Dave Meltzer Discusses Paul Heyman's WWE Hall Of Fame Announcement

The first inductee into the WWE Hall of Fame for 2024 has been revealed, and it is none other than Paul Heyman. Roman Reigns' special counsel has been in the wrestling business since the mid-1980s, managing to work his way into being a ringside photographer for WWE events at Madison Square Garden. From there, he would go on to be known as Paul E. Dangerously in companies like AWA, NWA, and WCW, before finding his biggest success as owner/booker of ECW until the company closed in 2001.

Given that the WWE Hall of Fame ceremony will take place in Philadelphia, the former home of ECW, Dave Meltzer believes that played a factor in Heyman being inducted this year. On top of that, Meltzer stated on Wrestling Observer Radio that not only will Heyman be the first inductee to be chosen by Triple H, but that Heyman has previously turned an induction down. "He's been offered the Hall of Fame before and turned it down with the idea that he's still active, he didn't think he should be in the Hall of Fame until his career's over."

Following ECW's closure, Heyman would make the move to WWE where he began as a color commentator during the Invasion storyline, before disappearing from TV once The Alliance had been defeated. He would return in 2002, bringing Brock Lesnar with him as his "client," while also getting a spot as lead writer of "WWE SmackDown" later that year. He would leave the company in 2006 following the relaunch of ECW that didn't go as well as he hoped, but returned in 2012 and has since managed the aforementioned Reigns and Lesnar, as well as CM Punk, Ryback, Curtis Axel, and Cesaro.

Please credit "Wrestling Observer Radio" when using quotes from this article, and give a H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.