10 Times WWE Nepotism CRUSHED Hot Angles
3. He’s Mr. Perfect’s Kid Though!
It's understandable that WWE viewed Paul Heyman as a managerial miracle worker by 2013. After all, he'd coached Brock Lesnar to the top of the mountain, and worked a memorable double act alongside CM Punk after that. Both of those guys could be considered generational talents though.
Curtis Axel, meanwhile, was a midcard act (at best) playing potential headliner just because he happened to be 'Mr. Perfect' Curt Hennig's son and now aligned with Heyman. There was a clear disconnect, but Paul E branching out to work with clients other than Brock and Punk should've been stunning.
The story certainly had legs, but creative took a sledgehammer to those by forcing the Axel issue. You can't go from Michael McGillicutty to credible champion overnight, Paul Heyman's expertise or not. WWE found that out the hard way, and their heavy-handed nepotism approach outright failed to catch fire the way they wanted it to.
This was a low point in Heyman's career as an "Advocate".