Conrad Thompson has laid out the argument behind the comment that started the week’s biggest wrestling row, and it is less about Roman Reigns than about Paul Heyman.
Thompson told Eric Bischoff on 83 Weeks that he considers Reigns the most overrated main eventer in WWE history. Bischoff agreed. The reaction has run all week, and Thompson spent much of the latest Something To Wrestle defending the position to JBL.
“Normally, I’m not the guy who is ever critical of anything that’s happening on current programming. But I did have a criticism for the highest paid performer in the history of pro wrestling. I called Roman Reigns the most overrated main eventer in WWE history, and now the internet has collectively taken a stance. A few people agree with me, but it seems like the overwhelming majority have decided that I am an idiot.”
Asked whether he simply dislikes Reigns, he said the opposite and reached for a film.
“Oh, I don’t dislike him at all. Did you ever watch The Usual Suspects? So in the movie, the Kevin Spacey character is telling a story to the cops about this mythical villain named Keyser Söze, and at some point he says the greatest trick the devil ever pulled is convincing the world he didn’t exist.”
“I think Roman Reigns’ success is the greatest trick Paul Heyman ever pulled. I think that the career of Roman Reigns that apparently so many people have forgotten about is a tale of two Romans. There’s pre-Paul Heyman, and there’s post-Paul Heyman.”
His argument is that the position was built rather than earned, and that it would have worked with somebody else in it.
“If you give a guy the belt and he beats everybody and he never loses, and you put him with the greatest promo in the history of ever in Paul Heyman, the s*** might work out.”
“WWE decided we’re going to put Roman Reigns in this spot. It’s not like this guy got over organically on his own. Vince McMahon deserves the credit for seeing it through. He was right. Roman Reigns is a star. That’s not debatable. But are you telling me they couldn’t have put Cesaro at the shoulder of Paul Heyman and Sami Zayn and the Usos and it worked? I think it’s interchangeable.”
He was expansive about the rest of the cast.
“Was Sami Zayn the low key MVP at different times over the last four or five years? If they gave television awards for wrestling, like they do for scripted drama, this guy would have won countless Emmy awards and nominations. Sami Zayn was the unsung hero of that storyline at times.”
He also questioned how far the name travels.
“I don’t know one person who wears a Roman Reigns T-shirt. I bet if we went down to the Walmart and I said, hey, name a wrestler, I don’t know how many we’d go through before we heard Roman Reigns.”
Thompson finished by setting out what he is not saying.
“I want to say it in a loud and clear voice. Roman Reigns has done nothing wrong. The real life guy is a great guy. He negotiated a great deal for himself. He’s got the wrestler life exactly like he likes it. But I, as a fan, am entitled to have my opinion, and I can say respectfully, not my favourite. Ready for something new, ready to move on.”
“But what I really want to say is, Paul Heyman deserves more credit, and people are overlooking his value and contribution to the whole.”
JBL did not accept it. He argued that having a great manager has never disqualified anybody, pointing to Arnold Skaaland alongside Bruno Sammartino, and that a lesser figure in the middle of the Bloodline would not have carried it.
“It’s like saying Joe Montana would not be a great quarterback without Jerry Rice. They happened to play together, and because they did, they both made each other better.”
Heyman began managing Reigns on screen in 2020 and was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2024. Reigns retained the World Heavyweight Championship against Seth Rollins at SummerSlam, in a match Thompson called the best of the weekend.
