In the newest episode of "What's Your Story?", Paul Heyman sat down with former WWE executive Stephanie McMahon for a sit-down interview where they discussed a wide variety of topics.
At one point during the over two-hour interview, Heyman and Stephanie reminisced about their time together on WWE's creative team, revealing that former CEO Vince McMahon attempted to pit one against the other. Below transcript transcribed by fightful.com
Heyman: “But we were pitted against each other.”
McMahon: “Who!? You and me?”
Heyman: “Oh, of course.”
McMahon: “Oh, of course we were.”
Heyman: “Of course we were. We were absolutely pitted against each other.”
McMahon: “Why didn’t I see it?”
Heyman: “First of all, I had just spent seven and a half years of my life being God of my own universe… Whatever I decided was it. But that was it. I was the end-all, be-all. I was, from 1993 to 2001, the Vincent Kennedy McMahon of my own company. I was the only word that truly mattered. Every decision ran through me, and if I delegated it, that decision had to be approved by me, changed by me, contoured by me. But ultimately, it ran through me.”
McMahon: “Even pay.”
Heyman: “Everything… I had the reputation of having the hardest-working crew in the business. Even more than the multi-millionaires that were working here, and Steph would always ask me, ‘How did you get people to work so hard for you, and be so loyal to you, when they weren’t getting paid?’ That always fascinated Steph.”
McMahon: “Not only that they weren’t getting paid, and this I mean with total respect — the way I’m gonna say it — but, you were hustling, right? You were trying to pay them. So you were saying, ‘You’re gonna get paid,’ and then they didn’t get paid but, ‘You’re gonna get paid again next week’ and then you were shuffling…”
McMahon: “So, I wanted to be with you so badly and then it would get shut down, and then I’m like, but why doesn’t it work? I don’t get it.”
Heyman: “So, when I came aboard, I was told, ‘My daughter runs the writing team. Take her out of her game. I want you to be the disruptor in the room. I want you to be the contrarian opinion. Do not make that easy. There’s no nepotism here. She earns that right to manage you, or she doesn’t get to do it.’ At the same time, so I’m walking in to be the disruptor, I’m walking in to be the bowl in the china shop, I’m walking in to just say, here’s the f*cking answers, she’s told, ‘Goddamnit Stephanie! You gotta manage that Heyman guy! He’s out of control. He thinks this is his company, and it’s not!”
McMahon: “This is true.”
Heyman: “‘Rein him in. If you wanna be respected — if Stephanie Marie McMahon — if you want people to respect you as an executive, and as a professional, and as a manager of people, you can’t let Heyman take you out of your game. You have to show that you can manage someone like him.’”
McMahon: “This is true. This is all true.”
Heyman: “Completely pitted against each other.”
McMahon: “I know, but it’s fascinating in hindsight, right? And we figured it out anyway.”
Heyman: “One day, in one of those count sessions… I just sat there and went –”
McMahon: “‘So you’re f*cking with me at 3 o’clock in the morning?’ I guess I was a little upset so I lash out at you.”
Heyman: “Oh, blasted me. ‘What the f*ck is wrong with you? Who told you to make my life so f*cking difficult!?’ ‘Your father!’ ‘Oh.’ ‘He told me to rein you in.’ ‘Oh really?’ It was an interesting lesson for both of us.”
