Paul Heyman is known as a genius by some, and as a bit of a lunatic by others. There are also those that believe he falls somewhere in the middle, and to be honest, it's just generally kind of difficult to keep up.
Regardless of what you think of him, though, there's no denying that the announcement of his new position within WWE changed the game.
He has the potential to do some great things now that he's working behind the scenes once again, but in equal measure, it could all just as easily go wrong — which is a real possibility.
10 POSITIVE - Creative Mind
One thing you can never deny when it comes to Paul Heyman is that he has a really creative mind for the business. If he didn’t, then we’re pretty confident in saying that his attitude would’ve led to him being blacklisted from the industry many, many years ago – and that’s just a fact.
His creativity truly is infectious, and the fact that he gets to utilize that on a week to week basis now is really exciting. RAW has felt very ‘same old, same old’ for way too long now, and fans have been searching for the answer to that problem.
Well, here you go.
9 NEGATIVE - Goes Too Far?
There’s such a thing as being ‘too’ into your job, and if Heyman gets his claws into something to the point where he is convinced it’ll succeed if it is done in his own way, then problems could soon arise.
He may have disagreements with a series of people, to the point where he just becomes too much. He’s probably calmed down quite a lot over the years, but even with that being the case, you just never know what is going to happen when the lights are on bright.
8 POSITIVE - Long-Term Storytelling
Something great could happen on Monday Night RAW one week, and then the next, it gets dropped. That doesn’t really make any sense in any way, shape or form, and it’s one of the reasons (in our opinion) why so many folks are tuning out these days.
They want to see the kind of content that is going to keep you hooked, and that is where Heyman thrives. He is able to tell a story that could start in June and run all the way through to WrestleMania season, and along the way, you’ll still be hooked.
7 NEGATIVE - A Different Heyman
While the passion of Paul Heyman is still there, he’s a lot older now than he was during his booking prime. In some instances, that could be considered a blessing as opposed to a curse, but what if, in the long run, it hinders him?
He may not be as invested in the job, he may try and take a bit of a backseat, and he might generally just not be all that interested. That isn’t going to work out well for anyone, and we mean anyone.
We’ll just have to wait and see.
6 POSITIVE - He Cares
As a direct contrast to the last point, a big positive is that we all know Paul cares. He cares about a lot of things within the wrestling industry, but more specifically, he cares about the talent. We’ve all seen the clips and snippets of him talking to talent backstage, and that was months and even years before this news was first announced.
He wants to ensure that things are being done in a manner that works for the talent, and really, how can you argue with that in the modern era?
5 NEGATIVE - Picking Favorites
Brock Lesnar is the Universal Champion. If Paul Heyman has anything to do with it, we’re pretty confident that he is going to be the Universal Champion for quite a long time (again).
Perhaps we’re overstating the kind of influence he’s going to have on booking decisions, but what if this trend extends to other superstars on the main roster? If he has his favorites, then we could see a very clear divide on WWE television.
That doesn’t seem likely, but you’ve got to remain open-minded to this sort of thing.
4 POSITIVE - Challenging Vince
Vince McMahon has ruled over the WWE Universe with an iron fist for longer than we care to remember, and in the last few years, in particular, it seems as if his ideas have become progressively more outlandish and, dare we say, ‘old school.'
If that is indeed the case, then it goes without saying that he needs people to challenge him. Paul Heyman is the perfect person to do that because the two have been through so much together over the years that it really does seem as if there’s mutual respect between them.
3 NEGATIVE - The Focus On Competition
When Paul Heyman was in charge of SmackDown many years ago, one of the things that he wanted to do was beat RAW – not only in the ratings but in terms of the on-screen product. As time went on, that wound up being one of the things that led to his demise and ultimate dismissal from the company.
Now, he’s going to be put up against Eric Bischoff – who is attempting to steer the ship for the blue brand.
Nobody really knows which way this is going to go, but one thing we can be sure of is that Heyman is going to do everything within his power to make RAW the number one show again.
Let’s just hope he does it in the right way this time.
2 POSITIVE - Knows What Not To Do
He’s been there, he’s annoyed Vince McMahon, and he’s been fired from the company as a result. When that kind of thing happens, it really should teach you what not to do in that job.
All these years later Paul knows what went wrong the first time around, and he’ll do everything in his power to amend the issues that were at play once upon a time.
The face of wrestling and the face of WWE is very different from how it was back then, which can only help him in the long run.
1 NEGATIVE - ECW Affection
You hear ECW chants on a week to week basis at wrestling shows all around the world, and rightfully so. That brand was so unbelievably special, to the point where it kind of changed the entire landscape of the business – for better, but also, for worse.
This is a different era and the product is very different, so we just hope that some of Paul’s ECW tendencies don’t come back to haunt him. We’re talking over the top stunts that won’t suit the current ‘PG’ era, and potentially even a few guest appearances from old school wrestlers that really shouldn’t be in there anymore.