10 Most Uncanny Predictions Ever Made About Wrestling
8. Paul Heyman Predicts The Rise Of Steve Austin
If mainstream wrestling had listened more carefully to Paul Heyman, in 1995, it might not have had to ring up high schools in the north eastern United States in a request to stage its shows.
"When the year 2000 arrives," Paul Heyman wrote for WCW magazine in 1991, "this man will singlehandedly dominate the sport".
"This man" was Stone Cold Steve Austin, and Heyman - naturally apprehensive about the ability of WCW to build him - was actually two years late. Austin had evolved into a megastar by 1998, and the use of "singlehandedly" wasn't just Heyman indulging his brand of hyperbole. Austin was the player around which the WWF orbited at its very peak of popularity, so much so that it's easy to forget how many forced, regurgitated go-throughs he had to endure with the Undertaker and Kane.
Heyman didn't just pinpoint the man behind the next boom; with ECW, he pioneered the backdrop against which the piss-funny sh*t-kicker would flourish.
Proving just how arrogant and detached WWE truly is, they didn't even respect Heyman after Austin broke big; his better and more popular SmackDown was resented by WWE in 2002. Even now, he is the key architect behind the Roman Reigns mega-push.
A spoiler, not a prediction indeed.