Paul Heyman offered a candid assessment of Vince McMahon, questioning whether the former WWE Chairman ever considered himself a good person as he reflected on their often turbulent working relationship.
During a recent appearance on In Depth with Graham Bensinger, Paul Heyman discussed Vince McMahon’s personality, professional accomplishments and the numerous disagreements they experienced throughout their years working together.
The WWE veteran described McMahon as a “supremely complicated human being of great accomplishment” before being asked directly whether he considered his former boss a good man. Rather than offering a straightforward judgement of McMahon’s character, Heyman suggested that being perceived as a good person was never particularly important to him.
“No, I don’t think Vince ever considered himself a good man. I don’t think he cared about it. I don’t think that was part of his self-judgment. I don’t think he felt he was placed on this planet to be a good man. “Do I think he’s a man of great accomplishment? Yes. Do I regret the battles? And I had some battles with Vince.”
Paul Heyman Recalls Bitter Creative Battles With Vince McMahon Over ECW
Paul Heyman went on to describe Vince McMahon as someone who enjoyed confrontation, including what he characterised as “childish battles” between the two. When asked for an example, Heyman pointed to WWE’s controversial revival of Extreme Championship Wrestling in 2006.
Having established ECW as a major alternative to WWE and WCW during the 1990s, Heyman was initially placed in charge of the revived brand. However, he claimed McMahon began undermining his authority almost immediately after appointing him.
“2006, when he relaunched ECW, he told me he was putting me in charge of it and 30 seconds later started stripping me of any authority that I had in controlling or contouring or tailoring or creating the product.”
According to Heyman, the disagreements became increasingly personal, with McMahon repeatedly changing ECW’s creative direction.
“He got off changing ECW on me. And it became just such a person battle that was terrible for the product, terrible for the company, even worse for the audience. That was the most miserable six months.”
Heyman’s comments offer further insight into the difficulties surrounding WWE’s attempt to revive ECW, which ultimately became a significantly different product from the promotion he had previously run.
Despite acknowledging McMahon’s considerable achievements in professional wrestling, Heyman made it clear that their professional relationship was frequently characterised by conflict. Meanwhile, Heyman has maintained a relatively limited presence on WWE television in recent weeks.
Although previously associated with The Vision, he no longer regularly accompanies the faction during its matches. One of his more intriguing recent appearances came during September’s WWE Sunday Night’s Main Event, when he was shown backstage receiving a telephone call from an unidentified individual.
