During his interview on the Zaslow Show Paul Heyman spoke about this year’s WWE Hall of Fame inductee, the Undertaker, and how vital of a role the Deadman played not just on-screen, but in the locker room. Highlights from the interview are below.
Says it has been an honor working with the Undertaker:
“It’s an honor because, for many years, he was the conscience of the WWE locker room. He’s like the avenging gunslinger that comes into town in a spaghetti western and cleans the joint up, he was the one that everyone looked to for guidance. He was the judge and the jury, and me being the executioner. There are a lot of people that give a lot of credit to Stone Cold Steve Austin, and The Rock, and D-Generation X, and the cast of the Attitude Era, and rightfully so. I mean, they all deserve an enormous amount of credit.”
Thinks Taker needs more credit for his locker room presence:
“Not enough credit goes to The Undertaker for his presence in the locker room, for guiding that locker room through a very tough navigation and a trajectory into the future. This was not only the standard-bearer in terms of big men working, this was the standard-bearer in terms of a modern-day work ethic. And he, it’s very humbling when you realize the enormity of his contributions to this industry and the fact that he so graciously is willing to pass it on to the next generation. He is a man whose means and methods and the manner in which he presents himself is something we should all aspire to.”
Says he saw the magic in Taker back in his WCW days:
“Magic. Leadership. A giant, a giant who could move like a cruiserweight, but understood not to unless necessary. Unless the situation called for it. Intelligence. Checked every box. Just, you know, it’s funny, I get a lot of credit from a lot of people. From the talent themselves, whether it’s The Undertaker, whether it’s Steve Austin — ‘Oh, before anybody noticed me, Paul Heyman noticed me.’ And I don’t think there was ever a lot of credit for that. I think it’s an indictment of other people that didn’t see it. I don’t know how you could be in a room with Mark, with The Undertaker and not understand this guy is very, very special. I don’t understand how you could walk into a room with Steve Austin and not say to yourself, ‘Woah, there’s something very different about this athlete.’ Same way with Brock Lesnar, same way with Roman Reigns. These are extraordinary human beings with the, ‘it factor,’ that everybody always talks about. So it’s not that I saw something in him that other people didn’t see. I think the bigger story is, why didn’t the other people see it right away? How could you not? The audience did. The audience in WCW knew in 1990 there was something very different about Mark. He just wasn’t put in the ring position for WCW to exploit those skills and that talent.”
(H/T and transcribed by Wrestling Inc.)