Paul Heyman Changed His Life Perspective After Meeting Make-A-Wish Kid
The words of a kid fighting a serious illness gave Paul Heyman a new perspective on life.
Paul Heyman has lived a very public life for the majority of his 40 years in the pro wrestling business. However, he rarely talks about his family.
When Heyman was inducted into the 2024 WWE Hall of Fame, his son and daughter were sitting in the front row as the “Wise Man” Heyman reverted to dad mode to talk about how proud he was of his children.
During his lengthy 2+ hour conversation with fellow WWE Hall of Famer Stephanie McMahon on her “What’s Your Story?” podcast, Paul Heyman shared a story about how a Make-A-Wish kid he met with Brock Lesnar taught him a valuable lesson. The subject came up after Stephanine mentioned Heyman says, “I’m blessed” when asked how he’s doing.
“I don’t know how anybody can do a Make A Wish visit and go home to healthy children and not understand how truly blessed they are.
It was a young man. He was 11 years old. We went to visit him, and we were told, ‘Hey, he’s going to get tired real fast. These are within the last couple of weeks.’ And the kid was so upbeat… of course, the parents, you look in their eyes and you just sit there and say, ‘Thank God that’s not me,’ because the soul has been ripped out of them.
The mother or the father starts crying. And the kid goes, ‘Hey, we talked about this, no crying… I don’t have that much time, and I’m not going to spend a minute of it miserable. I’m gonna love every single moment I have.’”
Paul Heyman Was Surprised To See Make-A-Wish Kid At WrestleMania
As the story continued, Paul Heyman said that the Make-A-Wish kid told Heyman and Lesnar that he’d be at WrestleMania. When Heyman saw the kid’s parents at a press conference for WrestleMania, he thought they were there in their son’s memory. But to Heyman’s surprise, the kid was there too.
“And as the press conference is ending, I see the mother walk out, the father walk out, and there’s the kid… blown away. I ran to Brock and go, ‘Brock, the kid’s here, the kid.’ He goes, ‘What, the kid from the room?’ He goes, ‘You got to be kidding.’ I said, ‘Brock, the kid is here.”
That led to Heyman talking about a breathtaking backstage moment with the family.
“The kid comes backstage, and the first thing he says, he goes, ‘Bet you didn’t think I was gonna make it. Both parents just start weeping openly. And the kid goes like this, ‘Hey, we talked about this.’
And I said, ‘Why do they need to stop doing it?’ And he says, ‘You’re only as happy as your saddest child.’ Now I start crying in the room, right?
And I could not stop hugging my kids when I got home. I never understood how blessed I am. My children are healthy, and everything else in life is relative to that. So when people say… ‘I’m a blessed man,’ they go, ‘Oh, that’s a shtick.’ It’s not my shtick.”
In the same podcast, Stephanie McMahon spoke about how frustrating it was trying to learn from Paul Heyman when they worked together on the creative team.
Make TJR Wrestling your choice for news by clicking here.