WWE’s insecurities and the genius of Paul Heyman

Paul Heyman

WWE often says that the fans don’t know what they want. WWE often plays off the chants, putting them off as a “One time thing”. A few days before WWE went into Chicago for the March 3^rd episode of RAW, this calm demeanor of the WWE wasn’t the same. Heads were rolling, people were scattering, trying to find ways to calm the notoriously loud and vocal fans of Chicago.

With their hometown hero CM Punk walking away from the WWE, the WWE management expected the worst. Even the Chicago fans wanted to make life difficult for the WWE management, with a few fans starting a Twitter page to “hijack” the RAW episode. WWE pulled out all the stops, bringing in the likes of Hulk Hogan and even the phenom, The Undertaker.

WWE knew that no matter what happened, the fans will turn on the show with a loud chorus of CM Punk chants. They knew that no matter how much they emphasized on the “fan favorites” such as Daniel Bryan and Dolph Ziggler, the fans would turn on the others such as Batista and Randy Orton, who at that point were slated to main event WrestleMania 30. WWE was running out of options, and that is when one man’s brilliance was executed. Cue Paul “I’m the devil’s advocate” Heyman.

I’ve already written how Paul Heyman will easily make the “Top 5 best mic workers of all time” list before. I’ve emphasized on Heyman’s massive contribution on revolutionizing professional wrestling, and I’ve also praised Heyman’s brilliance as a head booker and writer in the WWE, when Smackdown! was the show to watch, with some excellent feuds, amazing matches and timed – to – perfection storylines. Obviously, the man with the plan doesn’t stop impressing the critics or his fans, and he didn’t disappoint any of us when RAW rolled out of the Allstate Arena in Chicago, on the night of March 3^rd.

The beginning of the show needed to drive in the point that a global organization doesn’t stop because of one person walking out. I’m a huge CM Punk fan, and no matter what anyone else thinks, I believe that unless you’re happy, what you’re doing isn’t worth it. If a performer isn’t satisfied with his job, he needs to do justice to himself first, and then to everyone else.

CM Punk had all the rights to go home if he believed that the WWE wasn’t utilizing his services to the maximum, as I’ve been a frustrated worker before, and I did the same when I finally realized that no matter how hard I tried, I wasn’t going to enjoy what I was doing.

Anyway, so the WWE needed someone to calm the fans down, or better, negate their hostility right at the beginning of the show. Yet, WWE didn’t choose Hulk Hogan to open the segment, neither did they send out the one superstar that no fan would ever boo – The Undertaker. Instead, the “Cult of Personality” hit as Paul Heyman strutted on to the stage, and mocked CM Punk. It wasn’t “clobbering time”, but it was Paul Heyman’s.

http://youtu.be/00cZ6G_1ICU

Heyman praised CM Punk, which obviously made the fans cheer Heyman. Slowly but surely, Heyman was laying a trap, something so subtle that unless you’d stop his promo second – by – second, you wouldn’t know when and how he was turning the fans against themselves. Heyman played up Punk walking out, and then ever so slowly made the promo all about Undertaker – Brock Lesnar, and not about CM Punk.

Just like that, Heyman took the spotlight off of Punk and put it back on the WrestleMania 30 match between Lesnar and ‘Taker. What more? He blamed the fans for Punk being in the situation he is in. In a matter of seconds, like the infamous Bash at the Beach ’96 turn of Hulk Hogan, Heyman went from being CM Punk’s mentor to the devil’s advocate. Just when you thought you knew the answers, Heyman changed the entire subject of what the questions were about.

WWE, for all their mockery of the Internet Wrestling Community or the smart wrestling fans, was on the back foot for once, and that will no doubt happen again, but they know that there is one person they can bank on, who can easily play with the emotions of the crowd – pander them for one moment and suck out their joy the next. Paul Heyman doesn’t play within the contours of the boundaries – Genius isn’t a word that can be thrown around easily, but it fits Heyman perfectly.

All those who were true masters of their trade never played by the rules. You cannot achieve true perfection when you’re restricted and constrained by the rights and wrongs of other people. Paul Heyman, much like CM Punk doesn’t care what the rules are about. Paul Heyman is someone that will challenge the facts, just for his own amusement. Paul Heyman doesn’t need professional wrestling, but professional wrestling direly needs Paul Heyman.