Secret Power Players Pulling Strings In Wrestling Today
6. Paul Heyman
When WWE cools - and it will, no promotion stays hot forever - to whom will Ari Emanuel turn should he demote or outright let go of Paul Levesque?
TKO will not scout the independents for the next great wrestling mind for two reasons: there are few great booking minds within a scene that, the odd worthy promotion aside - Deadlock Pro, for example - is on its arse. TKO probably isn’t aware that these entities exist, even, as much as the Rock flat-out refuses to use the term “sports entertainment” when declaring that “professional wrestling is cool once again”. It’s not out of the realms of possibility that WWE opts for an action-adventure series show-runner. Wrestling is a weird place for creatives; it’s hardly a hotbed for new ideas nor an area in which true promotion is possible.
If you’re high up within TKO, and you assess the factors behind WWE’s boom, you look at Paul Heyman.
Cody Rhodes is WWE’s top full-time draw, a true needle-mover, but it was Paul Heyman who initiated the boom. Roman Reigns used his leverage as a top star to draw Heyman, already a key player through his association with Brock Lesnar, further into the inner sanctum of creative. Heyman, since 2020, has received an audition, of sorts, to all but run the top programme full-time.
Roman himself described WWE’s Performance Center pandemic output as “trash” and was wise enough to link up with Heyman - who unlike Vince McMahon was not completely out of his mind - to craft the Bloodline “saga”. This bold power play worked.
It might have worked to an extent neither Heyman nor Roman could foresee: Heyman, who has the best CV in modern wrestling, may at some point get the nod.