Paul Heyman on Staying Relevant, Believing in ECW, Managing Undertaker

WWE personality and former ECW owner Paul Heyman recently spoke to The Ringer.

On staying relevant in the wrestling business: “Tell me somebody who was in the NWA who was relevant then and relevant now. Sting’s not. Lex Luger’s not. It’s Ric Flair and Paul Heyman. Tell me someone from that entire era who is relevant today. Vince McMahon. Jerry Lawler. And of all those people that I’ve named, how many of them are in a prominent position on television today? The only one is me. So, how? The manner in which you were treated behind the scenes did not promote longevity. You were going to be used up and spit out. And here I am as the advocate of the number-one attraction, the highest-paid commodity, the top champion on the flagship show in the company that owns 99 percent of the market share. Obviously whatever I was doing back then, that people perceived as career suicide, gave me the ability to survive long enough to have a longevity that no one else enjoys.”

On being ECW’s number one believer: “I never looked at ECW as wrestling. I always considered it more of a theology. I don’t know whether I had or didn’t have a messianic complex during that time. But I bought into the movement as much as, if not more than, anybody else. If I sold anyone on the religion of extreme, I was its number-one customer.”

On whether he’ll work with people in WWE aside from Brock Lesnar: “As long as Brock is in WWE. I don’t think it makes sense to work with someone else.”

On managing The Undertaker when he was “Mean Mark” Callous in 1990: “[He was] shockingly mature for someone so new to the industry.”