There has been a lot of speculation about Paul Heyman’s future in WWE now that Vince McMahon has retired from the company.
Heyman butted heads with Stephanie McMahon, now co-CEO with Nick Khan, in the mid-2000s when he was part of the SmackDown creative team. It should be noted that Heyman butted heads with a lot of people, including Vince back then.
During a recent PWTorchVIP.com audio show, Wade Keller talked about Heyman’s future.
Keller stated, “He ran ECW, he revolutionized the wrestling industry. Without him there is no Attitude Era, I don’t think. And then he has worked with WWE and he butted heads with Stephanie McMahon. As I’ve talked about in recent months, it seems like to people that have seen them that Heyman and Stephanie get along. You know like, genuinely, there’s a chemistry and a dynamic between them that’s very positive. And that’s very different than you know, 15-20 years ago. So, Heyman is someone to watch. He’s really, really smart. And he is a wrestling guy.”
Keller doesn’t know much about Heyman’s relationship with Khan.
“I’ve often wondered if he and Nick Khan have gotten close. I don’t know how Nick Khan would feel equipped to deal with Paul Heyman given what he might hear about Paul Heyman over the decades, but Paul is not the same person he was 15-20 years ago. People say how him having kids really changed him and just growing up and maturing and now he’s the type who more scoffs at people who are like him — He scoffs at people who are like him at the age that they’re at now, more than being like them, if that makes sense. So you know, Paul is somebody to watch too. He’s so smart and he’s so connected to big names [such as] Brock Lesnar, Ronda Rousey [and] Roman Reigns. So depending on how things shake out, Triple H and Stephanie may be leaning on Paul, and he could be in their inner circle. And that would be quite a powerful trio of people who could take WWE into the next era on the wrestling side, Nick on the business side, and then Stephanie, Paul and Paul…So that’s something to watch.”
Bruce Prichard is currently in charge of creative, but there could be a change in the coming months. Heyman was praised for his work as the Raw Executive Director.
H/T to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription