Jan 21, 2013

Q&A With Paul Heyman, Part 3


It's the "People's Champ" vs the WWE CHampion this Sunday. (Photo courtesy WWE.com)

USAC: Switching subjects a bit, my 11-year-old son has become a big WWE fan in the past year and wanted me to make sure and ask you about Brock Lesnar. Specifically, he wanted to know if Brock is okay with you calling CM Punk the “best in the world.”

Heyman: Of course, Brock is okay with me calling CM Punk the best in the world. CM Punk is the best in the world. Brock’s designation in WWE, Brock’s desire and Brock’s goals in the WWE are no longer to be recognized as the best. Brock doesn’t have title aspirations. He’s been there. He’s done that. Brock Lesnar is a beast and he’s an old-school pugilist. He’s a prize fighter and much like his reign in UFC, Brock looks like big money matchups that draw the most interest, garner the biggest box office, so that he can perform at the highest dollar value, which is what he likes to do. His goals are completely different that CM Punk’s.

CM Punk wants to work 365 days a year to be the best in the world and to carry the company. Brock Lesnar is a selective prize fighter that wants to wrestle or fight in the biggest possible money-drawing attractions, and against the opponents that are most likely that the audience will pay the most money to see. It’s a totally different mindset. Much different goals. Much different values.

USAC: Any chance we see a Punk and Lesnar team, or Heyman Stable in the near future?

Heyman: Only if WWE chooses to write some very heavy paychecks.

USAC: Do your arms ever get tired holding CM Punk’s title up in the air while standing ringside during his matches?

Heyman: Never and the reason why is because I do know that once he surpasses Bruno Samartino, it will be like Alexander the Great conquering the whole known world and there will be no other known worlds to conquer, and probably then, he will be willing to pass the title on to somebody else. So I know this is only going to be a certain number of days in my life that I will have the opportunity to stand at ringside and hold that title up in the air. So I cherish every single, solitary moment of my life that I get to perform that task, because I do know that at some time in the future, I won’t be able to.

USAC: The last time Punk was in Phoenix, last July for Money in the Bank, he was a fan favorite and cheered wildly after his victory over Daniel Bryan. What has led to his change in attitude since then?

Heyman: I don’t believe CM Punk’s attitude has changed. I believe CM Punk has shot straight with the audience since Day One. Because he was pitted against, he was received with love and aaffection. Now that his focus is on pointing out the corruption that he sees, and how fickle the crowd can be, then I think a lot of people don’t like it when the finger is pointed at them. They get their jollies when the finger is pointed at someone else, so they can say “Ha ha!”

It’s the same thing I said on television, when we did the Jerry Lawler heart attack. Everywhere that I go, I hear “We want the attitude era back!” Or “Why don’t you open up a new promotion and be extreme again?” Yet here we were on television, pushing boundaries, breaking rules, being extreme, doing the same type of thing that would have been done in the attitude era, and everybody had a conniption.
So the fact is, they claim they want the attitude era, but they really don’t want it. They claim they want extreme, but they really don’t want it. They claim they want CM Punk to drop a pipe bomb and point his fingers the hypocrisy and the corruption that he sees, until the finger is pointed at them, and then all of a sudden they don’t like it.

USAC: What can Phoenix fans, as well as those watching around the world on pay-per-view, expect from the WWE Championship match between CM Punk and The Rock at Royal Rumble, this coming Sunday?

Heyman: The fans can expect CM Punk holding the title up in the air, having soundly defeated The Rock via pinfall or tap out. The same way he did to John Cena. The same way he did to Ryback. The same way he did to Chris Jericho, and so on, and so on, and so on, and so on. And the fans can look forward to finding out the winner of the Royal Rumble, and if that winner will challenge CM Punk for the WWE title at WrestleMania, which is CM Punk’s next goal after soundly defeating The Rock at the Royal Rumble.

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