Paul Heyman Pays Homage To New Jack
On today's Talking Smack, Paul Heyman paid homage to late, great New Jack, who tragically passed away on Friday at the age of 58. New Jack, who wrestled for Heyman from 1995 – 2001 in ECW, was one of the most innovative and controversial figures the pro wrestling industry had ever seen. To Heyman, he was a man of pure violence, but he was a man who always gave his fans their money's worth.
"I avoid eulogies as best I can because anytime I'm faced with them, the first thing that comes to mind is, 'Hey, this sucks,' and there's no good spin that I can put on it," Heyman began with tears in his eyes. "When I heard that New Jack had passed away, my hope was that New Jack had turned to his wife and said, 'Hey, I'd like to read my own obituary. Call a bunch of people, and tell them that I died. And then everybody's gonna make a big fuss about it. And I'll read about my whole life.' And then, at some point this weekend, they'd sell a bunch of t-shirts, and he'd sit there and go gotcha. That's what New Jack would do. Apparently, it's not so, which sucks.
"Usually, when we pay tribute to somebody here in WWE, we show a lot of footage of that person. To be blunt, we can't show you a lot of footage of New Jack because he was the most non-PG performer in sports-entertainment history because New Jack was a gangsta. Everybody who was a fan of ECW that came to see ECW who watched ECW knew that fact from the moment his music hit. New Jack was the most gangsta of all of us gangstas. Anybody that ever saw New Jack perform live or heard him cut a promo understood just how real he was."
Just as he was concluding his send-off, Heyman made sure to remind everyone just how pure New Jack was to this sport throughout his 29-year career.
"Jerome Young was quite the individual. And deep in his heart, he was every bit of New Jack that he could offer you," Heyman said with a faint smile. "I wish you all a most extreme weekend. Gangsta style."
You can check out Paul Heyman's tribute to New Jack on Peacock and the WWE Network. If you use any quotes from this article, please credit WWE Talking Smack and give a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.