Paul Heyman On WWE Brand Split: "Wherever Brock Lesnar Goes Paul Heyman Goes"

WWE held a conference call Q and A with Paul Heyman to herald the release of information regarding this year's WWE 2K title, confirming his client Brock Lesnar will be the cover star as well as teasing lots of other details. Inevitably - because the guy's a champion talker - Heyman had a lot to say around the game, concerning the current state of WWE, NXT and his client.

Even more inevitably, the Brand Split came up repeatedly. Heyman assures fans that the split is not simply happenstance, that Vince McMahon has a plan and that it's only happening because he sees the roster as more than capable of furnishing his brands competitively.

Asked whether he'd like to have a client on both shows, and what would happen if he and Brock Lesnar were drafted to different shows, Heyman revealed he probably wouldn't be separated from his client:

"I doubt that my name would be thrown into the hat to be separate from Brock Lesnar. We're not a tag team: Brock Lesnar is an entity all unto himself, and I'm attached to that entity. I'm not a competitor, I'm certainly not a wrestler - I can't survive 30 seconds in a ring in any semblance of a way - it's just not what I do.""I am an advocate. I am exclusively Brock Lesnar's advocate so wherever Brock Lesnar goes, I would suggest that Paul Heyman goes with him."

More than once, he was also asked about the possibility of a behind the scenes role on Smackdown, given his history with the brand. Would there be something for Heyman as General Manager on Smackdown?

"Oh I certainly hope not. I am the most fortunate person in this industry today: my job is to speak about an athlete for whom superlatives come real easy for me. I am a fan both personally and professionally of Brock Lesnar. I'm very flattered by the publicity that I get - you know "Heyman's promos are this, or Heyman's promos are that" but Heyman's promos are built on a respect and an admiration that I have for Brock Lesnar.

General Manager is a role I had a blast with, but I would prefer to stay in the role that I have had for the past four years, which is to serve as the advocate for Brock Lesnar."

Later he was asked about writing for the show, and whether he was going to be lending a hand to the creative team:

"I don't think I'm in the consideration to be even close to the writing staff in today's WWE corporate environment. Nor have I requested to be on the writing staff in today's WWE environment. I have a primo gig: I serve as the advocate for Brock Lesnar and I happen to be able to do that on television as well, and I think WWE is best served with me in that role. The job of a writer in WWE is a very demanding job, I don't think it's for a father of two children who are just getting into their teenage years. It is a young man's job: 24/7, 365 commitment for as long as you can continue to match the work ethic of the chairman and that's a daunting task to begin with."

That much shouldn't be surprising, given his advocacy for Lesnar and how much he stresses the exclusivity of that deal (and the positivity he feels for it). But hearing him talk about the need for Smackdown to be a real competitor to Raw just makes it more of a shame he's not going to be involved in that sort of capacity.

"Smackdown has to come across as a brand that is truly competing with WWE Monday Night Raw. If the brand is not competitive with Raw in terms of talent, in terms of production, in terms of look, in terms of presentation, just in terms of which the announcers get to describe the product and the prestige of appearing on the show, then it's doomed."

Luckily, he seems to have no fears of that happening:

"But I don't see it going down that way. Vince McMahon is not known for doing things half-assed and I am sure that the directive within WWE is as of July 19th when this brand split or brand extension or the expansion of the two brands happens then there will be an equal and distinctive roster on each side and that the rosters are going to compete. And Vince thrives - much like Brock Lesnar - on competition and just like he did in 2002 when there's no-one out there competing with Vince McMahon, he'll create his own competition."

And what about the stars Smackdown could be built around?

"I think that all bets are off on July 19th as to who ends up on Smackdown and who ends up on Raw. I think one of the biggest components of this draft is going to be the NXT factor in that you're going to have a whole bunch of new opportunities for people to move up into the main event mix because just by the very nature of the fact that Raw's going to have an exclusive roster and Smackdown's going to have an exclusive roster, this opens up the possibilities for new people to rise to the top."We saw with the debut of The Shield a couple of years ago, you can get a lot of people into that mix very, very fast if they seize the moment of the opportunity that's given to them. July 19th - when this draft takes place - in my opinion is going to be opportunity knocking for a lot of great talent to be able to step into a major spotlight and become the face of WWE Smackdown, the face of Monday Night Raw.I can't actually sit here and tell you that I was a fan of the whole New Era concept, but in my opinion the new era begins on July 19th because from all indications that I've received, the desire is to have true competition between the two brands."

Across the conference call, Heyman also commented on Roman Reigns' recent setback, which earned him praise ("...the man took accountability for his actions, he said 'I have no excuses and I own this and that's the best advice I could give anybody in my life because it's the advice I give my own children."), and on Dean Ambrose's championship win:

"My reaction when Dean Ambrose won the world heavyweight championship was the same as my reaction when Seth Rollins won the world heavyweight championship, which is 'hey my beast, his conqueror, Brock Lesnar could beat this man for the championship."

As for what Brock Lesnar will be doing in future, could there be a possibility of The Rock v Brock Part II? "That's up to Dwayne Johnson." Lesnar has refused to duck anyone in his UFC return - hence the deal to fight as badass a fighter as Mark Hunt. "If Dwayne Johnson wants a piece of Brock Lesnar, Dwayne Johnson is welcome to step up and step into the ring with him." Does that mean the rumours that Vince McMahon wants the rematch at WrestleMania 33 might have some legs?

Of the current NXT and WWE rosters, Heyman picks out Randy Orton, Samoa Joe as exciting prospects to face Lesnar, saying too that the public aren't tried of seeing him face John Cena and that he'd love to see him face Dean Amrbose because he'd love to see Lesnar emerge with the belt.

"The reality in me tells me to tell you I'd like to see Brock Lesnar in the hunt for the WWE World Heavyweight championship and whoever holds that title coming out of Battleground on July 24th I would suggest that's who is in Brock Lesnar's scope when he returns to WWE."

Circling back on Samoa Joe and Balor, Heyman picked both out as guys on the NXT roster who could be set for big things, talking about how exciting the draft is going to be for fans looking to see the top level talents in NXT graduating to the main roster. But it will also be good for NXT too "because there's so much talent in NXT. And to even go further in that I think NXT demonstrates its own strength, because NXT is practically guaranteed to lose... its top tier ... in this draft or six months after the draft and yet no-one in NXT is sweating this because the depth of the roster in NXT is so deep with A level talent right now that it's just going to give a lot of people opportunity to move up to the top of the NXt roster as well."

And finally, when invited to talk about the parallels between CWC and ECW, Heyman was full of praise for the WWE adopting the cruiserweight division:

"I think the cruiserweight division has obviously expanded and it has evolved in the past 15 or 20 years... and I think it's like everything else in this industry or other sports or entertainment industries: it has to evolve or it withers and dies. So the cruiserweight division has upgraded and become a focal point - and I'm very happy to see that - in today's environment to the point that WWE, which was always described back back back in the day as being a Big Man Territory is doing an entire series on the cruiserweight division, because they acknowledge and embrace the fact that there's a huge audience for that style of sports entertainment."

Brock Lesnar fights Mark Hunt July 9th, and he will be back with WWE at SummerSlam on August 23rd.