Paul Heyman Recalls Meeting Roman Reigns
Paul Heyman recently appeared on The Roku Channel’s The Rich Eisen Show, where he talked about a number of topics, such as getting inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, meeting Roman Reigns and working with him, and more.
Being active in the industry since 1986, Heyman has had an illustrious career as a professional wrestling manager, promoter, and executive. It was announced in March that Heyman will be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame on April 5, 2024. As for whether he’s got a speech prepared, Heyman said that he doesn’t, because he is going to “just wing it.”
“No, I’m going to figure this out as we go along. I’m going to take the pulse of the room that night. I’m going to wing this, because I don’t know really what the crowd itself is expecting from me. Is this a crowd that wants me to talk about the modern-day WWE, Roman Reigns, The Bloodline, the WrestleMania main event of Roman Reigns versus Cody Rhodes? Is this a crowd that in Philadelphia wants to talk about ECW? Is this a crowd that’s looking for some inspiration in a speech about pursuing one’s own dreams? I really won’t know until I take the temperature of the room that night, and as you know better than I, you always have to know your audience.”
Paul Heyman Says The Bloodline Story Could Have Some Extra Innings
Speaking about Roman Reigns, whom Heyman manages alongside The Bloodline on SmackDown, he said that Reigns would be the greatest star in the industry regardless of the generation he was in.
Paul Heyman also recalled his first meeting with Roman Reigns, revealing that The Tribal Chief was only 3 years old at the time:
“I first met Roman Reigns when he was three years old and his father Sika of the Wild Samoans brought him into the locker room at Panama City, Florida. Even at three years old, he had so much charisma. I thought he was going to become a child star like Ron Howard or whomever. Roman had so much charisma even at three years old. You look into his eyes and say, ‘Oh my god this kid’s a star and he’s three years old!’ He just had that intangible It Factor. You knew you were in the presence of someone or something special even though it’s a three-year-old kid running around.”
Heyman also spoke about how the partnership of him and Reigns came about together. While Heyman was with Brock Lesnar, a golden opportunity presented itself when the pandemic hit and Lesnar took time away from the WWE.
“Well, Roman and I had been talking about working together for many, many years. The timing was never right in that WWE was presenting him as The Big Dog, as the big hero, this WrestleMania main-eventer to follow in the steps of John Cena.
“And I was the advocate for Brock Lesnar, and just leaving that position would have been insane. I also then became the executive director of Monday Night Raw. Now the pandemic hits and Brock Lesnar wraps up his time in WWE and he goes off to Saskatchewan to hunt and kill whatever he puts on the family’s dinner plates.
“The entire landscape of sports and entertainment and sports entertainment was changing, and Roman Reigns had taken time off because his wife had given birth to another set of twin boys, and also because of the pandemic and his health concerns regarding staying safe for his family during this unfathomable health crisis that was gripping the entire world. So in August 2020 when I’m Brock Lesnar-free, I’m no longer the executive director of Raw, so I’m in the ocean of obscurity at that point, and Roman Reigns agrees to come back to WWE if he’s allowed to portray himself, and we get a chance to work together. He rescued me from the ocean of obscurity, pulled me onto the island of relevancy with him, and we have been together ever since.”
Heyman had previously said that The Bloodline was in only in the third inning, and speaking about that, Heyman said that there may be many extra innings in store for the faction.
“Every time I talk about innings, it gets shoved up my tuchus. Also, I’ve kind of gotten away now from baseball analogies because I’ve learned in my experience that baseball is fake.
“So whatever inning that we’re in, we’re dominating that inning, and it’s a game that I would suggest may go into many extra innings as well. And some of that, we have to give credit to The Final Boss, Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, for adding a whole new set of layers, and therefore innings, to the story of the Bloodline.”
