Paul Heyman recently spoke with Newsweek, and below are some interview highlights.
There has been a lot of reporting on Brock’s no-shows, and contract negotiations. They’ve been implemented into storyline heading into WrestleMania. Does that make things easier for you?
I would suggest that WWE has taken the approach of playing into the mystique and the intrigue that surrounds Brock Lesnar. Because if there was anyone else that you present these storylines with, what happens is you say, by way of example, “Mister X has left the country, 3 weeks before WrestleMania to go on a hike in the mountains of snowy Siberia.” But then you look at the guy’s Twitter account or Instagram on a Friday night and he’s with his wife and kids at a hockey game, or at a Chuck E Cheese, saying “can’t be the villain 24/7.” With Brock Lesnar, you can easily make the claim that he is scaling the heights of Kilimanjaro because you are not going to see social media pictures of him with his wife and kids, hanging out at Disney World.
So you can say anything you want about Brock Lesnar, because he is such a recluse. People don’t know how much of what is being told to them is storyline and how much is just WWE acknowledging what’s really going on and incorporating it into the narrative of what is presented on television.
Brock Lesnar is a fascinating human being.
Speaking of Roman, he’s Brock’s opponent at WrestleMania. What will both Superstars bring out of each other?
I think Brock Lesnar will bring out of Roman the audience’s respect for the toughness possessed by Roman Reigns, in the fact that he’s going to have to endure a beating in public in front of 70,000 people the likes of which you are not seeing in the PG presentation of WWE. What Roman Reigns will bring out of Brock Lesnar is the willingness to dish out such a beating in front of 70,000 people that will not be conformed to the PG standards of WWE.
Newsweek