Good morning everyone! Please accept my apologies for the delay in my posts recently. As I mentioned in my last post, I am currently very busy with exam revision for my second year of university, together with, writing articles for Give Me Sport. It’s very exciting to be speculating on rumours, current storylines, and providing opinions for them in regards to what might or should occur in this respect.
For anyone who enjoys discussing WWE or Sport in general, I sincerely recommend applying to them to become a writer – it’s really rewarding!
Now back to the matter at hand.
Brock Lesnar
As some may or may not know, Brock Lesnar will likely be out of action for some time, owing to the unique nature of his contract. Many high profile superstars on the roster have this luxury and tend to exercise it straight after an intensive series of promos and matches (other examples include John Cena, The Undertaker and The Rock to name a few). We haven’t seen Brock Lesnar since WrestleMania 32, and I’d wager we won’t be seeing him again until at least summertime (build up to SummerSlam perhaps?).
In light of this, Paul Heyman is of course not occupied with representing Brock Lesnar as his ‘advocate’, leaving many possibilities open in terms of superstars he might wish to represent in the absence of Lesnar.
New Paul Heyman guy?
Some wrestling sources have already speculated on this and have come up with some decent options (Kevin Owens tends to pop up as a strong contender) however I don’t feel he particularly needs it. He’s brilliant on the mic, he’s fantastic at cutting promos and Owens simply just doesn’t need that kind of support. If we consider how powerful Lesnar looks when Paul Heyman does the talking for him, we can see the kind of respect he demands from the crowd, simply by describing the monstrosity of his client. That’s not to say Lesnar can’t cut a decent promo on his own, he did very well back in 2002/2004 when he and Heyman split, but there’s just something about him and Heyman together which is so much more inspiring and compelling to watch and listen to.
I think Paul Heyman’s next ‘guy’ should be Baron Corbin. This man looks fearsome in the ring and when he speaks on the mic. However, he was recently booked to lose a match against Dolph Ziggler in an ongoing feud he has with the superstar, which consequently ended his undefeated streak on the main roster.
I think this was a poor move by WWE this early on in Corbin’s career. At this stage, we are only discovering what his character is about and what his motives are as a superstar. Whilst we have seen him in NXT for a long time, the main roster is different and there are all kinds of disparate superstars he may work with.
Why Baron Corbin?
Personally, I think he’s a main-event guy, through and through. It doesn’t matter if he slips down the card in the future (even the top guys do that), but his first run should include a WWE World Heavyweight Championship reign.
He’s a natural heel and WWE should take advantage of this. Could you imagine some of the rivalries he could have at the very top? (Corbin vs Owens, Corbin vs Reigns , Corbin vs Ambrose etc) I particularly like that last one, I think those two could have tremendous chemistry together, and could pull off fantastic promos.
Paul Heyman should represent Corbin because it will add strength to his character. Heyman’s years of experience in the industry will be invaluable in helping this superstar grow and develop his character. Heyman works particularly well with heels and tends to inadvertently get them over with the crowd despite trying to achieve a heat response. For instance, Lesnar was supposed to be a heel in the storyline with Roman Reigns, and yet Reigns was booed the entire time and every time Lesnar comes out; the crowd literally repeats everything Heyman says word-for-word – what does that tell you about this guys influence?
Whatever the decision, WWE needs to do something with Corbin quick or they will lose the momentum they have (it is already waning after that defeat to Ziggler). This guy is a future main eventer, you heard it here first!
– Christian Reeve
christianreeveblog 
I agree to an extent, pairing Heyman with Corbin would give him some credibility, and establish him as a main event player. However, I think Kevin Owens could benefit more from it. People may say he “Doesn’t need Heyman.” But neither did CM Punk. Punk was always an excellent promo, and with Heyman by his side it only made things better.
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Hmm… I hadn’t considered that. It’s a tricky one because both men would work well with Heyman, although in slightly differing ways. What’s worrying me at this point is that WWE doesn’t appear to have a clear defined plan with any of these superstars. E.g. one minute Kevin Owens is in contention for the WWE title, next minute he’s feuding with Sami Zayn, and now he’s chasing the Intercontinental title again, whilst simultaneously feuding with Sami. I think they could really create something magnificent out of Owens & Zayn. They could stretch that for at least 2-3 PPVs and it could be really compelling. Sorry for the slight tangent here, I guess fundamentally what I’m saying is that either man would be good, but Corbin would potentially benefit from it more in terms of character development. He doesn’t seem to have an established character just yet, whereas Owens is a straight up fighter.
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It’s interesting that WWE doesn’t seem to have plans for anyone except Roman Reigns (or maybe Cena when he comes back). Haha
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Have you listened to the CM Punk podcast with Colt Cabana from 2014?
He touches on this issue amongst others. From he was saying, WWE doesn’t
generally have plans for superstars going forward, only usually the top draws
(Brock, Taker, Cena, Orton etc), everyone else is kind of booked at the last minute.
This kind of explains the lack of continuity with certain storylines too.
For instance, whatever happened to the Brock vs Bray Wyatt storyline?
They attacked him at Royal Rumble and cost him the title and then the whole thing
was dropped. Lesnar randomly started feuding with Ambrose.
I blogged or wrote an article about this recently (can’t remember which haha) but yeah
a Roman Reigns vs heel Cena would be a good draw, but WWE won’t risk it. It’s corporate wrestling,
so all they really seem to be interested in is the merch sales. If Cena or Reigns were turned heel; this
would potentially affect merch sales. But then again, if you look at the poor ratings for the last couple
of months, continual focus on these guys is just not appealing to fans.
I’ve seen so many tweets, blogs, endless shoot interviews and much more on this topic. People just don’t
want to see the same main event every month (PPVs). Reigns and Cena are fantastic competitors don’t get me wrong,
but WWE just isn’t prepared to take the risk with anyone else.
It’s a massive shame really.
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Listened to it, and I always found it weird that WWE never caught onto the idea that well, if you have multiple to stars, you can make more money in terms of merchandise, and when one dude gets injured you’re not totally screwed.
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100% agree with you. In a way this injury crisis has been a good factor, because it’s meant that midcarders are actually getting opportunities now, but how long that will last is of course up for debate. I guess they’re afraid to take major risks?, but I really don’t understand why. From a business perspective, they have the absolute best production methods in the world in terms of putting on a wrestling show. I mean the closest promotion to them is TNA and this is just my personal opinion, but I think it looks quite withdrawn and basic in comparison. That of course might play to their strengths (i.e. focus on the wrestling as opposed to the glamorization). But I don’t know, I’ve always enjoyed both the wrestling and the compelling nature of storylines, gimmicks etc. I guess simply put, they need to take more risks, but they’re afraid encase it backfires like previous attempts (e.g. bringing back ECW).
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I will have to disagree on this. Corbin has improved to an extent in a ring, but my opinion is that he will roam in the middle to upper middle mid card the remainder of his career. The next Paul Heyman Guy should be Nakamura! He can get over in NXT by himself, but when they call him up, he will struggle when it comes to promos. This is where Heyman comes in…
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Hmm, I understand your point concerning Corbin. It’s likely that he probably will be used in that manner unless WWE change something with his gimmick and give him a major push. Can’t see Nakamura being the guy, he’s an amazing performer though. I can’t see it purely because I don’t see him as a particularly strong heel, and you need someone like that to work Heyman.
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Brock Lesnar is more of antihero than anything. Not a natural heel like Triple H or Randy Orton. I was thinking that Nakamura can work with Heyman temporarily, then Heyman can turn against Nakamura. Similar to Survivor Series ’02.
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That’s probably owing to his abilities and athleticism, it’s hard to argue with the
points Heyman makes regarding Lesnar. Interesting idea, it could elevate Nakamura significantly
if done well.
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