Paul Heyman as Brock Lesnar's advocate at the 2013 WrestleMania 29 event.

In 2010, Heyman negotiated with TNA President Dixie Carter to start her PhD. However, the deal failed due to differing views on Heyman's balance of power. In the May 7, 2012 issue, Heyman returned to WWE Raw as Representative Brock Lesnars on WWE TV and then feuded with him against Triple H until SummerSlam . At that time he also became the manager of CM Punk ; this collaboration was ended at the big event Money In The Bank 2013 and led to a feud against it until November 2013. During this time Heyman also acted as manager of Brock Lesnar, Curtis Axel and Ryback . The business relationship with the latter two ended at the same time as the feud with CM Punk. He then became the manager of Cesaro . However, the partnership with Cesaro ended quite early. Heyman then only devoted himself to managerial work for Lesnar, who with him at his side won the WWE Championship title from John Cena at the 2014 Summer Slam .

Outside of wrestling

In 2002 Heyman played a role as a sports announcer in the film Rollerball . He owns a marketing company called Looking 4 Larry . After his termination, Heyman tried to invest in MMA and to take over the MMA promotion Strikeforce (a competition league to the UFC ) with a consortium , but failed. Since February 18, 2008, Heyman has published an Internet column called Heyman Hustle , which he runs in the manner of a video blog. This can be seen on The Sun, among others.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Paul Heyman in The Rise + Fall of ECW , 2004
2. ↑ http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/wrestling/heyman/article762131.ece
3. ↑ Power Wrestling , March 2008, p. 7

Web links

Commons : Paul Heyman  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

• Paul Heyman's profile on wwe.com
• Heyman Hustle Official Website