By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
Forbes interview with Paul Heyman
Interview conducted by Alfred Konuwa
Available at Forbes.com
Paul Heyman on inducting himself into the WWE Hall of Fame: “It’s a very interesting suggestion (laughs), and I’ve seen that a few times online. Is there a chance? Hey, the person that right now is scheduled to induct me may decide not to show up, in which case there’s no B plan, except that I would most likely end up inducting myself. And most of my intimate experiences in life are with myself, so it would just be par for the course. But at the moment, we do have another human being besides Paul Heyman in mind. And boy, if we did this interview just a couple days later, I would be happy to give you the exclusive as to whom it is.”
On why fans accepted Cody Rhodes as a babyface but rejected Roman Reigns in the same role: “Because Roman’s rise as the protagonist in WWE folklore was the corporate portrayal of how the corporation viewed Roman Reigns and Joe Anoa’i behind the scenes as Roman Reigns. And with Cody, what you see is what you get. This is Cody. Cody loves to stay in the arena after the show shaking every hand, posing with every fan, signing every autograph. If it takes him one hour or three, that’s what he’s always dreamt of doing, of being the person that they rely on to satisfy that level of a fan base.
“That’s just not Roman Reigns. He’s a game-day player. He’s there to do his job, do it better than everybody else or anybody else, and then get out and go home. His job is to feed his family, and he feeds his family by being the best at what he does on the face of the planet now, if not ever, he’s not the baby kissing autograph signer. It’s just not him. So when he’s put in the position that this is what a top guy in WWE, in sports, in entertainment, in sports entertainment does, the audience smells it. They go, ‘He doesn’t really like doing this.’ Cody loves doing it, so he’s much better at it.”
On potential ‘Paul Heyman Girls’: “Well, I think if you look at the female roster in WWE right now, there is a roster filled with women who have the potential to be multi-time WrestleMania main eventers. Anybody who doesn’t think that Rhea Ripley is going to be a top, if not the top star in WWE, is not paying attention. Look at Jade Cargill, who exceeded all expectations in the Women’s Royal Rumble. Walking in, everybody said, ‘Well, let’s just see what she has. We don’t really know what she has.’ And absolutely tore the house down.
“Look at how Becky Lynch continues to reinvent herself and find herself to be relevant. When Charlotte Flair comes off this injury that she suffered, imagine her drive, her ambition to reclaim the spot of being number one the female in WWE, and look at Bianca Belair and how magnificently talented of an athlete and a personality she is. That’s just five off the top of my head like that. The female roster of WWE is the deepest that it has ever been and only getting deeper.
“You look at the crop coming out of NXT, my God, we have been living, and the analogy would be we’re living in tennis right before the Williams sisters come into play. And once the Williams sisters come into play, the whole game changed. That’s where we are now, the whole game is changing right in front of our very eyes. So for me to work with any of these women, it is and has been a great honor.”
On The Rock’s suspicious ‘L’ Sign: “I don’t know, and it’s something that certainly my suggestion would be that’s a great question to ask The Rock, and I’m sure he’d be happy to answer it. But it is a conspiracy. And just because it’s a conspiracy theory doesn’t mean there’s not a conspiracy behind it. So my father always taught me, ‘Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean the whole world’s not against you,’ so I’m sure there’s something to it. And my suggestion would be ask the final boss, ask The Rock.”
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