By the time he was barely a teenager, Paul Heyman was finding all kinds of ways to worm his way into the wrestling business. He would find a way to get ringside at MSG and start shoving guys like Bill Apter out of the way to get good pictures to sell to Vince Sr. He hustled his way into promoting for the famed nightclub, Studio 54. He even put on his first wrestling show from the nightclub, which happened to be the debut of Bam Bam Bigelow.

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Over five decades, Heyman has been a photographer, manager, booker, promoter, writer, advocate, owner, executive director, and several other hats in-between. He’s worked for the WWWF, AWA, NWA, WCW, ECW, USWA, owned ECW, and WWE. Vince McMahon has stated he’d rather have Heyman in his house than out of it. But is he a genius or overrated?

10 Genius - ECW

In the early nineties, there was a cultural change in many facets of pop culture. Heyman facilitated one in pro wrestling when he started ECW. He brought a harder-hitting, hard-edge approach to matches and fostered an “us vs. them” mentality that helped all of his roster achieve success. Heyman brought Lucha Libre and Japanese style to the Eastern seaboard before the masses were able to see it on WCW and WWE. Long before we saw some of the 90s' best superstars on Raw or Nitro, they had their start in ECW.

9 Overrated - Can’t Manage Money

To be fair, it’s hard managing and balancing a checkbook and there a lot of people who just can’t do it. Not only is it a skill that Heyman seems to lack, but when you combine it with his propensity to tell tall tales, it makes for a potent combination of ineptitude.

If you can’t pay talent and you can’t find deals to make more money, then some of your top guys are going to find employment elsewhere. According to plenty of documentaries on the topic, while there were many reasons ECW folded, each can be traced back to Heyman’s lack of finance management.

8 Genius - Microphone Maestro

Put a microphone in Heyman’s hand and just watch him create magic. He’s been doing it for over thirty years. In the booth, he antagonizes JR or whoever else he works with relentlessly. As a promoter, he was able to rally the troops and convince them they can do anything. Of course, in the ring, the guy can sell just about any match anywhere in the world and make both his guy and their opponent seem like legitimate threats.

7 Overrated - Doesn’t Know When To Stop

If you have younger siblings, then you know how frustrating that “I’m not touching you” nonsense can be. They stick their finger a few millimeters from your face and declare about 900 times that they're not touching you. According to the Big Show on Ladies and Gentlemen, My Name Is Paul Heyman, that’s exactly the kind of mentality Heyman has. When it comes to dealing with Vince McMahon, you have to converse not confront and choose which hill to die on. Neither of those are things that Heyman did very well in his youth and it helped cost him his job on at least one occasion.

6 Genius - Wealth Of Knowledge

As a boy, Heyman gravitated towards old school legends like the Grand Wizard and Freddie Blassie, who used to give him rides home. He snuck into a WCW creative meeting and wound up under the learning tree of Dusty Rhodes. Throughout his storied career, “Happy Heyman” has spent a great deal of time learning and honing his craft alongside some of the all-time greats. As the Executive Director of Raw, all of this experience not only serves him well but also the entire Raw roster that works with him.

5 Overrated - Same Schtick Every Week

“Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Paul Heyman.”

“Here’s a spoiler.”

“My client, BROCK LESNAR!”

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Some believe that all Paul Heyman does is relay the same messages to the audience every week he’s given the mic. To be fair, it’s what everyone in the WWE does. Repetition is what Vince loves. But perhaps after so many years, even the "Messiah of Violence" could change up his rap.

4 Genius - Knows How To Mask Weakness

It has been mentioned countless times when referring to Heyman - that he knows how to keep his guys’ weaknesses hidden. From the top of the card down to the opening match, he always was able to highlight the strengths of the ECW roster and seldom show any weaknesses. Its why Hardcore TV was mostly a clip show. It’s why his most talented brawlers were never placed in big-time technical battles.

3 Overrated - Only Gets Brock Over

In relation to having the same routine over and over these days, Heyman only shows up nowadays to get Brock over. He doesn’t have any other clients, even though plenty of superstars could learn a lot and get over even more with Heyman as their mouthpiece. It’s more likely a Vince call that Heyman is used more as an attraction. It’s easy to think though that if he tried to advocate hard enough, he’d wind up working with another client.

2 Genius - Knows How To Book Heat

Getting heat (when they don't like you) from the crowd is not an easy task. But booking it is sometimes a Herculean task. Heyman didn’t just know how to whip up the ECW roster into a frenzy, he was able to book exciting storylines and absurd moments to get the fans into a fever pitch.

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Whether it was soap-opera angles with Tommy Dreamer, Beulah, and Raven or turning out the lights to delay a huge reveal, whatever the case was, Paul knew how to present it to the fans. Now, if only Vince could take reins off his Executive Director.

1 Overrated - ECW

Yes, Paul Heyman is both revered and overrated for ECW. He created a movement that in a lot of ways still exists to this day. But the actual promotion itself, the more and more documentaries that come out about it - was held together by bubblegum, twigs, and willpower. Nearly twenty years later and some fans still expect him to churn out this kind of product no matter what he actually does. The company’s history has become an albatross around Heyman’s neck now and again.

NEXT: 5 Possible Positives About Paul Heyman’s New Role As WWE Executive (And 5 Possible Negatives)