7 Ups & 4 Downs from WWE Raw (5 May - Results & Review)

2. A Justified Heel

The best heels are able to articulate justifications for their actions, to come across not as ranting and raving lunatics, but to use sound but slightly skewed logic to explain themselves.

Paul Heyman did a masterful job of this Monday night in the show-opening in-ring promo segment. Interrupting World Heavyweight Champion Jey Uso, Heyman went on a lengthy rant about CM Punk and Roman Reigns, dissecting how each of them wronged him.

The Wise Man pointed out that his best friend Punk put him in an impossible position heading into WrestleMania 41 by forcing him into Punk’s corner, guaranteeing that his relationship with Reigns would be sabotaged.

But Heyman saved most of his venom for Jey’s cousin. He said that he came across “a stray Big Dog on the Island of Irrelevancy” and built Roman up to become the Tribal Chief of WWE, taking credit for Reigns’ epic run as Undisputed WWE Universal Champion. Heyman blamed Roman for blowing it at WrestleMania 40 and then leaving him to get attacked by the new Bloodline.

And when Reigns finally returned to WWE, it wasn’t to avenge Heyman, but to recover his Ula Fala, which angered Paul E.

Just masterful stuff from Heyman here, grounding his rationale in WWE canon and providing fans with an explanation that make sense rather than some ridiculous story. He’s still a scumbag – despite his protestations – but at least there’s a basis for Heyman betraying his Tribal Chief and his best friend at Mania.