When it comes to identifying talent, few men have as much pedigree as Paul Heyman, the ECW booker-turned-WWE manager who has held just about every role in professional wrestling at this point.
Do you want an on-screen authority figure who can either be the man or fight against him? Call on Paul E Dangerously. How about a manager who can talk for a big bad who uses their fists to do the talking? Heyman has done that, too, and made some of the biggest stars in the business follow that method. Heck, Heyman is still widely considered one of the best color commentators in wrestling today and he hasn't done the role regularly since Jim Ross worked for WWE.
So naturally, when Heyman was asked about the talent on the 2024 WWE roster in an interview with Newsweek, the WWE Hall of Famer celebrated the collection of talent Paul “Triple H” Levesque has put together, as he believes the quality has never been better.
“Every member of The Bloodline. Every member of Solo's Bloodline, obviously, because there's a lot of money to be made there. Seth Rollins, CM Punk, Bron Breakker, Rhea Ripley, Liv Morgan, Dominik Mysterio, Austin Theory. A third of the NXT roster, which I think is ready to be called up into action now; it's just the timing has to be right. The presentation has to be right. The packaging, the marketing has to be right. Why rush it?” Paul Heyman asked via Fightful.
“I mean, there is a plethora of talent right now. If you told me I can't have any of those people, any of them, I can still build a magnificent roster. I mean, give me Pat McAfee on as a commentator to just keep the energy level at nuclear. Look at Logan Paul. I mean, you can certainly build a promotion around Logan Paul. LA Knight. I mean, there's just so much talent out there. Dominik Mysterio. My God, the wealth of talent that – Charlotte Flair, who is right on the cusp of just being labeled a legend, and still has so much more to accomplish.”
Evoking his legendary SmackDown Six from 2002, a collection of mid-level talents Heyman turned into main eventers all the way back in 2022, Heyman also named off some fresher acts he believes he could promote to the main-event level if afforded the chance, including a former NXT North American Champion who hasn't yet truly found his footing on RAW just yet.
Paul Heyman names his darkhorse new WWE star
So, with the SmackDown Six in mind as a templet, who would Heyan like to see WWE push as one of its next generation of up-and-comers? Well, how about a guy who just knocked out one of the true legends of the current era, Seth Rollins?
“I could probably put together four or five rosters of SmackDown Sixes with today's crew. One of the things that really clicked about the SmackDown Six is that they weren't main eventers. They weren't perceived as main eventers. Kurt Angle had been in a few main events, but he was always considered semi-main event until then. The Guerreros, Edge, Mysterio, these people were not headlining, and now all of a sudden, they were. So that's another thing. Who do you move up the ladder? Who moves up? Who becomes the next big star? Is it from NXT? Is it from Smackdown? Is that person from RAW?” Heyman asked.
“Is it Bronson Reed? What a star-making performance against Seth Rollins. So here's Bronson Reed, who was not considered a main eventer. I'd love to see what the box office would be right now if we went to Chicago and announced tickets that Seth Rollins' first match back is against Bronson Reed in Chicago, or Detroit, or Des Moines, or San Francisco, or Los Angeles, or Houston, or Dallas, or Saudi Arabia, or Auckland, New Zealand, or anywhere in the world. Right now, Bronson Reed stepped up, the same way Jacob Fatu debuted, stepped up, and forced everyone around him to step up.
“That was the beauty of the SmackDown Six: we took people who weren't considered main eventers and made them main eventers,” he added. “So, you know, SmackDown Six, I could put in today, ‘Roman Reigns and this person, that person,' but also, the concept would be, who's not a main eventer right now that can be and should be and will be, and that over-delivers on an under promise.”
Could WWE actually sell out any venue in the world with Reed versus Rollins as the main event? Well, considering WWE more or less sells out every show they book now, regardless of the card, yes, they most likely could. Still, does that mean Reed is “the guy” moving forward? Nope, not now, anyway. Fortunately, Edge, Mysterio, Angle, and company weren't at that level either before Heyman pushed them there, and all three are Hall of Famers now as a result of that attention to detail. If Levesque put that kind of effort into Reed – Heyman has long been a fan – it's safe to say “Mr. Nice Guy” could hit that level, too.
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