Paul Heyman like everyone else in professional wrestling has an opinion on AEW, he just doesn’t think that they should give a f**k what it is.
From their launch in January 2019, AEW have grown to become what many see as an alternative to WWE. The company are holding bigger and bigger shows, their matches are receiving critical acclaim, and their roster is now home to some of the most highly rated wrestlers in the world.
In addition, a recent episode of AEW Rampage clashed with the end of a special edition of Friday Night SmackDown in the TV schedule, leading some fans to speculate as to whether a new “wrestling war” could be on the horizon. Furthermore, top stars with both companies have begun referencing each other on television with increasing regularity.
Speaking in a recent interview, Paul Heyman was asked for his opinion on AEW. Heyman famously attempted to challenge the wrestling establishment himself throughout the 1990’s with ECW.
In conversation with Ariel Helwani, Paul Heyman was initially asked whether AEW were a viable number two to WWE.
“They’re viable. They are a viable entity. And God bless them for being there.”
In response, Heyman was asked whether he liked their product. The former ECW boss explained that he wasn’t their target audience, and so they shouldn’t care what he thinks.
“I’m not the audience. My personal opinion on their product… If I was to sit here going ‘Oh they’re great!’ Who cares what I think? It’s a personal opinion. They’re not geared towards me. And if I sat there and said ‘Oh my God they suck, they’re horrible.’ I don’t think they should care about that either.
It’s like when Dana White gave his opinion of WWE and it wasn’t flattering. I was asked about it and my answer was ‘And?’ Who gives a f**k? I don’t think AEW should give a f**k what I think about them. They should care what the fans think, what their audience thinks, and what their potential audience thinks about them.”
Continuing on, the Special Counsel to Universal Champion Roman Reigns, said that AEW’s mission should be to expand their audience, while serving the audience they already have.
“Here’s who we have, we need to super-serve them, we need to make them continue to be loyal to us. And we need to expand that base. We need to take that person, and lure them in. We need to find people that love WWE and lure them to our tribe and we need to find people who have never seen sports entertainment/pro wrestling combat sports etc etc and lure them on to our show for whatever reason we can justify them coming to pay to see our product. That should be their mission. What Paul Heyman thinks of them, should be of no concern to them.”
Back in WWE, Paul Heyman is about to find himself once again wrapped up in the biggest tug-of-war in pro wrestling with Brock Lesnar returning to SmackDown on December 3rd. Lesnar has been absent from WWE after being suspended for attacking numerous officials as well as The Bloodline, following his controversial defeat to Roman Reigns at Crown Jewel.
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