| Paul Heyman |
Article Index for Paul |
Website Links For Paul |
Information AboutPaul Heyman |
|
Paul Heyman (born September 11 , 1965 , Scarsdale, New York ) is a Professional Wrestling Manager , on-air talent, and former promoter. He is best known for being the creative force behind Extreme Championship Wrestling 's rise to prominence in the 1990s , and shortly thereafter he became a very notable personality in World Wrestling Entertainment . CAREER World Championship Wrestling Paul Heyman debuted in 1986 . While a manager in the AWA and WCW , he was known as Paul E. Dangerously, and many in the business still refer to him as "Paul E." His gimmick was basically an extension of his personality - a brash New Yorker who was often seen holding a Mobile Phone (which was quite large, due to the technology of the late 1980s); the phone was an occasional "foreign Object" . In WCW, he was known as the manager of the Dangerous Alliance , made up of Rick Rude , Arn Anderson , Steve Austin , Bobby Eaton and Larry Zbyszko . Madusa was his assistant. He was also the manager of the Original Midnight Express , Dennis Condrey and Randy Rose , in the AWA and WCW. They Feuded with the Midnight Express , Eaton and Stan Lane , while Heyman feuded with their manager, Jim Cornette . Political problems in WCW made Heyman's tenure with WCW a miserable one, which was made even more miserable when Eric Bischoff fired him in 1992 . Extreme Championship Wrestling ''Main Article: Extreme Championship Wrestling '' Heyman acquired ECW from its founder, Tod Gordon , after the ECW ''Barely Legal'' PPV . Because of Heyman's love for wrestling, combined with his ability to Book matches that the crowd would love, he earned the nicknames "The Evil Genius of Wrestling" and "The Mad Scientist of Wrestling". Heyman introduced several new types of matches to the American audience, such as "The Barbed Wire Death Match" and "The Exploding Ring Death Match." Such matches were never before seen in the WWF or WCW, thus solidifying Heyman's reputation as an outlaw in the world of pro wrestling. Heyman also brought Lucha Libre wrestling to American TV , an event which inspired the WWF and WCW to follow suit. Heyman was known as a genius not just for having the innovation of bringing unique and refreshing elements to wrestling, but also for his ability to write captivating and edgy wrestling storylines that had actually made sense with few plot holes. Heyman was the king of having long, drawn-out feuds build for months until a series of matches took place to determine a winner. His most notable storylines during the mid-90s include the infamous Sandman vs. Raven feud where Raven brainwashed Sandman's adolescent son into calling Raven his father, at one time putting The Sandman in tears. The other big feud in the mid 90s involved possibly the two biggest draws in ECW history, Sabu and Tazz, which was built up for years until finally culminating at ECW's first Pay Per View Barely Legal, in the spring of 1997. For the remainder of ECW's tenure, Tazz and Sabu would continue to feud on-and-off, but this was without a doubt the most heavily built up. Many feel that ECW's latter years (1998 and later) saw Heyman's storylines weaken a bit. Many of ECW's stars had defected to the "big two", and Heyman himself was feeling an incredible amount of stress at the time with ECW's financial situation. However, he could still captivate his audience and always had a loyal audience to entertain. In the latter years, Heyman built a huge, year-long feud with the company's top star, the aforementioned Tazz, and then-ECW World Champion Shane Douglas. Douglas had been injured and insisted on dropping the title earlier than expected, but Paul had better ideas. He built a long, drawn-out, interesting storyline where Tazz chased the title for a year and destroyed all the opposition (including his old nemesis Sabu) to finally capture the title at ECW's Guilty as Charged Pay-Per-View in January 1999. Heyman then decided in the final year of ECW to have a huge feud between the loyal ECW wrestlers and "The Network", a stable that represented TNN, which Heyman had notably been having real-life issues with. The storyline never took off like it could've and never saved ECW, mainly due to the lack of funds that ECW was bringing in, as well as the fact that most of it's top stars left for WWF (Tazz, the Dudley Boyz), WCW (Mike Awesome, Shane Douglas), or were injured (Rob Van Dam). Heyman was a brilliant storyteller, but as told by many of the ECW alumni during the "Rise and Fall of ECW" DVD, he was not very talented as a businessman. An announcement was made on Sunday, April 24, 2006 that the WWE would be reviving ECW as a full time promotion. Rumors emerged that Heyman, along with Tommy Dreamer, would play major roles in the new ECW. WWF/WWE After ECW folded, Heyman became a broadcaster for the WWF, replacing Jerry Lawler as the color commentator for '' RAW '' in early 2001. He would later Turned Heel by creating the ECW Alliance . He was "fired" following Survivor Series 2001, but returned to television as the manager of Brock Lesnar . He led Lesnar to the WWE Undisputed Championship when Lesnar beat The Rock at '' SummerSlam 2002 ''. Heyman then turned on Lesnar and helped The Big Show win the title. Just before Lesnar's title match against Kurt Angle at '' WrestleMania XIX '', Lesnar challenged his former manager to a steel cage match. After his defeat, Heyman left for a while. He later returned to assume the on-camera role of General Manager of the then-Thursday night show '' SmackDown! '', until March 22 , 2004 , when (according to the Storyline ) he was drafted to Eric Bischoff 's '' RAW '', and promptly quit rather than work for Bischoff. Heyman was writing for ''SmackDown!'' during its more successful stint in early 2003 . During Heyman's tenure on ''SmackDown!'', he served as the head writer, who penned PPV-quality matches involving these six Superstars: Kurt Angle , Chris Benoit , Edge , Rey Mysterio , Eddie Guerrero and Chavo Guerrero . They were known as the "''SmackDown!'' Six." But at the 2003 '' No Way Out '' PPV, it was announced that Heyman was removed from the ''SmackDown!'' writing team, mainly because of backstage political issues between him, Creative Director Stephanie McMahon and ''RAW'' writer Brian Gerwitz . During 2004, Heyman's on-camera role was as manager to The Dudley Boyz , Spike Dudley , and Heidenreich . Heyman's last appearance on ''SmackDown!'' saw him sealed in a coffin by The Undertaker during a handicap match which featured Heyman and Heidenreich against the Undertaker on January 6 , 2005 . ECW One Night Stand Paul Heyman was heavily involved in the booking and promotion of the June 12 , 2005 ECW reunion PPV, '' ECW One Night Stand ''. Heyman returned to RAW on May 23 , 2005 and confronted former WCW President Eric Bischoff, lauding ECW and criticizing WCW. Among other things, Heyman told him the following: "ECW was a lifestyle, it was anti-establishment, it was counter-culture, and it was up in your face!" Heyman finished it up by setting Bischoff's ECW funeral wreath (made out of barbed wire) on fire. At ''One Night Stand'', a visibly emotional Heyman came to the ring, got on his knees and bowed to the fans, who chanted "''Thank you Paul!''" He then cut a Shoot Promo mocking Bischoff ("You are in ''our'' house, bitch!!"), Edge's offscreen love life ("Hide your wives, it's Edge!...I've got two words for you... Matt Freakin' Hardy !"), and JBL ("The only reason you were WWE Champion for a year was because Triple H didn't want to work Tuesdays!") (''SmackDown!'' is taped on Tuesdays). Heyman then said, "Now, one more time for old time's sake... right there so the whole world can see us... this ain't WCW... this ain't Monday Night RAW... this ain't SmackDown!... this ain't even the WWE... this, my friends... is E-C-Fucking-W!". On this show, Heyman was portrayed as a Face who successfully prevented the heels, Bischoff and his crusaders, from putting ECW out of business once and for all. On February 18, 2006, Heyman and Tazz announced that that there will be Another ECW One Night Stand taking place in June 2006. The event is scheduled for June 11 in New York . Ohio Valley Wrestling On July 10 , 2005 , it was confirmed that Paul Heyman would be temporarily taking over the position of Head Booker, writer, and color commentator in OVW , a developmental territory maintained by the WWE. This position was recently vacated when Jim Cornette was fired for issues with WWE management. Heyman's contract with WWE expired on December 31 2005 . Heyman's contract has been extended while he and WWE work on a long-term deal. The Return of ECW It has been reported that a new ECW show will take the place of WWE's Velocity and be taped before Smackdown shows. It is not known whether or not Heyman will have control over the new ECW show, although both he and Tommy Dreamer will share booking duties. QUOTES
WRESTLERS MANAGED BY PAUL HEYMAN
AWARDS
EXTERNAL LINKS |
|
|