CM Punk discusses the widespread legacy of Paul Heyman.
On April 5, Paul Heyman was formally inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame by “The Tribal Chief” Roman Reigns. Under Heyman’s guidance, Reigns earned the longest title reign of the modern WWE era — a reign that spanned 1,316 days. As CM Punk points out, though, Heyman’s influence extends well beyond Reigns, with many former champions, including himself, finding success alongside “The Wiseman.”
“It’s funny, people were asking me if I was going to induct him into the Hall of Fame. I just kept telling everybody, ‘I assume it’s going to be Roman,’ but this is how you know Paul Heyman is the greatest manager, advocate, friend, representative whatever you want to call him of all time,” Punk told SI Media With Jimmy Traina. “It could have been me that inducted him, it could have been Roman. It was Roman. Could have been Brock, it could have been Steve Austin, it could have been Rick Rude.”
“It could have been so many of what we like to call generational superstars, people that really affected or changed the business. That’s because Paul Heyman has his fingerprints all over decades of people that have sold tickets drawn money and been categorized as the best talkers, wrestlers, minds, what have you in the wrestling world. Fascinating that he has that. Madusa could have inducted him. He’s just been the guy behind the guy for so long.”
When asked about his present-day relationship with Heyman, Punk noted that he still regularly picks his brain for advice. Most recently, Punk and Heyman appeared on the June 21 episode of WWE SmackDown. There, they notably shared an embrace in the center of the ring.
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