#HWETW Top 10 – Heat

4.  “E. Dangerously” Heat – Paul Heyman

Without Paul Heyman, there would be no “Stone Cold”, no Punk, no BARAK LESNNNAR. Inasmuch as “prodigy” means “young possible genius who turned into genius”, Paul Heyman is a genius. But he’s very specifically a “wrestling” genius. He has all of the necessary tools to succeed in this very specific niche: a bit of a showman, a bit of a writer, a bit of a shuckster, a bit of an artist.

If not for Vince McMahon, Paul Heyman would be likely have been the great pioneer of professional wrestling… and would have led to a much smaller, lesser known version of professional wrestling. It would also likely be significantly more artistically transcendent in the larger culture and would certainly be more defined as an artistic medium. That’s because Paul Heyman’s a superhero, whose special power is understanding the dynamics of heat. The Albert Einstein of wrestling physics, with an higher understanding of the larger world around him.

He understands where the heat is in everyone, and what/how to draw it out of them. His trouble was always making money of it. Which is why he’s a manager whose rapidly become the WWE’s MVP. John Cena’s Hulk Hogan finally has a “Brain”, and Ladies and Gentleman, his name is Paul Heyman.

Other examples: Stephanie McMahon, Vince McMahon, Paul Levesque(?)

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