Paul Heyman Supported WWE Changing WrestleMania 40 Plans
Paul Heyman has opened up about WWE changing WrestleMania 40 plans and the lessons to be learned from it.
It is well-known among WWE fans that the company changed the plans that were originally in place for WrestleMania 40. It was so well known that WWE even produced a behind-the-scenes documentary about the decision-making process called “Behind The Curtain.”
On the same day that Cody Rhodes won the 2024 Royal Rumble, he was also told that it would be Roman Reigns defending the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship against The Rock, not Cody. When this plan played out on television, the fans were strongly against it and showed their disgust on social media as well.
To WWE’s credit, they pivoted and gave the fans what they wanted, which led to Cody Rhodes winning the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship from Roman Reigns in the WrestleMania 40 Sunday main event.
Paul Heyman was Roman Reigns’ “Wise Man” for four years of The Bloodline storyline and in addition to being with Reigns on screen, Heyman also works closely with a lot of WWE superstars behind the scenes as well.
In an interview with CBS Sports’ Shakiel Mahjouri, WWE Hall of Famer Paul Heyman shared his wise thoughts about how important it was for WWE to have their finger on the pulse of what the fans want.
“Have your finger on the pulse of the audience at all times. Some people don’t and some people do. That story ended up exactly where that story should’ve ended up. That story ended up with Roman Reigns vs. Cody Rhodes in the main event of WrestleMania 40, and that was the rightful main event of WrestleMania 40 as the audience had a two year investment in that story.
They lived it with us. When I say ‘us,’ I include Cody in that ‘us’ because was the protagonist in that story. We were the antagonists. They lived it not only by witnessing it and experiencing it, they lived it many times through the eyes of the protagonist and the struggles that he had to endure and survive and thrive through, all with his chin up and with a progressive ‘move forward’ attitude.
The lesson to be learned is the same lesson that was learned back in the amphitheaters of ancient Greece.”
Paul Heyman: “Know What The Audience Wants”
As he continued to speak his Wise Man knowledge, Paul Heyman stressed the importance of trying to understand what the fans want and how what they might want today might be different in the future.
“Know what the audience wants, super-serve that desire, and make sure that you have navigation towards where the story needs to go or can go with many different avenues depending on where the culture may take us tomorrow. Tomorrow’s culture may be very different than today’s.
Something can transpire tomorrow and all of culture can go with it. Fashion, music, taste, movies, sensitivities towards what’s on the screen, any sensitivity towards what’s on the screen. It doesn’t take much.
It takes very little to pivot the entire culture and you have to have a finger on where that can go because if you’re not right now thinking ‘where is the culture going to be in April?’ How do you start planning out your WrestleMania main events?”
Regarding the future of Wise Man, while he will likely remain linked to Roman Reigns and perhaps CM Punk, Bron Breakker thinks it’s possible that he could be a Paul Heyman Guy in the future as well.