Paul Heyman Blames WWE For Undershipping His DVD

Heyman speaks with WhatCulture's Grahame Herbert on WWE DVD performance.

By Grahame Herbert /

Paul Heyman has blamed the WWE for not shipping enough copies of his DVD last year. Heyman's DVD was not even in the top five most shipped video titles for last year. Surprisingly, the animated Slam City was the second most shipped DVD of 2014. I wondered if this said something about the WWE's audience. It is depressing that a quality production like the Heyman documentary is outperformed by a kids animation series. I contacted Paul directly to get his take on this. "Nothing to do with the audience," Paul replied. "The DVD was dramatically underestimated and undershipped. Once stores like Best Buy sold out, they were never replenished. Hundreds of complaints on this very timeline. They underestimated and then never addressed the "discovered" demand." "On this issue, I cannot ADVOCATE any defense 4 them. Missed opportunity. Happens in every company. Happened in this one." Heyman is right to be frustrated at the lack of shipping. It was clear that his DVD would sell strongly, if given the opportunity. Just look at how the 2005 Rise And Fall DVD performed, how could WWE not realise that a Heyman DVD could perform the same way? The company never gave it a chance, and their lack of shipping resulted in fans being unable to find the product in shops. Several fans on social media have confirmed that the Heyman DVD was unavailable in shops and online when they tried to buy it. A media buyer at Best Buy also confirmed that they never got stock replenishment. It's a shame because the Heyman DVD was one of the best releases in living memory. The documentary was fantastic and you can read my review of it here. WWE really need to smarten up and support their DVD business better. The WWE Network is already making it difficult for hard copy sales to take place. So when a great product like the Heyman DVD comes along, the company really needs to support it with appropriate shipping. Something like Slam City should never be outperforming Paul Heyman. The most shipped video titles of the last nine months were WrestleMania XXX (158,000), Slam City (100,000), Ultimate Warrior: Ultimate Collection (94,00), Best of Sting (73,000) and WCW's Greatest Pay-Per-View Matches Vol. 1 (53,000).