Paul Heyman: Today’s Recruits View WWE As An Option, Not An Obsession

Paul Heyman believes there’s one key difference between today’s recruits and those who previously aimed to pursue greatness in WWE.

Paul Heyman believes there’s one critical difference between today’s recruits and those who previously aimed to pursue greatness in the world of sports entertainment.

Heyman, the former head of ECW, is renowned for his eye for talent, and he was on hand at the WWE tryout in Nashville ahead of WWE SummerSlam. This experience allowed him to meet the prospective superstars of tomorrow, and he learned a lot about them.

In an interview with Graham “GSM” Matthews of Bleacher Report, Heyman highlighted how recruits no longer view wrestling as a fervent obsession. Instead, they approach WWE as an option, knowing that they can fall back on other alternatives if their attempted ventures into sports entertainment don’t work out. In Heyman’s mind, another key difference lies in the preexisting knowledge, or lack thereof, of the business, as the class is meant to educate people who come from outside of the wrestling world about it.

“There’s a difference right now in that today’s recruits are those who see this as an option, not an obsession. These aren’t people living and dying and breathing and hoping and praying that all of their dreams since they were five years old can come true or come crashing down around them by the decision that’s made.

“This guy might say, ‘Oh, if this doesn’t work out, I’ll go play Canadian football,’ or, ‘I’ll go play basketball in Europe,'” he continued. “My thing is, I’m going to ask you a lot of questions you better not have the answer to, because if you do, you’re in the wrong class because this is for people that don’t have the prior knowledge,” he said.

Heyman emphasized that, at the end of the day, an athlete’s ability to properly represent the company is the priority. He stated that he saw plenty of recruits who are qualified, and their potential impact on the industry ranged. The veteran also shared his belief that it’s important for the new generation to come in with its own perspective.

“There are plenty of people I saw today that are qualified. Are they going to main-event WrestleMania? There’s a few people I can see that happening with, but not everyone, and I’m very excited about working with them in the future. But not all of them. If you’re not going to main-event WrestleMania, are you a disruptor? Are you someone who’s going to change the industry? Are you someone who’s going to give us a vision that we don’t have? Someone who’s 20 better not look at this industry the same way I do,” Heyman said.

One of WWE’s recent signees, Logan Paul, recently shared his thoughts on the company and called it a well-organized machine. His comments are available here.