Paul Heyman was a recent guest on the Zaslow Show to discuss this year’s WrestleMania 38, which will be headlined by Universal champion Roman Reigns battling WWE champion Brock Lesnar in a winner-take-all showdown. Highlights from the interview are below.
Why he thinks the Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns WrestleMania match is different this time around:
“I don’t really view this as a trilogy fight. I view this as a first-time-ever because this is the first time that Brock Lesnar is stepping into the ring at WrestleMania with the Tribal Chief. And I think that anything that’s happened before Roman Reigns was the Tribal Chief is the prelude to the run of Roman Reigns’ career that will go down in history as the greatest of all time. And a proven positive is that we already announced that Lesnar vs Roman Reigns, with Brock Lesnar attempting to win the Universal Title because Brock Lesnar won’t be WWE Champion by the time WrestleMania rolls around. Not if I have my way about it. And that will headline night number two, which is WrestleMania Sunday, which is the main event of the grandest stage of them all. So the fact that we’re announcing almost a month out what the main event of WrestleMania is going to be, and the fact that it features Roman Reigns is a testament to the fact that the Tribal Chief is the greatest box office attraction in WWE history.”
Thinks a two-night WrestleMania is better for fans:
“It’s more entertainment for your buck. You’re not just coming in for one night now, you’re coming in for SmackDown, the Hall of Fame with The Undertaker – who would ever want to miss that? And you’re coming in for Night 1 which will be headlined by Ronda Rousey vs. Charlotte Flair for the SmackDown Women’s Championship, which is another match that is going to go down in history. Then you have an entire different second night with all the matches that lead up to the main event of the year with Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar. I don’t even think it’s two nights. I think it’s a four-night affair – it’s SmackDown, the two nights of WrestleMania, and the Monday Night Raw following WrestleMania.”
Calls Roman Reigns the biggest box office attraction in the history of wrestling:
“He is the greatest box office attraction in the history of this industry and I’ll prove it to you. Last year, WWE grossed a billion dollars. You go by the gross receipts, you go by the net receipts, and both of them scream the name ‘Roman Reigns’. Everyone has to acknowledge the Tribal Chief as the greatest of all time. He has stepped into the future that we all predicted he would step into 10 years ago. This is where Roman Reigns was destined to be. He has worked his ass off to become the top star in this industry and the top box office attraction of all time.”
(H/T and transcribed by 411 Mania)
