Paul Heyman is the perfect piece to the Roman Reigns heel run

Sometimes somebody comes along in the realm of professional wrestling that is bigger than the industry itself; someone who has given to what many call a sport (this writer included), more than anyone else ever has. And even now in his role as Roman Reigns’ counsel, Paul Heyman is proving that he is in fact the perfect piece to the Roman Reigns heel run.

Paul Heyman can certainly be described as a genius in the industry and there is very good reason for that indeed.

Let’s take a deeper look at just why Paul Heyman is in fact the perfect counsel for Roman Reigns

What does it take to create a genius in professional wrestling? Can it be taught, or is it like any other talent in the arts: you’re just born with it?

The creative genius that is Paul Heyman and his rise in the industry

I recently wrote in a previous article about how important the creative side of professional wrestling undoubtedly is, and how it is often overlooked. Yet people like Paul Heyman don’t overlook this aspect and never have.

He has been special counsel to three men that need no introduction in recent years…all three having incredible heel runs with WWE, whether they ended in disaster or not. These three men have of course been Brock Lesnar, CM Punk, and now Roman Reigns. (But he’s managed many more, of course.)

His career started a lot further away on the history line of professional wrestling. Heyman started acquiring his business acumen at the age of 11 when he started a mail-order business out of his parent’s place.

The first time he walked into the wrestling business, he was still very young, labeling himself a photographer. He got in backstage at a WWWF event (WWE but when Vince’s father operated the business, and it was still part of the old NWA territory grid spanning North America).

Interestingly enough, he was even later hired by the infamous Studio 54 as a photographer, and at an early age as well. This led to him producing a show there called Wrestle Party 85. He called Jim Crockett for talent to attend, and this led to his career in professional wrestling. At the event, he met Ric Flair and many others.

And from then on, he was ‘in,’ as they say. He started the Dangerous Alliance in WCW and managed the likes of Rick Rude and Steve Austin and even “Mean” Mark Callous (The Undertaker) before leaving.

After trying to start a failed promotion with Jim Crockett Jr., he was brought into the eastern promotion of the NWA based out of Philadelphia known as Eastern Championship Wrestling (ECW), and well…the rest is history, to use the old cliché.

ECW became known as one of the greatest promotions of the nineties and the third wheel of the Monday Night Wars, and although that company would fall as well (like WCW), it had nothing to do with Heyman. He had an incredible ability to create successful angles and advise talent in the right direction, and always did.

ECW created legends like Tommy Dreamer, RVD, Sabu and the list most certainly goes on, and essentially, the promotion will never be forgotten.

He went on to work for WWE after ECW fell (in fact, Vince McMahon had already been subsidizing the promotion for years by that point).

And although his relationship with WWE hasn’t always been on good terms, Heyman made it work, and not only is he a prominent figure over there, but he is listened to, which isn’t always easy to accomplish in WWE—having the higher-ups listen.

He managed CM Punk at the tail end of Punk’s WWE career—an angle that led to a record-breaking title reign for Punk—an astonishing (for these days) 434-day reign. He then managed Brock Lesnar during what can certainly be called Lesnar’s greatest run in pro wrestling. He’d also managed him in his previous run with the company.

But what he has accomplished certainly goes way beyond the simple managing of wrestlers and running companies. Heyman advised in real life, behind the scenes, and his knowledge being imparted unto younger stars is priceless, and the wrestlers he works with would do good to listen to his words. This brings us to the Head of the Table, Roman Reigns.

Roman Reigns’ struggle to get to the top and the benefits of his having Paul Heyman

Roman Reigns has had an incredible run in WWE thus far. He is definitely one of the big names in the industry today, but he wasn’t always as confident and as ‘over’ as he is these days.

Reigns—out of the three members of The Shield faction—was the quietest one.

Yeah, he’s Dwayne Johnson’s cousin, but in no way does that mean that he inherited Johnson’s extroverted persona. Reigns was quiet, somber, brooding even, and getting him to come out of his shell was darn near impossible. In a verbal altercation before No Mercy (2017), Cena even broke the fourth wall to force Roman out of that bubble he put himself in, as I’ve written about previously.

And in wrestling, sometimes you have people like that, that aren’t as great on the microphone, or as extroverted as I stated. So what do you do?

You give them a mouthpiece and in walks Paul Heyman.

Heyman has revitalized Roman Reigns’ persona and in so many ways.

Let me ask you a question, dear readers: How powerful does someone look when someone is always talking for them?

Well…that’s the shtick here, folks. And it did wonders for Reigns. He is enjoying a run that perhaps he would never have even had if it wasn’t for Paul Heyman being by his side; no disrespect to Reigns, as he works hard and always has. The only criticism is that he was a tad too introverted…a problem that Heyman has indeed rectified for sure, friends.

It’ll be interesting to see where they go from here and to see if the rumors of Brock Lesnar’s return are true, then who will Paul Heyman go on with? Questions…questions, questions….