Paul Heyman Says The Future Of Wrestling Is More Stories Being Told Outside The Ring

Professional wrestling has undoubtedly changed as a sport and art over the decades, but the ways in which it will continue to change can seem a bit hazy looking forward. In a recent interview with "Tetragrammaton," Paul Heyman gave his insight on what the future of the industry could look like.

"The safe answer [...] is inclusive storylines. A transgender hero. A female that competes at the same level, with the same marketing behind her [...] that get a platform as lucrative and that carries as much opportunity on a global basis, as their male counterparts," Heyman said, "That's a very safe thing for me to say. And I wouldn't be wrong in saying that's a place we should go, could go, will go." Heyman also made clear that a woman getting that kind of platform in wrestling would need to be a homegrown talent, and not a pre-existing celebrity like Ronda Rousey for it to be a true change.

The safe answer isn't all that Heyman had to say. In branching out, he offered a different answer that especially regards his current work with Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns. "The unsafe answer [...] is an amplified aura of theater without theatrics. The transformative, the revolutionary, the evolutionary disruptor in this industry towards that theory is Roman Reigns," Heyman said.

"We do movie scenes, in the locker room to further tell the story. Three, four, five-minute movie scenes showing the vulnerability of his character, angst of his character, worry of his character, sensitivities of his character, idiosyncrasies, nuances of his character. With his cousins, by his cousins, with the spotlight on his cousins at times. Sometimes on me. Sometimes on my sycophantic nature of appeasing the tribal chief while at the same time also appeasing him based on the fear he can behead me at any time." He went on to argue that if you told someone a couple years ago about the levels of nuance to Reigns' current character, you wouldn't be believed. He argued that locker room segments used to mainly just be a cheap curtain peel.

With the idea in mind that the theatrics outside the ring could become more important, where does that leave matches in the mix? Not to worry, the Wise Man had some insight as to the essential nature that matches will always serve.

"Ultimately, how do these stories get settled? How do they progress? In the operatic, theatrical presentation of professional wrestling/sports entertainment, they progress in the story that is told in the physical conflict that plays out in front of your eyes that is labeled a professional wrestling/sports entertainment match," he said, "Ultimately it has to lead to something. If it leads to a car chase, then I'm not watching wrestling anymore." Heyman noted that everything outside the ring used to be a sort of "infomercial for the match," and that now the match is a part of the story rather than the end-all-be-all of the story. Ultimately, he said that this shift is the biggest change he's seen in wrestling from a creative sense.