The pairing up of Paul Heyman and the former WWE Champion Brock Lesnar has been one of the brightest decisions of WWE. Heyman has himself revealed why he chose to manage Brock Lesnar over former World Heavyweight Champion Chris Benoit.
Paul Heyman explains
Heyman, who currently serves as the special council for Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns, was previously paired with Lesnar on multiple occasions. But it turns out, he wanted to manage Lesnar instead of late Chris Benoit.
In an interview with Inside The Ropes, the founder of ECW said that 2-3 weeks before WrestleMania 18 in 2002, he approached WWE Chairman Vince McMahon to ask whether he could produce Lesnar’s matches, to which he was granted permission. He also claimed that he was planned to make an on-screen return at the Showcase of the Immortals as the manager of an unexpected wrestler.
After producing a couple of dark matches featuring Brock Lesnar, Heyman accompanied him to the ring in his debut appearance on the RAW after ‘Mania in 2002. Thus, it was the birth of the iconic pairing.
Here is what Paul Heyman said:
“Here comes what is going to be the headlines tomorrow from this show. This was right before WresstleMania (18) in Toronto in 2002… So, I was scheduled to come back, cause I had left being on an on-air position after Survivor Series (2001) when the WWE beat the Alliance… I was off-air, I was behind the scenes. I was supposed to come back on the air, in 2002, at WrestleMania, with Chris Benoit.”
Most recently, during programming between Lesnar and Reigns, Heyman, played a major role which made it feud more enticing.
