The Many Faces Of Paul Heyman - Ranked From Worst To Best
6. SmackDown General Manager
2003 saw Heyman become SmackDown’ General Manager when Stephanie McMahon was forced to resign after losing to Vince at No Mercy. While Steph had played a fan favourite, Paul’s role was far closer to Eric Bischoff’s on Raw, and he became an arrogant tyrant of a boss, regularly stacking the odds against the brand’s babyfaces, while favouring the heels.
He re-aligned with Lesnar, and blocked the Undertaker, John Cena, and Chris Benoit from receiving title shots. Before long, Paul had made an enemy of almost everybody on the roster, which came back to bite him the night before WrestleMania XX. Heyman asked the entire SD locker-room to help him and Lesnar against Steve Austin, but each and every one of them walked away, leaving the duo to fend for themselves.
Paul resigned from his role after being sent to Raw in the 2004 draft lottery, and was replaced by Kurt Angle. Though Heyman is rightly revered for his time as SmackDown’s lead writer, his GM stint was relatively unspectacular. It did, however, keep one of WWE’s most entertaining on-air personalities on our screens, and felt like an apt reward for the good work he was putting in behind the scenes.