Paul Heyman has explained why he believes leading WWE’s creative process today is a completely different job than it was under Vince McMahon, and why Paul “Triple H” Levesque is the right person for it.
Speaking on Insight with Chris Van Vliet, Heyman framed it as a fundamental shift. “It’s a completely different job, and anyone that doesn’t see that doesn’t understand the dynamic of what it takes to lead the creative process today,” he said.
He pointed to Levesque’s title as the giveaway. “When I became the executive director of Monday Night Raw, Vince asked me, what’s your goal in this long term? And my answer was, in five years, I’d like to be the Chief Creative Officer,” Heyman recalled. “Paul Levesque is not the Chief Creative Officer in WWE, he’s the Chief Content Officer, and that designation, I think, is the tell-all moment as to his approach to the responsibility and accountabilities that go with the job.”
Heyman argued the role is no longer driven by the immediate. “He is the Chief Content Officer in an era where technology rules the algorithm and the algorithm dictates creativity,” he said. “The distribution of our content is determined by the algorithm, so it can be the most creative and the most innovative booking you’ve ever seen, but if it doesn’t feed the algorithm, no one’s going to see it, so then it’s not efficient, it’s not profitable.”
Counting himself among the best in the field, Heyman said he would not want the job today. “Any great booker… I think any list would have to include me for sure, and if I look at the job today, I don’t want the job today, because there are so many masters to serve, one of them being the algorithm, the other being the distributors,” he said. “You have to please Netflix, you have to please NBCU, you have to please Disney slash ESPN. You have to please the purchasing audience. You have to please the talent.” He likened it to the presidency, saying an effective president “has to sell his ideas to a bipartisan Congress, bipartisan Senate, and the Supreme Court, and the constituents that voted the president into office.”
He had high praise for how Levesque manages all of it. “Paul Levesque is the best person for that job. He’s a collaborator. He pivots,” Heyman said. “He understands that what works today may not work tomorrow, and what works tomorrow may not work in two days. He’s brilliant at taking a look at the landscape and understanding. Does this make sense? Is it logical? Does the storyline work? Will it create box office and interest and intrigue?”
Heyman credited Levesque with elevating performers into attractions. “Look at the past eight to 10 months in WWE. Oba Femi has become an attraction. Trick Williams has become an attraction,” he said. “If Je’Von Evans is not labeled an attraction by the end of this summer, then someone’s either not looking at it in the right perspective, or we messed up, and I don’t think we’re going to mess up with Je’Von Evans… Sol Ruca is going to be a star, an absolute bona fide attraction.”
Asked how Levesque handles receiving praise when things go well and criticism when they do not, Heyman said he manages it “seamlessly.” He explained: “I don’t think he takes the compliments to heart, because I don’t think he takes the invalid criticism to heart, and I think he’s very good at differentiating between invalid criticism and valid criticism, and [when] the criticism is valid, he’ll shift.”
Heyman summed up his view of Levesque simply. “You give me a few billion dollars and say start a wrestling company. I’m hiring him for the job,” he said.
Insight with Chris Van Vliet is available on YouTube and wherever you get podcasts.
