Source: SLAM! Sports
SLAM! Sports recently interviewed Paul Guay – a former WWE writer who was employed by the company during the Heyman vs. McMahon backstage ego clash. Below is an excerpt of the interview followed by a link to the entire report.
Guay was also on-hand to witness the tumultuous relationship between Vince and Heyman. “They’re both very strong personalities that were, when I was there, pulling in different directions, and it was clear that there were personal issues that were affecting what was going on,” Guay theorizes. During his time, though, and even after his short tenure had come to an end, Guay developed enormous respect for Heyman’s abilities behind-the-scenes. “When I talked to Paul privately, I was more impressed by what he said than by anyone else I’ve ever met in the wrestling industry,” he explains. “His ways to pitch stars, to make stars out of guys … I’ve never encountered anything like it.”
Guay quickly points out that his admiration for Heyman does not necessarily preclude admiration for McMahon, and he doesn’t feel the need to enter into an “either-or” appreciation of the pair. In fact, he suggests, he can understand why, on the surface, some may find it hard to appreciate Heyman for his talents. “You’ve got Vince, whose company is worth a billion dollars,” Guay begins. “You could say ‘What has Paul Heyman done?’ He joins a tiny company and runs it into the ground. That’s true, that’s part of Paul’s story. But the other part is that he kept creating stars who were big enough that WWE and WCW were poaching them from this guy who they don’t even admit exists, although apparently Vince is helping to fund the company under the table. What is it about this guy who hires unknowns but is showcasing them in a way that makes you want to poach them and bring them onto the main stage? This is an interesting guy. I remember when I was there and we were talking about an upcoming pay-per-view, and Paul and I were out in the parking lot. He was pitching me on how to make Tommy Dreamer challenge for the title. Before he said anything I thought ‘Why do I want to see Tommy Dreamer challenge for the title?’ Ten minutes later I was thinking I want to buy that pay-per-view, that’s a story I want to see told. Heyman is just great at creating a scenario that you’d want to invest your money to see, which is a remarkable talent.”
As for his own talents and how he influenced decision-making with the WWE creative team, Guay is matter-of-fact about his visible legacy with the WWE. There is nothing that I contributed that made its way onto television,” he states, though he did have one idea coming in that, as it turned out, the story team was already developing. “When I was there they were just making the decision to have Kurt [Angle] fight Brock [Lesnar] at Wrestlemania and, before I joined, I was going to pitch them Kurt and Brock at Wrestlemania. They actually did it to their enormous credit.” Read the rest by clicking here!
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