Paul Heyman spoke with the folks at Paste Magazine this week to promote his stage show and Sunday night's WrestleMania 34 pay-per-view. Featured below are some of the highlights from the interview.
On crowds at WrestleMania: "I don't know what the makeup of my audience in New Orleans is going to be. The typical WWE audience, the typical critical of WWE audience, or anything typical at all. I have a feeling there's going to be a lot of different styles represented by its fanbase, all converging at the same time. I'm never of the opinion that anybody who desires a certain style is wrong for wanting that. There are people who like a certain style, and people who like another style. People who like this presentation and hate vehemently that presentation. You're never going to get 100% on the same page with a global crowd. It's always going to be a diverse set of opinions, which I like."
On whether or not managers are a thing of the past: "I thought it was passé in 1991 when I asked to be called the CEO of the Dangerous Alliance instead of being called their manager. I haven't wanted to portray a manger since Paul E. Dangerously was with the Samoan Swat Team in 1989. I've always wanted to do some different presentation in that role. I don't consider myself a manger—I'm an advocate, and I truly believe that that is the description for the role that I play. If there's an act out there where somebody can play the manager, or be the manager, and it works, and it clicks at the box office with the audience, then all of a sudden it's not passé. As for now, how I envision what I can bring to the table, I don't think I can play what I consider to be the antiquated role of a manger. I think I play a different character, and that's the portrayal of, and actual implementation of, Brock's advocate."
On CM Punk leaving WWE in part because he wanted a WrestleMania main event and was never given that spot: "It doesn't matter what I think. It matters what Phil Brooks thinks. If in Phil Brooks's heart he is a righteous man by saying, 'I want the WrestleMania main event, I earned the WrestleMania main event, I feel that is my destiny, or there is nothing for me to pursue'—if he feels that he is a righteous man by saying, 'now that I understand that there is nothing left to pursue, so I'm out'—then he is a righteous man. If Phil Brooks doesn't think it was righteous for him to do it, then he's not a righteous man. But it's not for me to judge Phil Brooks as to what is right or wrong or whether he feels justified or not."
Check out the complete Paul Heyman interview at PasteMagazine.com.