Paul Heyman On Sting Going Into The WWE Hall Of Fame And Brock Lesnar

Paul Heyman recently spoke with cbssports.com to promote WrestleMania 32. Here are the highlights.

 


 

Why do you think Dean Ambrose has connected so well with fans, and do you buy some of the talent comparisons being made with him involving some legends?

“There are people that draw the comparison between Dean Ambrose and Terry Funk in that he’s crazy like a fox. There are people that have drawn the comparison between Dean Ambrose and Roddy Piper in that he’s certainly left field from how everyone else approaches their presentation on Monday Night Raw and SmackDown. I see where the comparisons can be made, but I also know the man behind the scenes and the man behind the persona. I think that Dean Ambrose is driven to create a first-time-ever, unique character that other people in the future can be compared to.”

Another year. Another WrestleMania. Another headline match for Brock Lesnar. What have the last 12 months been like for you since he resigned with WWE?

“The last 12 months for me have been the best professional year of my career, simply because it’s yet another year wiser, another year smarter, another year more experienced, and I get to appreciate the fact that I work with not only my best friend but the fact that my best friend happens to be a once-ever athlete in the unique form of sports entertainment that’s out there today.”

You briefly worked with Sting, who is headlining WWE’s Hall of Fame class this year, in WCW in the late 1980s and early 1990s. How do you look back on his career?

“I don’t think you can ever tell the story of Ted Turner’s involvement in professional wrestling-slash-sports entertainment without devoting several chapters to the rise and continued ascent of Sting. He was, for many years, the face of WCW, clearly their biggest star at certain times. Over the course of the Turner regime, in terms of ownership of WCW, he was their longest-term box office attraction. In the pantheon of the whole history of this industry, he certainly is a first-ballot hall of famer.”

Last year, you offered us a prediction that the younger women in WWE were talented enough to legitimately headline a major event. That obviously came to fruition in NXT to tremendous results. What does your crystal ball say will be a major change to WWE and the business in general in 2016?

“Any change that happens is going to be facilitated by the audience. We have reached a point in history where this is a multi-billion dollar international conglomerate that is predicated by the number of subscriptions to the network and the stock price. Consumer satisfaction is ultimately something that this company needs to achieve, and therefore, it has never been more important for the company to listen to the audience and deliver what the audience wants.

“There are always going to be critics out there. There are always going to be people with a vision other than the company puts forward. The need or desire for evolution or change happens when the audience itself is demanding to see something that’s not being offered at the moment.”

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