Paul Heyman Hilariously Ribs WrestleMania 36 On WWE SmackDown

Paul Heyman had a crafty little dig at last year's WrestleMania 36 on Friday's episode of SmackDown.

The WWE wordsmith argued with default GM Adam Pearce during the show's opening monologue - when Pearce said that Roman Reigns should defend the Universal Title inside the Elimination Chamber structure on 21 February, Heyman fired back with a pearler of a response.

He asked Pearce what he was going to do if Reigns didn't. Fire him during the run up to WrestleMania 37? How could he do that when last year's event was the "lowest-attended WrestleMania ever" solely because Roman wasn't there?

Genius.

Of course, 'Mania 36 suffered due to the then-new pandemic that was sweeping across the world. WWE retreated into their own in-house Performance Center for the "biggest show of the year", and spread the action across multiple nights to compensate.

Heyman used that as a bargaining chip on SmackDown, and it was hilarious. Arguing that 'Mania flopped at the gate because Roman wasn't around to sell tickets is tremendous heel banter, and it once again proves just how good Paul is on the mic.

Pearce's reaction to the line was also golden.