Paul Heyman Discusses Roman Reigns’ Babyface Turn Origin

Paul Heyman recently shared insights on the “Undisputed” podcast about how his Hall of Fame induction speech marked the beginning of Roman Reigns’ babyface turn last year.

On his Hall of Fame speech catalyzing their new direction:

“My Hall of Fame speech became the catalyst for multiple avenues. In hindsight, it’s the trigger for everything we’ve done this year… Roman Reigns stepping out of character to be emotional about his Wise Man at the Hall of Fame, that was the very first step toward the babyface Roman Reigns while he was still the heel champion and Cody Rhodes was his challenger. Accepting the Hall of Fame honor, in Philadelphia of all places–the birthplace of ECW–at WrestleMania 40 in a building where people were shouting ‘ECW!’, I was so grateful. I was also so thankful to speak to my children on camera for the first time. I went out of my way to keep them off camera and let them decide for themselves what they wanted to do in their lives.”

“That became the first step toward the vulnerable Paul Heyman you saw when Solo really started leaning on me. Roman was vulnerable showing love for his Wise Man. Then the Wise Man revealed his vulnerability, and everyone was ready to embrace us. People were ready for it, then Solo really started to lean on me. In hindsight, the Hall of Fame speech was the beginning of the babyface turns for Roman Reigns and Paul Heyman–and the identification of my best friend in the world, who was sitting beside my children.”

On CM Punk being at the Hall of Fame beside Heyman’s children:

“That came into play this summer when I told Solo that Roman Reigns said for CM Punk to be left alone. So when I came back and it was five-on-four and the OG Bloodline needed one more member for WarGames, it made sense that I’d bring in CM Punk. And it made even more sense that I’d owe him a favor for it.”

On why WWE and WWE Superstars are worthy of Emmy Award consideration:

“I don’t know why, in the past, it’s never been considered. Judging from the level of performance that was offered by people in this industry, including and especially me, I don’t know if we were worthy in the past, but considering where we are today and the complexity of the scenes that play out today, and the fact that we do these scenes in front of a live audience, not just at home, but a live audience that is right on top of every single syllable that we’re uttering, and there are 25,000 people there live, witnessing this story and scene play out, I would suggest that at this time, if you’re going to consider Walton Goggins, who is great or Idris Elba, who I’m an enormous fan, or Donald Glover, or Gary Oldman, I’m the world’s biggest Gary Oldman fan. If you’re going to consider them, then question has to be asked, could they do their scenes in one take where bloopers go live, not only live, but live in front of a studio audience of an NBA arena filled with people. I don’t know if the answer to some of those people is going to be yes. I don’t know if Idris Elba can do it, if Donald Glover can do it, if Oldman can do it. I know that we do it. If you’re going to take these things into consideration, because you not only have to take the performance into consideration, but you have to take the impact of the performance into consideration.”

On why the popular impact of WWE Superstars has to be taken into consideration:

“If that’s the case, going to back to previous television eras, I remember growing up how many posters and t-shirts were sold of Henry Winkler as The Fonz. I remember growing up and witnessing the enormity of the impact Larry Hagman had as JR Ewing and the merchandising of ‘Dallas.’ When you think about that we’re also commerce facilitators, we’re on the cover of major video games, the merchandise sold by the Bloodline, Seth Rollins, CM Punk, Cody Rhodes, Rhea Ripley, Bianca Belair, WWE on Netflix, that has to be taken into consideration. It demonstrates the global impact, the significant impact on the culture itself that this drama series has. When you look at that, how can the Television Academy of Arts and Sciences, or whatever the governing body is, how can they ignore that? If they can recognize Jerry Springer, Phil Donahue, Oprah, these were different genres in television that didn’t apply in early days. These genres became staples of television that changed the way television was done. That’s what we’re doing right now.”

On why people shouldn’t look down on professional wrestling:

“You thumb your nose at it and say, ‘It’s just professional wrestling.’ If it’s just professional wrestling, why is it number one on Netflix? It’s more than that. If you’re going to turn a blind eye, I can’t honestly tell you that I’ve seen a performance, not Billy Bob in ‘Landman,’ not Kevin Costner in ‘Yellowstone’ or Oldman or Idris Elba, I can’t tell you I’ve seen anybody perform better than Roman Reigns or that CM Punk and Cody Rhodes promo on Monday, my God was that riveting and compelling. The performances were stellar. How can that not be held up against the same standard that you apply to these other people who are doing their best performances under, I would suggest, far less pressure-filled circumstances because they can always say, ‘Cut. Take two.’ We can’t. Not only are we live, but we are live in front of a studio audience of a sold out NBA arena.”