Paul Heyman Calls Corey Graves "The Joe Rogan Of WWE," Says That He Tried To Sign Former UFC Champ
Recently, on Sam Roberts' Show Live Paul Heyman was interviewed and he addressed a number of topics including the different wrestling styles that comprised ECW and Heyman's thoughts on WWE personality Corey Graves.
According to Heyman, ECW was all about showcasing professional wrestling styles that were new and progressive and tomorrow, "which is what NXT is about". Heyman stated that "it was always what we didn't have" and that he would not look for blood and guts if ECW already had blood and guts" and that he would not look for more high flyers if the company already had many high flyers.
Apparently, when Chris Benoit, Dean Malenko, and Eddie Guerrero signed with WCW, ECW lost the Japan style they brought with them. Instead of seeking out the Japanese style again to fill the void, Heyman turned his attention to the lucha libre style because there was no representation of lucha in the United States at the time.
Heyman called Konnan and asked who is the best that he has in Mexico and Konnan said he had Rey Mysterio, Psicosis, and Juventud Guerrera. Heyman replied, "well, I'll take all three and you can come along with them".
By the time ECW lost Mysterio, Psicosis, Guerrero, and Konnan to WCW, there was a new movement in Japan with Tajiri leading the charge. Heyman recalled reaching out to Victor Quinones and saying, "hey, Victor, I would really like to get Tajiri and Super Crazy in here together because I have guys that can work that style as well".
Later, Heyman would inject some MMA influence into ECW, promoting Taz as a mixed martial artist and submission specialist. At that time, Heyman reached out for Paul Varelans and Heyman was interested in taking more MMA fighters including Gary Goodridge, Randy Couture, and Frank Shamrock. With respect to Shamrock, Heyman claimed that he desperately tried to bring Shamrock into ECW to work with Taz and that Shamrock probably would have ended up as World Champion for a while.
When asked who excites him from the NXT roster, Heyman said he would take Corey Graves as a first round draft pick. Heyman called Graves the best color commentator in professional wrestling today and "the Joe Rogan of WWE".
"Corey gets the whole roster over and that's the key," Heyman said. "The job that he's doing is so phenomenal that sooner than later, we're going to say that Joe Rogan is the Corey Graves of UFC."
In response, Graves indicated that Heyman's praise means the world to him and that Heyman is one of the reasons Graves is involved in professional wrestling today.
"I hope he's not full of it and I'm truly humbled," Graves said. "The fact that [he said] it in front of people is doubly cool".
During the show, Roberts interviewed Heyman and Graves individually and both participated in a Q & A session with fans to close out the show. You can watch the full show in the video above.