Paul Heyman Speaks Out – Negotiations With TNA, Cena/Lesnar, More

Paul Heyman recently spoke with Ring Rust Radio. Here are the highlights…

On Lesnar vs. Cena: The same thing that was in store for The Undertaker at WrestleMania; a beating beyond compare. I don’t need to hype SummerSlam to those who understand the dominance that prevails in the universe that has been conquered by Brock Lesnar. I think the people who need to be sold on this Pay-Per-View are John Cena fans, to which I offer this very quick sales pitch. If you are a fan of John Cena, and if you are there is no accounting for taste, this is your last opportunity to see him. And if you think it’s all hype and hyperbole, here’s something to consider; if you look back on 21 appearances at WrestleMania by The Undertaker, you can rarely find a video clip of someone even getting a two-count on The Undertaker. Brock Lesnar just didn’t beat The Undertaker, Brock Lesnar hospitalized The Undertaker. Brock Lesnar gave The Undertaker such an ass-kicking that The Undertaker has not been seen, nor heard from since. There was no controversy. There was no outside interference. There was no manager distraction. Brock Lesnar stepped into the ring and beat The Undertaker within an inch of his life, and the same fate awaits for John Cena at the Staples Center, on August 17 in Los Angeles at SummerSlam.

On His New DVD: If you asked me two years ago if the WWE would’ve made a DVD of me, I wouldn’t say yes. I wouldn’t have envisioned this coming and I wasn’t particularly happy when I heard they were going to do it because I didn’t know what stories they were going to tell. I also knew that meant sitting down and reflecting upon my career and my life and I hate looking back. I’m obsessed with looking forward. I’m flattered by all of the positive reviews the DVD has gotten and I’m glad people like the take that was offered. Really, I have nothing to bitch about regarding it.

On The TNA Negotiation story: In 2010, after Brock Lesnar choked out Shane Carwin, there was a discussion that I had with TNA that involved Spike TV. Ultimately, because TNA had been trying to get me on the phone from the day I left WWE in 2006 and I never took the phone call. We finally got into a conversation because Spike TV had reached out to make that happen. Ultimately, the story of this is, if I was going to do it, I wanted the Dana White deal. I wanted complete control, I wanted a piece of the company and I wanted the ability to, when the time was right, to take it public. I wanted to do the programming completely different than the way they had been doing it and Spike TV signed off on it. The concept was a very youth-oriented, youth-based, youth-marketed promotion. A complete contrast to the way WWE does things. A complete and utter alternative to WWE at the time. While the ruling family in TNA had no problem with my salary request, my ownership demands, my concepts, etc. etc., they didn’t want to implement as much of a youth-oriented product as I was looking for and I balked at it. I have no regrets about that. At the end of the day, they were happier being a WWE-lite promotion than they were branding themselves something different as TNA. So that was the last flirtation I had with doing my own thing. I do my own thing with my marketing brand and talent agency in New York City called Looking 4 Larry Agency. I’m very proud of the body of work. We have a long list of clients including 2KSports and in the past THQ and EA Sports and a number of different clients. And I get to do my own thing in the mainstream world with a marketing firm right in the heart of New York City. In regard to doing my own thing in sports entertainment, I kinda do my own thing now with Brock Lesnar and I’m very happy doing it. Running a whole show is a 24/7 and 365 commitment, and you would need an enormous amount of financing and very strong distribution set up front to get me to the table to even consider such a task. Otherwise, it’s doomed to fail.

On WWE Bringing in International Talent: I commend them on this reach out for the best talent on the face of the planet. That obviously includes the two men you just mentioned. We’re getting the cream of the crop and that notes a style change in the WWE. A higher work rate. Higher customer satisfaction in terms of the actual in-ring product. It’s a very exciting future to think about the kind of people who have yet to debut on WWE television.

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