Paul Heyman Brought MVP In As His Successor

Paul Heyman is one of, if not, the greatest managers of all time. The ECW genius has managed the who’s who of wrestling business including The Undertaker and “Stone Cold” Steve Austin.

Heyman, 56, recently appeared on “The Masked Man Show” podcast to hype up the upcoming WWE Championship match between Brock Lesnar and Bobby Lashley. The former RAW executive revealed how he got back MVP into the WWE.

“I’m very proud of him as a human being because you talk about someone who didn’t let his own past drag him down,” Heyman said. He continued, “He came out of a situation and said, ‘Ok, how do I turn my life around?’ How do I live out my dreams even though I have this blemish on me that I’m never going to shake? How can I rise above this?’”

“MVP called me when I was executive director of RAW and said, ‘The Rumble is in Houston. You know I have a son. My son never saw me as MVP. Can you get me in the Rumble I know how talented he is. I think that life beat him down so bad and he was trying to stay positive and stay inspiring to his son, but I think he forgot the greatness that he had to offer.

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“I said to him, ‘I’ll make you a deal. I’ll get you in the Rumble if you work RAW the next night. Who do you like? Who do you want to work with?’ He said, ‘Mysterio.’ I said, ‘Okay, work with Rey Mysterio. I’ll make that match happen, but I want a match, not just an appearance in the Rumble.’”

Heyman revealed he pitched multiple roles for MVP to WWE head honcho Vince McMahon, adding that he knew MVP was a great hand and both the performers and the management could rely on him.

“Meanwhile, behind the scenes without him knowing, I went to all the appropriate parties and through protocol, and that includes Vince because that’s the autonomy, that’s the final say, and I pitched him to be a producer who brings his gear with him on the road.

“So if for some reason, if somebody misses a plane, a flight is canceled, or somebody gets sick or injured and we need a replacement, ‘Hey we have this legacy star, former U.S. Heavyweight Champion, MVP. Ballin’, and he can perform. We can plug him into a match. He’s there, he’s a producer, and people are learning from his experience. ‘Great let’s do that.’

“Then as I was doing the Bobby Lashley-Lana-Rusev triangle, I said, ‘You know what? Lashley ultimately should end up with MVP. That would be great.’ By the time he showed up at the Rumble, I had pitched him and got him hired for four jobs. He was wrestling, he was managing, he was commentating, and he was a producer. My theory was he may not last in three of them, but there’s no way they’re going to get rid of him on all four.

“I had no idea which one he was going to end up keeping. If you would have told me he was going to end up as a commentator, great, as a producer, great, as a wrestler, great, as a mouthpiece for Bobby Lashley, great. I knew he would end up with at least one if not more of those, but at least one, and I knew he could concentrate on that one and excel at it.”

Heyman said he brought in MVP as his successor, noting that he knew MVP could be an excellent mouthpiece that is why they paired him up with Bobby Lashley in the first place.

“I also knew that Brock’s time was winding down, he was going to go home for a while, and that the lead mouthpiece position was going to be opened up, so I brought him in to replace me. I brought him in as my successor. I brought him in to carry that role on because there were a few people that were helping someone do a promo, but they weren’t doing the role of the old school manager, the new school advocate.

“They weren’t being tied to a persona that you couldn’t imagine those two being apart. I knew that Lashley and MVP had such synergy and such chemistry that putting them together, you couldn’t imagine Bobby Lashley without MVP or MVP without Bobby Lashley. I knew that dynamic would be, forget about it being gold, it would be platinum. It would be such box office that they would just jell together and become an act as one.

“That’s the real successor to the evolution of where managers have gone, that you be with an act, and be so identified with that act, that you complete it and it’s not the same without you. Since I knew Brock was going to take time off, MVP was the heir apparent to carrying on that role in the lead position in this industry.”

Lashley’s partnership with MVP has done wonders for both men and there’s no denying it. MVP has elevated “The Almighty” to new heights of dominance with his mic skills. The interaction between Heyman and MVP will surely be interesting when Lesnar and Lashley clash this Saturday at the Royal Rumble.

Thanks to Wrestling News for the transcription. What’s your take on this story? Sound off in the comments!