Kemo
08-30-2017, 03:33 PM
Ex-WWE official Bruce Prichard took to his podcast, Something To Wrestle With, to discuss the rise of Paul Heyman in the WWE. During the show Prichard discussed why Heyman was removed as head-writer of SmackDown, his dislike for John Cena’s early rapper gimmick, Heyman aligning himself with Brock Lesnar, and how The McMahons offended Heymen when he visited their vacation home. Here are the highlights:
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Removing Paul Heyman as head-writer of SmackDown:
“He didn’t make deadlines. He’d be late for Vince’s meetings. It was a combination of things that Paul was almost begging to be off of the team and begging to just be a talent and not have to worry about writing the show from week-to-week because writing the show from week-to-week also came with heat.” Prichard recalled, “Paul argued at every chance he got! Paul and Vince were oil and water and Paul just didn’t know when to quit!
“You would think it was over, and then you’d get [imitating Heyman], ‘allow me one more volley, sir.’ There had to just be some point when Vince said, ‘I’m done. No more. I’m done. I don’t want to see him anymore. I don’t want to hear him anymore. I don’t want him on the plane anymore. I don’t want him in the writers’ meeting anymore. I’m done.’ As far as having a five-year no-cut contract, I don’t know of anybody that had a no-cut contract at any time.”
Disliking John Cena’s rapper gimmick:
“To quote Paul Heyman, ‘you put the rap gimmick on Cena and you will kill John Cena’s career. Paul felt that the rap gimmick was going to be the death knell of John Cena and that it would stereotype him and pigeonhole him and he would never be able to work his way out of it. Hated the idea, went to Cena and told Cena, ‘they’re killing your career’, ‘don’t do it’, ‘it’s going to be bad’. And [Heyman] went to Vince and told Vince it’s going to kill [Cena] and the fact that Paul petitioned so hard against it probably helped Vince [decide], ‘yeah, let’s try it.’ And I think it worked out alright for him.”
Aligning himself with Brock Lesnar:
“Overall, I’m going to say him aligning himself with Brock Lesnar is without a doubt one of the most genius things Paul ever did for himself and Paul did for Brock Lesnar. They’ve done very well by each other.”
Being offended by the McMahons when Stephanie offered the writers cash to go get lunch, and when Linda offered Heyman water from their dispensary:
“We were downstairs deciding where to go and they had suggested this really nice restaurant down the road and Paul is like, ‘I guess we’re not good enough to eat in the family domicile! We’re just the help. Send the help out to get lunch. Send a few dollars their way and send them away to get their own lunch while we dine on fine cuisine prepared by the chef and have the staff wait on us!’” Prichard recalled, “so everybody except Paul and Dave Lagana went to this nice restaurant, little Italian place down the street, great food, a little pricey, but we weren’t paying for it! Paul and David go to Burger King and just pocket the rest of the money! Just classic Paul.”
“Linda just makes the comment, ‘so guys, there’s this water dispensary here – the water is ice cold. It’s all filtered and good, so you don’t have to keep going in to get a bunch of bottles of water. There [are] cups here, big cups, and everything, or just refill your water bottle, whatever you need, whatever is faster, easier, better, whatever, and you’re not having 50 water bottles all over the place.’ Well, Heyman took exception to that! [Imitating Heyman] ‘I guess we’re not good enough to drink their water. I will just bring my own water from now on, so for the rest of the trip, Paul brought like a big bottle of water, which normally he never would have drank, but because he was told, and he wasn’t told, ‘don’t drink our water’, it was just, ‘hey, there’s this other water over here.’ ‘I will bring my own water. Thank you, ma’am.’”
if6CZJjlzCQ
Removing Paul Heyman as head-writer of SmackDown:
“He didn’t make deadlines. He’d be late for Vince’s meetings. It was a combination of things that Paul was almost begging to be off of the team and begging to just be a talent and not have to worry about writing the show from week-to-week because writing the show from week-to-week also came with heat.” Prichard recalled, “Paul argued at every chance he got! Paul and Vince were oil and water and Paul just didn’t know when to quit!
“You would think it was over, and then you’d get [imitating Heyman], ‘allow me one more volley, sir.’ There had to just be some point when Vince said, ‘I’m done. No more. I’m done. I don’t want to see him anymore. I don’t want to hear him anymore. I don’t want him on the plane anymore. I don’t want him in the writers’ meeting anymore. I’m done.’ As far as having a five-year no-cut contract, I don’t know of anybody that had a no-cut contract at any time.”
Disliking John Cena’s rapper gimmick:
“To quote Paul Heyman, ‘you put the rap gimmick on Cena and you will kill John Cena’s career. Paul felt that the rap gimmick was going to be the death knell of John Cena and that it would stereotype him and pigeonhole him and he would never be able to work his way out of it. Hated the idea, went to Cena and told Cena, ‘they’re killing your career’, ‘don’t do it’, ‘it’s going to be bad’. And [Heyman] went to Vince and told Vince it’s going to kill [Cena] and the fact that Paul petitioned so hard against it probably helped Vince [decide], ‘yeah, let’s try it.’ And I think it worked out alright for him.”
Aligning himself with Brock Lesnar:
“Overall, I’m going to say him aligning himself with Brock Lesnar is without a doubt one of the most genius things Paul ever did for himself and Paul did for Brock Lesnar. They’ve done very well by each other.”
Being offended by the McMahons when Stephanie offered the writers cash to go get lunch, and when Linda offered Heyman water from their dispensary:
“We were downstairs deciding where to go and they had suggested this really nice restaurant down the road and Paul is like, ‘I guess we’re not good enough to eat in the family domicile! We’re just the help. Send the help out to get lunch. Send a few dollars their way and send them away to get their own lunch while we dine on fine cuisine prepared by the chef and have the staff wait on us!’” Prichard recalled, “so everybody except Paul and Dave Lagana went to this nice restaurant, little Italian place down the street, great food, a little pricey, but we weren’t paying for it! Paul and David go to Burger King and just pocket the rest of the money! Just classic Paul.”
“Linda just makes the comment, ‘so guys, there’s this water dispensary here – the water is ice cold. It’s all filtered and good, so you don’t have to keep going in to get a bunch of bottles of water. There [are] cups here, big cups, and everything, or just refill your water bottle, whatever you need, whatever is faster, easier, better, whatever, and you’re not having 50 water bottles all over the place.’ Well, Heyman took exception to that! [Imitating Heyman] ‘I guess we’re not good enough to drink their water. I will just bring my own water from now on, so for the rest of the trip, Paul brought like a big bottle of water, which normally he never would have drank, but because he was told, and he wasn’t told, ‘don’t drink our water’, it was just, ‘hey, there’s this other water over here.’ ‘I will bring my own water. Thank you, ma’am.’”