| World Champion
Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: New World Order
Posts: 31,361
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Reactions after Brock's victory:
Paul Heyman arrived today at Madison Square Garden knowing that in a few hours he'd walk to the ring with the new WWE Undisputed Champion, Brock Lesnar.
The same Paul Heyman, as a young teen, would come to the Garden to watch wrestling and to take pictures from the front row. The same Paul Heyman, at age 14, finagled himself a press pass and ended up backstage.
"I'm walking out tonight in my hometown at Madison Square Garden," Heyman said, "looking out at the seats where my father and I used to sit.
"Here's a New York kid who ran the Grand Wizard, Lou Albano and Freddy Blassie's fan clubs, who comes out in his hometown in Madison Square Garden with the Undisputed Champion of the world, in that champion's first night with the title. As a performer, this is pretty f***ing big."
Heyman reminisced fondly today about his myriad of experiences that happened at, or were closely related to, the Garden. For example, he learned to drive, at age 14, in Blassie's car.
"One night I was about to go to the train," Heyman said. "I had a Westchester (County) hat on. (Blassie) said, 'Which town do you live in?' I said, 'Scarsdale.' He said, 'I live one town over. Come on. I'll take you home.'"
Blassie's driving was very poor, to put it mildly. At first, Heyman thought he was the victim of a practical joke. But when Blassie almost crashed near Yankee Stadium, it was no longer a laughing matter.
Blassie explained to the young Heyman that he could barely see at night -- he had 20 percent vision in one eye and 80 percent in the other. Blassie pulled over and had Heyman drive the rest of the way.
"I was 14 years old," Heyman said. "I bull*****ed my way into the Garden. Nobody knew how young I was."
So Heyman got into the driver's seat for the first time ever. Apparently he drove well enough, as Blassie soon started picking Heyman up from school on Monday nights and having Heyman drive to the Garden for the shows.
Years later, as the head of ECW, Heyman promoted back-to-back shows just down the road from the Garden, at Hammerstein Ballroom. He would have to wait until ECW went out of business until he could finally perform at the world's most famous arena. That came in the summer of 2001, at the start of the WCW invasion. Heyman was the color commentator for RAW.
"I listened back to that show (recently)," Heyman said. "I was just so hyped up."
He also appeared on SmackDown!, which was also taped at the Garden that week.
In June, Heyman managed here for the first time, accompanying Lesnar to the ring for a match against Ric Flair at a non-televised event.
This will be his fourth appearance here as a WWE personality, but by far his biggest. In fact, Heyman called it the biggest night of his career as a performer.
"This is it," Heyman said of the Garden. "Capital IT, boldfaced, underlined. There is no other building in the world that has the history, legacy and emotion of Madison Square Garden."
Heyman has the honor of accompanying the champion to the ring after Lesnar defeated The Rock for the title last night at SummerSlam. Heyman didn't get to watch the last part of the match because The Rock gave him a Rock Bottom through the Spanish announcers' table. "I missed the last five minutes of it," Heyman said. "I had my face down on a plastic water bottle."
"I watched it back on television," Heyman said, "and I was overwhelmed by the big-fight atmosphere that it conveyed. I've seen a lot of things happen in this industry, and there's been some buzz in New York City about that match last night."
Asked if Lesnar is ready for the pressure of being WWE Undisputed Champion after less than one year in WWE, Heyman said, "I hope WWE is ready for him. There is nothing that this man can't accomplish physically if he so desires. He is truly, truly -- despite anybody else's claims -- a genetic freak. There's no challenge he can't mow down." |
Brock's title reign ... 
