8 Most Powerful Backstage Politicians In Wrestling History

4. Paul Heyman

Paul Heyman won in the end.

Older fans probably have difficulty reconciling it, but Paul Heyman outlasted Vince McMahon as a creative force in WWE.

Heyman was a seven-star backstabber, as manipulative as anybody in wrestling ever - and if a good politician is able to inspire cult-level devotion from their followers, Heyman was a brilliant politician. He was able to convince several wrestlers that they were idols in a fabled scene with the power to change the very world - and not drastically underpaid, if they were lucky enough to even cash the cheque.

He was an incredible campaigner, too, if you believe pro wrestling apocrypha: Heyman is alleged to have written to various newsletters under pseudonyms and using burner accounts to defend or endorse Extreme Championship Wrestling as a “fan”.

Politicians are often accused of barely doing anything, and letting other people do the hard work as they’re thrown “under the bus”; Heyman was accused of asking Tommy Dreamer to hold meetings with potential sponsors as ECW died a slow death in early 2001. At the exact same time, Heyman was making plans to defect to another party (WWE).

Politicians also accuse their peers of “playing politics” while indulging in the exact same behaviour themselves; Heyman was an expert at this, casting the WWF and WCW as villains on the same TV product on which he buried them to depict ECW as a counterculture revolution.

Heyman was, initially, poor at the game when making the move to WWE. He was twice ousted by Vince McMahon (in 2002 and 2006) after challenging his ideas with zero in the way of dark arts tact.

But then, Heyman did what the most successful politicians do: he joined up with powerful allies in Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman, partnerships that allowed him into the big picture creative process.

Heyman is now an invaluable part of WWE’s creative process.