Paul Heyman Thinks Wrestling’s Future Is In “Inclusive Storylines”
Paul Heyman has revealed what he thinks could be the future of wrestling and says inclusivity could and should be at the heart of it.
Speaking on the Tetragrammaton podcast, Paul Heyman explained where he thinks wrestling can go next and says inclusivity could be the key:
“The safe answer, to sound pseudo-intelligent, is inclusive storylines. A transgender hero. A female that competes at the same level, with the same marketing behind her as any of the male competitors. [One] that’s not Ronda Rousey from the outside world coming in as a celebrity, but a homegrown Rhea Ripley. Or Bianca Belair. Or Charlotte Flair. Or Becky Lynch. Or Bayley. Or Nattie. Or any of these fantastic performers that we have on the roster.
“That [they] get a platform as lucrative and that carries as much opportunity on a global basis as any of their male counterparts. That’s a very safe thing for me to say. I wouldn’t be wrong in saying that’s a place we should go, could go, and will go.”
[sided-debate-embed debate-id=”27471″]
However, Paul Heyman then goes on to explain that another place he sees wrestling going is in utilizing some of the techniques used in the ongoing Roman Reigns storyline with The Bloodline:
“The unsafe answer. The one that I will preface [by saying that] when I pitch things that I’m not all that sure about, I say, ‘Well, let me just reserve the right to be really stupid in what I’m about to suggest.’ The other answer is an amplified aura of theatre without theatrics. The transformative, the revolutionary, the evolutionary disruptor in this industry towards that theory is Roman Reigns.
“We do movie scenes in the locker room to further tell the story. 3, 4, 5-minute movie scenes showing the vulnerability of his character, the angst of his character, the worry of his character, the sensitivities of his character, idiosyncrasies, nuances of his character, with his cousins, by his cousins, with a spotlight on his cousins at times, and sometimes on me. Sometimes in my sycophantic nature of appeasing The Tribal Chief, while at the same time, also appeasing him based on the fear that he can behead me at any time.
“A couple of years ago, if I said to you, ‘We’re going to do these locker room scenes that are movie scenes, and this villain champion for 1000 days, unbeatable by anybody is going to cry. Or he’s going to pivot because he’s exposing his own fears. His jealousy, his envy, his rage. If I would have told you this, you’d say, ‘No, that’s not what to do backstage.'”
Paul Heyman also discussed how he ended up on WWE television when he joined the company despite specifically asking not to be featured.