Plans changed for WrestleMania XL with WWE pivoting from Roman Reigns vs. The Rock to the two men teaming against Cody Rhodes & Seth Rollins at night one, leading to Reigns vs. Rhodes at night two.
Paul Heyman had a front row seat for the entire experience as "The Wiseman" for Roman Reigns.
Speaking to CBS Sports' Shakiel Mahjouri, Heyman was asked what he learned from WWE shifting plans.
"Have your finger on the pulse of the audience at all times. Some people don’t and some people do. That story ended up exactly where that story should’ve ended up. That story ended up with Roman Reigns vs. Cody Rhodes in the main event of WrestleMania 40, and that was the rightful main event of WrestleMania 40 as the audience had a two year investment in that story. They lived it with us. When I say ‘us,’ I include Cody in that ‘us’ because was the protagonist in that story. We were the antagonists. They lived it not only by witnessing it and experiencing it, they lived it many times through the eyes of the protagonist and the struggles that he had to endure and survive and thrive through, all with his chin up and with a progressive ‘move forward’ attitude. The lesson to be learned is the same lesson that was learned back in the amphitheaters of ancient Greece.
"Know what the audience wants, super-serve that desire, and make sure that you have navigation towards where the story needs to go or can go with many different avenues depending on where the culture may take us tomorrow. Tomorrow’s culture may be very different than today’s. Something can transpire tomorrow and all of culture can go with it. Fashion, music, taste, movies, sensitivities towards what’s on the screen, any sensitivity towards what’s on the screen. It doesn’t take much. It takes very little to pivot the entire culture and you have to have a finger on where that can go because if you’re not right now thinking ‘where is the culture going to be in April?’ How do you start planning out your WrestleMania main events?"
Elsewhere during the interview, Heyman commented on CM Punk fighting against being a "Paul Heyman Guy." You can find his full comments by clicking here.
Heyman now owes Punk a favor after Punk joined Roman Reigns and the OG Bloodline for WarGames at WWE Survivor Series.
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