Paul Heyman knows that WWE is full of talented individuals… but they just need the chance to prove their greatness.
Former WWE producer/executive and now once-again advocate for Universal Champion Roman Reigns, Paul Heyman recently appeared on After The Bell with Corey Graves and was asked to name some future stars inside of the company. Heyman mentions a few up-and-coming stars but also describes how we haven’t seen the best of established stars such as Brock Lesnar, Roman Reigns, Big E and Charlotte Flair.
“Well first of all, I’ll say this selfishly, talk about evolving personas, evolving characters, evolving attractions, you haven’t seen the best of Roman Reigns yet, Roman Reigns a year from now will be far greater than Roman Reigns is today. Roman Reigns this Friday will be better than Roman Reigns was this past Friday. Roman Reigns next Friday will be able to look back at this Friday’s appearance and go ‘wow, I can do that so much better’ and he will. I’ll throw The Usos in that as well, The Usos, as a tag team are so infinitely better now than they were six months ago and they were already the best tag team of the past 20-years. I say those names selfishly.”
Heyman also said that Brock Lesnar continues to evolve from the performer he was 20 years ago, referring to him as a “pure killer and butcher” compared to who he was in the past. Heyman also said that Charlotte Flair would put on a show no matter who she shared the ring with, noting that she’s never gone to the ring without the desire to steal the show. Continuing his point about how much talent is in WWE, Heyman talked about some of the pure athletes in Matt Riddle, Riddick Moss and Bron Breakker before praising names like Mandy Rose and Rhea Ripley, who he says fans haven’t even seen the best of yet.
“I don’t think we’ve even scratched the surface with the physical abilities of Matt Riddle, Riddle gets better every match that I see him in. I think after his initiation with the audience demonstrates how capable he is. Riddick Moss is going to be a star. I don’t think anyone has a clue just how capable he is and he’s demonstrated that he can walk into any personality that he’s assigned at the moment. When Riddick Moss has the emergence out of his shell at the next incarnation, the same way The Big Dog upgrade his status, morphed into and evolved into The Tribal Chief, Riddick Moss’ next iteration in WWE, there’ll be no stopping Riddick Moss, he’s a main eventer.
After @HeymanHustle helped @WWERomanReigns cost @BrockLesnar the WWE Title, relive how The Beast triumphed in the #RoyalRumble Match to earn the right to challenge The Head of the Table at #WrestleMania. #SmackDown pic.twitter.com/cJzr5SLXdP
— WWE (@WWE) February 6, 2022
“Bron Breakker is a no-brainer…wow…WOW. And picking it up that fast, he’s in rarified air. Gable Steveson, an Olympic gold medalist, an NCAA Heavyweight World Champion, the first Heavyweight in 20-something years to win the Hodge Trophy, which is something that Brock Lesnar didn’t even win. Brock Lesnar’s claim to fame as an NCAA Heavyweight Champion, Gable Steveson got that, Kurt Angle’s claim to fame was an Olympic gold medal, Gable Steveson got that, neither Brock nor Kurt won the Hodge Trophy, which is the Heisman Trophy for a wrestler…and he won it handily. Now he went back to the University of Minnesota for his senior season and he’s undefeated this year. He picks up this industry and loves the industry…Gable Steveson…surefire bet.
“Mandy Rose has impressed me, Mandy Rose went down to NXT to completely reinvent herself and is emerging as a real, top star. Rhea Ripley, we have not even seen the beginnings of how great Rhea Ripley can be, there is a locker room filled with potential, there’s a locker room filled with talent, both RAW and SmackDown and NXT as well, it just needs to be talent seizing the moment, seizing the opportunity. We haven’t seen the best of Kevin Owens, we haven’t seen the best of Big E…far from it…far from it and he just needs the time and the chance to do so,” Heyman said.
“All these people, Bianca Belair, I brought her up to the main roster when I was the Executive Director of Monday Night RAW in 2020 and look at her ability…she’s main evented a WrestleMania already and I bet you before the end of her tenure…she’ll main event night two and deservedly so because male or female, there’s very few people on the roster who are athletes of her caliber and very few who are willing to put in the work to exploit those abilities. So, who do I see? I see a RAW, SmackDown and NXT locker room that are all filled with greatness that needs the time to evolve, to be accepted by the audience for being great and then the need to accept themselves for their greatness with their ability aside and to push themselves beyond their limit. A good performer needs to push themselves to be a great performer, a great performer needs to push themselves to be an all-time great performer and an all-time great performer needs to push themselves to be the greatest performer.”
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