WWE: Paul Heyman deserves blame, but Vince McMahon is still the most culpable
Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson told the truth about their release from WWE, and Paul Heyman did not come out of it looking good.
Now we know why Intercontinental Champion AJ Styles wanted to leave Raw for SmackDown and has such a low opinion of Paul Heyman. Styles’ former stablemates and real-life close friends Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson told the truth about their release from WWE on Talk’n Shop.
In their explanation, they focused on Heyman, who they figured out put their names on a list and told Vince McMahon that they wanted Gallows and Anderson gone from the company. Apparently Heyman’s logic was that they were getting paid more than they deserved. And this was after Heyman told them he had nothing to do with their release and was previously planning on making them champions. (And no, that was most likely never going to happen anyway.)
Heyman’s manipulative antics backstage are nothing new, unfortunately, but maybe the interview from Gallows and Anderson will help show younger talent, who seemed to have a good rapport with Heyman, that he can’t be trusted.
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Because at the end of the day, wrestlers, especially since they have no union, cannot just trust everything they hear from management. In this instance, Heyman is an example, but he has a smaller role to play than you think.
For starters, Heyman doesn’t decide who gets released. Vince does. So while Heyman appears to have lied to Gallows and Anderson and put the duo’s name on the list, Vince is in charge of who is hired and fired. He’s in charge of the finances.
So ultimately, he was the one who decided, “Yeah, we don’t need Gallows and Anderson anymore.”
Remember, WWE released wrestlers for the purpose of maintaining their high profit margins despite the pandemic.
They released their independent contractors during the pandemic even though they would have still made money. That was Vince’s call.
Furthermore, let’s refer to something else Gallows and Anderson spoke about. They referenced a meeting with Triple H in which Triple H convinced them to sign with WWE over AEW. He verbally told them that they need to think of their families and that AEW can’t guarantee they’ll be there for them. WWE can. Thus, WWE gave Gallows and Anderson a whole lot of money to stay.
Money that was never guaranteed. Because at the end of the day, WWE wasn’t there for them. And now Gallows and Anderson are in a different promotion, Impact Wrestling. To date, AEW hasn’t released anyone during the pandemic.
dark. Next. Nikki Cross is ready to be a champion
Paul Heyman deserves to be criticized for his role in the releases of Gallows and Anderson, who called him a “BS’er”. And they are far from the only ones who have called Heyman this.
Just remember who runs the whole ship and who ultimately OK’d the release. That man is Vince McMahon, and his son-in-law, Triple H, told the first lie when he said WWE would be there for the Good Brothers.