Paul Heyman Reveals Backstage WWE Creative Liaison Role: ‘I’m There for Any Talent’

WWE

Paul Heyman’s WWE role stretches far beyond being an on-screen star, with the Hall of Famer giving an insight into his off camera work in a newly released interview.

Familiar as “The Oracle” for The Vision and Brock Lesnar’s “Advocate” on WWE programming, Paul Heyman has revealed his behind-the-scenes role and how broad his responsibilities are.

Speaking on Insight with Chris Van Vliet, Heyman described himself as a talent liaison who also interfaces with the creative process, saying:

“If I were to list my scope of services, what would be number one? I’m the liaison for some talent, in terms of I’m the creative liaison between that talent and the creative team, the creative team and that talent, so a lot of the creative will flow through me in both directions.

“I handle a lot of the behind-the-scenes business for members of The Vision, obviously for Brock Lesnar, and there are others, more so on Fridays than on Mondays, because Mondays I’m on air a lot, I sit all the way in the right corner in Gorilla. Paul Levesque is up in the position with the headsets on, Bruce Prichard, or Ed Koski or John Beckstrom or Ryan Ward will sit next to Paul, so of the 1,000 details per show that Paul has to hold on to, anything that needs to be taken care of. Okay, take care of that. As he navigates the macro, the micro will fall down to the person next to him.

“In front of them will be (Billy) Kidman or Jason (Jordan), who keep the show honest in terms of time, commercial breaks. We have to hit this crossover, we have to be off the air by this moment, and next to them will be the producer of the segment on headsets, to this side will be the writer of the segment on headsets, and next to the writer is me, and I just sit there and I watch the show, and I’m watching for things that ‘we need to follow up on that.’ ‘Oh, you know what? Let’s not follow up anymore on this.’ ‘Let’s pull that segment coming up in 12 or 13, because it’s a good mystery as it is now.’

“I can give instant feedback during the show, but more importantly, I’m there for any talent. I’m there all day for any talent, top to bottom, newcomer to veteran, NXT talent moving up to (the) legend that’s there for a cameo. I’m there for anybody that wants to talk about their performance that night, or their creative process, or how they’re going to approach a certain scene, or their match, or their finish, or anything that they want to talk about in this business. In the art form of the presentation, immediate or long-term, I’m there to talk to them. If I can have the liberty of using this phrase to bestow some wisdom upon them.”

The relationship with WWE has seemingly much improved over Heyman’s first stint, with the Hall of Famer noting that the relaunch of ECW in 2006 saw his relationship with Vince McMahon break down.

Bringing The Show To The Television Screen

It should come as little surprise that there are a lot of moving parts when it comes to bringing Raw, SmackDown or the many PLEs to the live audience, whether they are at home or in the venue itself.

WWE Unreal has given fans an insight into what goes on behind-the-scenes, albeit in an edited format for the Netflix audience. It offers an insight into the successes and challenges that the team faces at all levels making the weekly show happen, along with bigger moments at any number of Premium Live Events.

The creative team is a well-known entity, with Triple H sitting at the top of that structure, although getting access to the executive isn’t something that every star enjoys. For many, being able to relay back through agents and up the chain is the closest they may get to the top, particularly on show day.

Issues are occasionally reported, with the WWE SmackDown tag team division being one such situation that has seen ‘growing frustration‘ backstage. It likely comes as no surprise, giving the description that Heyman gives of the behind-the-scenes environment that not everything is as smooth as it perhaps could be.

For every frustration, however, there are a multitude of successes, and what could be seen as an issue now could very well be smoothed out in the coming weeks.

As Triple H is fond of saying “the story never ends”, and that is as true of the stars telling it as it is of those who facilitate it behind the scenes.

To make sure you stay up to date with all the biggest wrestling and WrestleTalk news, follow us on Threads by clicking this link!

• wwe
• paul heyman
• Creative

Share this article with friends