How Paul Heyman's Backstage Dynamic With Roman Reigns Differs From What WWE Fans See
Paul Heyman has been paired up onscreen with Roman Reigns since August 2020, when Reigns returned from his time away in the initial months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Since the start of their partnership, Heyman has served Reigns loyally as "special counsel," helping his "Tribal Chief" and the rest of The Bloodline hold onto their titles at any cost. During a recent appearance on "Tetragrammaton with Rick Rubin," Heyman described how his behind-the-scenes relationship with Reigns differs from what fans see on TV.
"Roman Reigns is a fascinatingly intelligent human being. Brilliant," Heyman said. "All false humility aside, behind the scenes, I serve as wise man for Roman Reigns — for that human being. 100%. But I learn as much from him ... every day as he will ever learn from me." Heyman went on to describe the differences in his mentality compared to Reigns'.
"He is forward-thinking," Heyman continued. "I gotta keep up with him. I'm challenged every day to keep up with the progressive approach that he takes to our industry. He looked at pandemic WWE with a digital audience in a manner that no one else did."
Reigns adapts post-pandemic
The industry veteran stated that while others saw the lack of a live audience as a limitation, Reigns used it as an opportunity to try new things, such as taking advantage of their new ability to whisper, or being able to bring the cameras into the ring.
"When there's no audience, you can whisper, and you can start doing movie scenes," Heyman quietly said. "We can bring a sophistication to this product. We can upgrade the product. We can elevate the product. We can bring better acting to this product. We can do scenes instead of angles. ... We can literally draw an audience — attract a crowd — to see the next chapter of the story play out, and it doesn't even have to be a match anymore."
According to Heyman, Reigns wouldn't have brought about these changes if it weren't for the need to adapt to the pandemic era. However, "The Wise Man" believes that even if the pandemic hadn't occurred, Reigns would have found another way to change the game entirely.