Jacob Heyman revealed that he was the one who told his father, Paul Heyman, to cut his ponytail.
Heyman, the editor-in-chief of Heyman Hustle TV, made the reveal on the first episode of “The Roundtable,” which premiered Oct. 21 on the Heyman Hustle YouTube channel. He hosted Cody Rhodes, Charlotte Flair and actor O’Shea Jackson Jr. for an hour-long conversation about growing up with famous fathers. WrestlingNews.co covered the rest of the episode here.
“This is breaking news. I’ve never revealed this to the world, but I told him to cut the ponytail. That was my idea,” Heyman said. “Yeah, that was all me. I’ll take credit.”
Heyman then talked about his father.
“My dad’s played a heel on TV for what was it? 40 years. And he’s the biggest babyface of my life. He’s my hero. He’s my best friend,” Heyman said. “I couldn’t ask for a better dad.”
‘Brock’s Going To Wish Me Happy Birthday’
Earlier in the episode, Heyman said the first time he saw his father as anything other than his dad was on Monday Night Raw in 2012, when he tuned in expecting Brock Lesnar to sing him happy birthday.
Rhodes asked Heyman when he figured out that his father was more than a typical dad. Heyman said it was the night Paul Heyman returned to WWE television. Lesnar had come back to WWE earlier that year.
“He returned I think it was May 7th, 2012. And it was my 8th birthday,” Heyman said. “My birthday is May 28th, and my dad told me that Brock was going to sing me happy birthday on Monday Night Raw.”
Heyman said he was not a wrestling fan at the time.
“So, I tune in, was not a wrestling fan at the time, and I tune in. Oh my god, Brock’s going to wish me happy birthday, and ladies and gentlemen, my dad walks through the curtain,” Heyman said. “That was the first time I saw him on TV outside as just being my dad.”
Paul Heyman returned on the May 7, 2012 episode of Raw and revealed himself as Lesnar’s legal representative. Lesnar had returned to WWE on the April 2, 2012 Raw, the night after WrestleMania 28. Heyman had also been Lesnar’s advocate when Lesnar debuted in WWE in 2002.
The table laughed at the story. “He okey-doked you,” one panelist said.
Flair said seeing her father on TV never felt like a big deal to her growing up.
“I like watched my dad all the time on TV, but I was like, ‘Oh, he’s on TV.’ Like I didn’t know any different,” Flair said. “I was just like, ‘Oh, that’s his job.'”
Rhodes said his young daughter, Liberty, reacted the same way when she saw his action figure at a store.
“I was walking through Target the other day and Liberty goes, ‘That’s you.’ Nothing. Just, ‘That’s you,'” Rhodes said.
Cody Rhodes: ‘I Need To See Jacob In You’
Rhodes also said people should not expect Jacob Heyman to be his father.
“I think what people expect in Jacob Heyman, you don’t give Paul Heyman at all. This is Jacob Heyman. I got it right out of the gate. You’re not your dad,” Rhodes said. “If I see super genius in you, I need to see Jacob in you, right? We’re telling the wrong story.”
