The Many Faces Of Paul Heyman - Ranked From Worst To Best

9. Return To Management

Paul Heyman
WWE.com

After a brief stint as SmackDown GM, Heyman returned to WWE television as a manager in 2004, reuniting with The Dudley Boyz. Their early days were spent convincing The Undertaker to join them, with the Dudleyz kidnapping Paul Bearer along the way. This ultimately led to Bearer being buried in concrete at The Great American bash, and while this seemingly put an end to the beef between ‘Taker and the Dudleyz, Heyman’s distaste for ‘The Deadman’ endured.

In what would turn out as one of the worst feuds of his career, Undertaker started a rivalry with Heidenreich, who recruited Paul as his manager. ‘The Phenom’ was victorious at Survivor Series, and the story eventually brought them to a casket match at the Royal Rumble, though Paul was written out before then. An episode of SmackDown saw Heyman abandoned by his client, then locked in a casket. He vanished from TV thereafter, and didn’t return until the following year.

While not without its highlights, this period is undoubtedly dragged down by the Heidenreich story, which not only suffered from the rookie’s greenness, but the fact that he was never presented as a credible threat. Unfortunately, this spell did nothing for Heyman’s career.

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Andy has been with WhatCulture for eight years and is currently WhatCulture's Wrestling Channel Manager. A writer, presenter, and editor with 10+ years of experience in online media, he has been a sponge for all wrestling knowledge since playing an old Royal Rumble 1992 VHS to ruin in his childhood. Having previously worked for Bleacher Report, Andy specialises in short and long-form writing, video presenting, voiceover acting, and editing, all characterised by expert wrestling knowledge and commentary. Andy is as much a fan of 1985 Jim Crockett Promotions as he is present-day AEW and WWE - just don't make him choose between the two.