Paul Heyman made a surprising return to WWE television following SummerSlam, sitting next to Roman Reigns as his new client.
Only in this partnership, Reigns is the one in control.
“It’s an opportunity 33 years into my performing career to completely redefine, reimagine and reinvent myself,” Heyman told Sports Illustrated. “I’m now the special counsel to the tribal chief, a role I’ve never played. I’ve been a manager. I’ve been an agent. I’ve been an advocate. I’ve been the CEO of the Dangerous Alliance. I’ve been an executive producer in ECW. I’ve been the executive director of Monday Night Raw. I’ve been the general manager of multiple brands. This is a completely different role for me. That’s the way I look at it and approach it, and it’s a completely different dynamic than I’ve ever had with any other talent.”
Heyman had been off television since Brock Lesnar lost the WWE Title to Drew McIntyre at WrestleMania while Reigns was off television since before WrestleMania, choosing not to work during the pandemic.
“With all humility aside, this is the biggest move WWE could make with its talent at the moment,” Heyman said. “We have the tenured, still-young, just-hitting-his-prime WrestleMania main-eventer, the undisputed No. 1 star in WWE, and he’d been off for seven months. Didn’t even appear at this year’s WrestleMania. Now he’s ready to come back, and he returns with someone that has been on top and been associated with top acts for 30 years. However you define me, whether it’s as a manager, an advocate, a supporting mouthpiece, and now special counsel to the tribal chief, I have been with more WWE and universal champions than anyone. And now these two acts are together for the first time.”
Reigns is set to compete on Friday Night SmackDown when he teams with Jey Uso to battle King Corbin and Sheamus in a Samoan Street Fight.
