wrestling / Video Reviews

From the Bowery: Ladies and Gentlemen, My Name is Paul Heyman (Blu-Ray Disc Two)

October 19, 2014 | Posted by Robert Leighty Jr.
9
The 411 Rating
Community Grade
12345678910
Your Grade
Loading...
From the Bowery: Ladies and Gentlemen, My Name is Paul Heyman (Blu-Ray Disc Two)  

From the Bowery: Ladies and Gentlemen, My Name is Paul Heyman (Blu-Ray Disc Two)

Promos

-SmackDown, Nov 15, 2001: One of the most famous worked shoot promos ever here. This is a few days before Survivor Series (and the end of the Invasion storyline) and Heyman gets the chance to absolutely rip into Vince McMahon. To his credit Vince is great here as he just stands silently and listens to every word Paul says with little reaction. The passion and anger from Paul on this one is something to truly behold. He crucifies McMahon for becoming a billionaire off the hard work of others and crushes him for stealing his ideas and using them to create the Attitude Era. Paul goes a little too far though as he insults Tazz on commentary and pays for it when he gets choked out. Classic stuff here!

-RAW, April 8, 2002: Brock without his familiar music is just weird, but the man had a presence from day one. He just looked like a dude that would rip your head off without thinking twice. Paul educates the fans on what led Brock to hire him as his agent. Paul takes credit for managing Austin, representing The Undertaker, and grooming both of them for future greatness. He also puts over what he did in ECW and lets us know he, better than anyone, can spot The Next Big Thing, and that is Brock Lesnar. They show footage on the Tron of Brock making his debut and destroying various members of the WWF roster including a sweet F5 on Rikishi. Brock then gets drafted by Flair to the RAW Brand, and Brock celebrates by murdering both Hardy Boys. Matt and Jeff interrupt things here and try to get retribution but, Brock casually tosses Jeff to the floor and military presses Matt out as well. Some chairs are brought in and Lesnar takes one of the sickest chair shots to the face you will ever see and JR has a great call: “I think all it did was piss him off.” Brock doesn’t even go off his feet and instead does look annoyed and pissed off. They did a great job of booking him as the scariest man on the planet.

-RAW, May 23, 2005: A very historic promo here as Eric Bischoff gives a eulogy for ECW and he promises to show up to One Night Stand and put ECW out of business once and for all. He gets interrupted by Vince McMahon, who takes exception to Eric wanting to put ECW out of business because he admits that he helped ECW financially. Vince is kind of pissed that Eric put ECW out of business and left Vince short $580,000 that he never got paid. Vince is great here as he reminds Eric that while he killed ECW, Vince is the one that killed WCW. McMahon then brings Heyman back to RAW and for the first time ever we have Heyman, Bischoff, and McMahon in the same ring at the same time. Heyman cuts loose on Bischoff (who does a great job acting bored) and then sets a barbed wire wreath on fire to symbolism ECW is back. Fun segment!

-ECW One Night Stand, June 12, 2005: The famous interview where Heyman lets loose on the WWE guys in attendance who want to stop the PPV from happening. He busts on Edge for screwing over Matt Hardy, and then gets the classic line on JBL that he was only WWE Champion for so long because “HHH didn’t want to work Tuesdays.” It’s funny because it’s true!

-ECW One Night Stand, June 11, 2006: A year later and now ECW is coming back as a 3rd brand of the WWE and Paul announces that the company has risen from the ashes and a new global audience will learn it all started tonight. The crowd loves Heyman and thanks him for what he has done. Heyman takes a shot at TNN when he mentions they have a better network and timeslot this time around (SyFy on Tuesday Night). Paul ends by thanking the fans from the bottom of his heart and giving them all the credit for ECW returning.

-ECW, Sept 12, 2006: MSG hosts ECW for the first time and this is just after Heyman screwed RVD out of the ECW Title. Funny story there as RVD was leaving one ECW house show (which I attended) and as he was getting to the next stop he, and Sabu were pulled over and busted for possession. RVD was the WWE and ECW Champ at the time, and had to pay the price as he lost the WWE Title to Edge and the ECW Title to The Big Show. After the last promo where Paul was on his hands and knees thanking the fans, in this one he says the fans are the reason ECW went out of business and he was the one that saved the company. He made compromises with Vince and he has taken ECW from the bingo hall to The Garden. Sabu interrupts (he had Big Show at SummerSlam for the ECW Title) and destroys the riot police with a chair, but Paul is able to escape with his life.

-RAW, Jan 28, 2013: This had been built up to and the general feeling was that Vince was going to embarrass Paul and fire him. Vince wants to know if Paul was behind the Shield helping Punk or behind Brad Maddox helping Punk. Paul denies as you would expect and the fans aren’t buying it. Vince then asks Paul if he has ever told a lie in his life, and Paul struggles for an answer. He answers by bringing up a quote he heard from Vince’s father, and then admits he has had to lie every day of his life because he is a promoter. That is what promoters do so they can survive each day. He admits to lying to God, and lying on his parent’s life, but this time he swears he is not lying now. Heyman is just killing it here with this one! He tells Vince he is trying to become an honorable man, and starts sucking up as he realizes shit is getting deep. The fans continue to call bullshit and they want blood, so Vince shows footage of Heyman talking to Maddox and giving away his evil plan to help CM Punk. Heyman also admits to working with the Shield and then uses their services to beat the piss out of Brad Maddox. Uh oh! Back to the ring and Paul looks like he is about to puke. The crowd starts a “You got busted chant,” and Vince asks for Paul to comment on the footage. Now the crowd starts serenading Heyman with the goodbye song. Heyman gets desperate as he claims it wasn’t him on the footage and he brings up that he has been falsely accused, much like Vince was in the past. He then claims it was an impersonator since they are in Vegas and that he is being set up. Vince asks the crowd if Paul deserves to be fired, and they think it would be a good idea. Before Vince can get out the catchphrase, Here Comes the Pain as the crowd erupts at the sight of Lesnar. My guess is Vince is pissing his pants, and really who can blame him. Heyman tries to keep Brock at bay, but Lesnar is having none of it as he gets in Vince’s fan. Vince stands his ground and Brock responds by hitting the F5. WOOO! Heyman begs Brock to stop and looks terrified as he questions what Brock has done. Great moment though it sadly led to Brock losing to HHH at WrestleMania.

-RAW, Feb 11, 2013: Heyman kicks off the show and he lets us know tonight will be the last time we will ever see him. For 7.5 years he sacrificed everything in his life and sacrificed his parent’s fortune for ECW. He came to the WWE and sacrificed again so he could be the manager of the Next Big Thing, Brock Lesnar. He then sacrificed because he believed CM Punk could be greater than Bruno Sammartino, and could be the future of the WWE. Paul says he can see in the future and something really bad is going to happen. He feels that something bad is going to crash down on him, and he can’t let that become a distraction to CM Punk. He knows the McMahons (pissed for what Brock did to Vince) are out for blood and he doesn’t want Punk to be a casualty of that as he looks to regain the WWE Title. With that said Heyman is here to resign so that Punk can stay focused on his goal. He calls Punk his best friend, says he loves him and tells us all goodbye. Punk’s music hits and he looks absolutely crushed as he questions what Paul is doing. Punk isn’t going to let Heyman do this as he is too important to him. This is so touching and I don’t know how much longer I can hold back the tears! Just a great, emotional performance from Paul as he tells Punk he has to let him go. Only two people like these guys can pull this off and not have it come off as corny. Punk guarantees he will win the title from the Rock on Sunday and he will have Heyman by his side. He has seemingly talked Paul down from the ledge as he is on board now and will be there by Punk’s side on Sunday. They end things with a manly hug and Punk cracks me up be whispering they are a team. Brilliant, brilliant display by both men!

-RAW, July 15, 2013: This is the night after Money in the Bank and CM Punk comes out selling the brutality of the MITB match he was part of the previous night. As expected he is none too pleased with Heyman turning on him and costing him last night. Punk calls out Heyman and Lesnar, but only Paul shows. Paul tells us that he is looking at an empty ring because in his world CM Punk doesn’t exist. He goes over the fact that in 2005, the WWE had no vision for CM Punk, but Heyman put his career on the line for him. Together they were the WWE Champion for 434 days (the longest reign in 25 years) and they came within an inch of breaking Taker’s Mania Streak. So without Paul Heyman there is no “we” and without Paul Heyman CM Punk is not the best in the world. Paul tells us that CM Punk failed when he couldn’t beat The Undertaker. Paul claims Punk came back thinking he was better than him, so he beat Punk to the punch by dumping him. He gets personal with his attacks as he goes over that Punk has no relationship with his parents, and he has no wife (well, he sure took care of that one since this promo….lucky bastard). Paul is hurt that Punk took away his best friend with his change in attitude, so Paul wanted to take away Punk’s chance at the WWE Title. Heyman finally gives a reason as to why he screwed Punk: He betrayed him because CM Punk can’t beat Brock Lesnar. The crowd seems to think otherwise, and Punk says he probably should have seen it coming, but he trusted Paul. He does say Paul knows him better than anyone and knows that he is the most relentless man on the planet, and now Punk wants Heyman. Punk swears on Paul’s children that he will get him and will also get his hands on anyone associated with Heyman as well. Punk promises to burn down everything around Heyman and save him for last to make it hurt even more. Paul mocks Punk by saying “It’s Clobbering Time,” and out comes Brock Fucking Lesnar. Heyman gets in a cheap shot and Brock tries to hit the F5 on the floor, but Punk slips out though he still ends up being tossed into the ring post. Now Brock commences with an ass kicking with Punk showing a few flurries. Each one is short lived though as Brock just murders him with another shot to the ring post. Lesnar does hit the F5 on the announce table, and he mocks Punk while standing above him on the table. Hell of a way to kick start this feud and of course they delivered with the Match of the Year for 2013.

-RAW, Oct 21, 2013: Renee Young (good Lord) does a backstage interview with Heyman, Ryback, and Axel. This is a rather hilarious promo that got a good amount of votes for promo of the year in the 411mania awards. Paul is in rare form as he hypes Hell in a Cell and discusses what Punk wants to do to him. Paul compares himself to an erupting volcano in epic fashion and as I mentioned in the documentary review I have no earthly idea how Ryback, Young, and Axel were all able to keep a straight face. Big E interrupts and a match is made between him and Axel.

-RAW, March 3, 2014: This is in Chicago and is the famous one where the crowd was going to hijack RAW. Well the WWE fires back by having Punk’s music hit to open the show and the place explodes. A thunderous CM Punk chant starts, but Paul Heyman comes out and the crowd is rather pissed. Paul trolls the crowd as he says Punk deserves louder than that and on cue the fans get louder with their chants. Paul sits Indian Style in the center of the ring in a nice touch and turns everything on the fans. He is here to tell the story of a Paul Heyman Guy that was never truly wanted in the WWE, and a guy they (WWE brass) thought was too small to Main Event WrestleMania. He says the First Family didn’t want this guy in the WWE from day one and still don’t want him in the WWE to this day. He gets the crowd on his side even more by mentioning this guy is from, and still lives in Chicago. This is Heyman’s pipe bomb about CM Punk and then announces Punk isn’t here this evening. Funny that this is the one time Heyman was telling the truth and it comes when everyone was hoping he was lying. Paul tells us that the fans took Punk away from him and in the end took CM Punk away from themselves. He not only blames the fans, but he also blames CM Punk. He claims the loss to Taker at Mania started the downward spiral for Punk, and Heyman wants revenge. He wants to see the streak taken away from The Undertaker and there is only one man for that job: Brock Lesnar. The man himself is here and they show the contract signing from the previous week and that ended with Lesnar getting put through a table. Lesnar with a mic and that always proves to be hit or miss (why he needs Heyman), but he does well here as he puts over that guys like HHH, Shawn, and Punk have all failed where he will succeed. Straight and to the point! Fun stuff with Heyman as he did all he could to turn the crowd away from the CM Punk chants and also kudos to the WWE for sending Heyman out at the start of the show to address the elephant in the room though I was still expecting Punk by the end of the show. Before Lesnar can leave, Mark Henry comes out for some good old fashioned revenge, but Brock is having none of that. He blasts Mark with the rings steps and then hits the F5 through the announce table. The crowd chants for Punk showing how concerned they are for Mark.

Matches

The Original Midnight Express vs. The New Midnight Express
Main Event, Jan 21, 1989

-Quick recap for any newer fans that don’t know what the deal was with this feud. The Original Midnight Express featured Randy Rose and Dennis Condrey as they founded the group. When they split, Rose was replaced in the team by Bobby Eaton (this version managed by Jim Cornette). Soon Condrey also left and he was replaced with Stan Lane. They were the New Midnight Express (still managed by Cornette) doing big things in the NWA, and in the AWA the Original Might Express reformed with Paul E. Dangerously as their manager. They headed to the NWA and naturally they fought over which team was the better Midnight Express. The teams start brawling before the bell and Rose gets crushed with an atomic drop on an open chair. Not sure why that wasn’t a DQ because the bell did ring, but I’m all for some mayhem. Things start proper with Lane and Rose in the ring. Rose gets sent to the floor and Cornette blasts him with the tennis racket for good measure. The crowd is rather hot for this one and makes me miss the days of these NWA crowds. The OME regroup on the floor and Condrey now gets a start with Lane. A quick tag is made to Eaton and the OME beg off once again. JR brings up how the teams are nearly mirror images of each other and nothing should surprise the other team. The NME double team early and often and things slow down again as the OME keep stalling to kill any momentum. Rose and Eaton have a go and Bobby throws his famous right hand. All four men start brawling in the ring again as the timekeeper lets us know 5 minutes have passed though my watch says only 4 minutes are gone. Things settle down again and Lane gets caught in the corner, but he moves out of the way from a blind charge and Rose hits the post. He stalls again and Lane offers a handshake. He then suckers him and gets a monkey flip out of the corner. The tag is made to Bobby and again the OME stall to regroup. Condrey and Rose back again and Eaton hits the floor to chase after Dangerously, but can’t get his hands on him. Back in the ring and they criss-cross so Condrey hits the floor to go after Cornette, but Lane makes the save. Cornette makes fun of Heyman on the floor and that riles up the crowd. The match itself continues to follow a start/stop pattern before finally Lane ends up being your face in peril. Lane gets sent face first into the security railing, and then gets double teamed once back in the ring. Rose hits a suplex and then delivers a clothesline. Cornette starts chasing Dangerously on the floor, but has to stop when Lane gets sent to the floor once again. He gets tossed back in the ring and Rose grinds things to a halt again with a chinlock. JR takes the down time to tell fans to call their cable companies to see if they are carrying Chi-Town Rumble. Hmm, I wonder if any all time great matches will happen on that card. Lane continues to get his ass handed to him and Eaton tries to save, but Tommy Young does his job as ref and sends him back to the apron. A tag is made behind Young’s back, but he sends Eaton back to the apron and behind his back the OME work over Lane. The hot tag is finally made and Eaton goes crazy on both members of the OME. He hits both men with a double bulldog and then Condrey gets hit with The Flapjack. Dangerously gets involved, and stops the count, but Cornette cuts him off from using the phone. Condrey gets his hands on the phone and he blasts Eaton to get the win at 14:40 (called 14:59 by the time keeper).

Winners: The Original Midnight Express via Condrey pin on Eaton at 14:40
-I was kind of disappointed by this one as I expected more from these 4 men. The match was very disjointed at first and then started to pick up once we got to Lane taking his beating. Things from there were fine as the heels cheated to win and thus the feud continues. **1/2

The Hardy Boys vs. Paul Heyman and Brock Lesnar
Judgment Day, May 19, 2002

– Brock had just debuted and this is his PPV debut after spending weeks beating the piss out of the WWF midcard. The Hardys were a good feud for him as they were over with the crowd and had plenty of practice in their early days as jobbers of being tossed all over the ring. Jeff gets his ass kicked, but is able to duck and get a tag to Matt. He has very little success against Brock as he gets drilled with a powerslam. The crowd starts a massive Goldberg chant, but that one didn’t stick as much as it did with Ryback a decade or so later. Brock continues the domination, but Matt is able to fire off a tornado DDT in desperation. The crowd pops for the hot (?) tag to Jeff and he hits a jaw breaker. The Hardys smartly double team Brock and hit Poetry in Motion. They send Brock to the floor and that leaves Heyman by himself. The Hardys bring him in the ring and hit Poetry in Motion. Brock makes the save and dares Jeff to jump as he was about to hit Heyman with the Swanton. Jeff obliges and Brock catches him, but Jeff shifts his weight enough to cause Brock to trip and that gets a 2 count. Brock is pissed now and has had enough playing around as he knocks tosses Jeff into Matt (sending him to the floor) and then kills Jeff with the F5. Heyman begs for the tag and trips coming into the ring, but he gets the pin on future WWE Champion Jeff Hardy at 4:46.

Winners: Paul Heyman and Brock Lesnar via Heyman pin on Jeff Hardy at 4:46
-Nearly an extended squash with the Hardys only hitting Lesnar with a few signature spots. The goal was to make Lesnar look like a beast and Heyman like an opportunistic coward and it worked in that regard. **

NO DQ Handicap Elimination Match: CM Punk vs. Curtis Axel and Paul Heyman
Nigh of Champions, Sept 15, 2013

-After chasing after Heyman during the summer and running into a brick wall named Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam, Punk finally gets his chance at revenge here. The thought was Axel could be turned into something by being associated with Heyman, but it didn’t work as one would have hoped. Punk comes out with kendo stick in hand and instead of the usual clobbering time, he checks his watch and lets us know “time to die.” The look on Paul’s face is priceless as he looks scared to death. Axel has his own kendo stick and Heyman decides the floor would be the best place to stay. Axel and Punk do battle with the kendo sticks and Axel gets the worst of the exchange with some vicious shots. Punk uses the stick to choke and then hits a suicide dive through the ropes onto Heyman. He tosses Paul into the ring and the crowd is showing no mercy for Heyman’s current state of affairs. Axel hits a tremendous low blow to save Paul’s life on this occasion. He caught him square in the nuts with that one. Axel goes back to the kendo stick and Punk gets his back abused for few minutes as Heyman is back on the floor. A chair gets introduced, but Punk uses leg kicks to avoid. He goes for the chair, but Axel hits a nice dropkick to stop that noise. The crowd wants tables as Heyman looks a lot more confident. Punk fires back with some chops, but misses a clothesline and gets caught with a forearm to the back of the head for two. A table gets brought into the ring and propped up in the corner so you know that will come in play later. Axel tries for a suplex, but Punk fights out with each attempt, so Axel just calmly drops Punk on his face. Nice! Axel gets a near fall off a middle rope forearm drop and then he locks in a headlock. Paul lets Axel know that he believes in him, though I wonder if he Bo-lieves in him. Punk fights back to his feet and avoids a charge as Axel crashes shoulder first into a chair in the corner. Punk makes his comeback with high kicks and a neck breaker. He hits the corner running knee, bulldog combo and looks for the flying elbow, but Axel bails to the floor. A suicide dive is countered by Axel as he just puts up a chair for Punk to go diving into. Effective! A swinging neckbreaker gets two for Axel and he shows some decent aggression as he pounds away with Paul screaming that he is better than CM Punk. That seemingly fires Axel up as he beats on Punk with the kendo stick and that nets another two count. Axel tries for another neckbreaker, but Punk reverses and gets his hands on a kendo stick. He blasts Axel in the stomach, hits the GTS and the Anaconda Vice sends Axel packing. Smartly Punk keeps the hold on (no DQ) so that Axel is even more fucked and can’t get involved. Heyman heads for the hills, but Punk gives chase and they end up back in the ring. Punk eye gouges, fish hooks, and uses what ever dirty trick he can to inflict punishment. Paul begs for forgiveness and offers a hug, but Punk is having none of that and he goes crazy with the kendo stick. Paul’s selling of those kendo shots is quite spectacular as you feel his pain. Punk calls for the GTS, but pulls out a pair of handcuffs to get revenge for when Heyman had him cuffed and beat him with the kendo stick. Paul screams to the ref that he is tapping, but with his hands cuffed behind his back he can’t do so. I’m not sure why he doesn’t get tell the ref he quits. Heyman gets abused with the kendo stick and has me busting up in laughter as he screams and asks Punk if he is crazy. Punk delivers a sick shot to the balls, and I really hope Paul has some padding under his track suit because Punk is not taking it easy with these shots. The crowd is out for blood and chants for tables. Punk tells Heyman he is going to break his face, but Ryback runs in and spears Punk through the table in the corner. He then puts Heyman on top for the cover and the win at 15:34. So Heyman has now pinned a former WWE Champion.

Winner: Paul Heyman via pin @ 15:34
-Not a lot to the match as Axel wasn’t ready yet to be on Punk’s level so there wasn’t much to their part. It was a solid street fight though with some sick shots with the kendo sticks, but ending came out of nowhere as Punk finished rather easily. The stuff with Heyman was fun due to the way Heyman reacted to everything. The ending bummed out the crowd, but they weren’t prepared to blow the feud off yet, so we get the ending we did with it building to the following PPV. **1/2

Blu-Ray Exclusives

-Paul tells the best story he can about his parents and it involves him trying to ride his bike off the roof so he can jump over a tree. He realizes it’s a pretty bad idea and he chickens out at the last second as he jumps off the bike, but the bike keeps on going and it brings down the gutter. His mother can see the gutter fall and then see Paul’s bike come crashing down as well. Paul flies back into his room and does homework to pretend like nothing happened. His mom came rushing into the room and Paul mentions his mom was a yeller, so he was scared to death. She yelled and screamed at her son for 20 minutes or so, and then left Paul alone. He had to sit and wait all night for his dad to come home and he was the opposite of his mother as he never raised his voice. He tells Paul he expects him to screw up as he grows in his life, but he never wants to see him screw up the same way twice. By being reasonable he was able to get his point across and to Paul it meant his father always had his back. He also knew right or wrong he was going to have to battle his mother.

-A short story from Bill Apter about how Paul would want Apter to use his photos. Apter says that at times Paul was just too pushy.

-Paul discusses the 3 Wise Men of the East: Freddy Blassie, The Grand Wizard, and Captain Lou. One night he did an interview with The Wizard, and Paul asked him logical questions about storylines, and The Wizard asks Paul to run his fan club. That brought Albano wanting Paul to run his fan club, and that made Blassie jealous so Paul had to run that one as well.

-Paul tells the story of how he pissed off everyone one in Memphis and he was getting canned on his first day, but he ran into Austin Idol. He loved to stick things to Lawler so he threatened to walk if Heyman wasn’t put as his manager and not because he was a Heyman fan, but just because he wanted to anger Lawler.

-Paul again as he talks about wanting to use his cell phone in his first interviews with the AWA, but Verne didn’t want him to do it. So at the second set of tapings Paul just brought the phone with him to ringside. They show footage from that show and you can tell Verne is just confused by the phone and Paul asked him to put over the idea, but Verne still didn’t know why he needed a phone. Paul tells Verne so he can hit people over the head because they are heels and they cheat. Verne’s rebuttal: “That’s not fair.” Awesome!

-JR tells a story that he knows Heyman will deny every happened, but he is sticking to the story. One time JR lost his driver’s license in WCW, so Paul became his driver. They were heading to CNN Center to do voiceovers, and Paul calls from a number that JR recognizes as an Atlanta number, but Paul tells him he is calling from New York. JR is stunned as he knows he is calling from an ATL number. Paul wants voiceovers pushed to later in the evening as he is stuck at the airport in New York. JR asks him how the weather is in New York, and Paul answers that it’s just typical New York weather and ends the call.

-Joey Styles discusses how he first met Heyman, and it was when he was an intern at PWI. Heyman came in for a photo shoot and Joey showed him a tape of his work from a small independent promotion. When Joey graduated college he sent tapes to the WWF and WCW, but he was blown off by Bruce Prichard, and Watts was fired before he could get an interview. So Joey then called ECW and told Joey to come down for a tryout. Joey is in a locker room and gets confronted by Tod Gordon who has no clue who he is. He quickly says Paul invited him and they question Paul and he tells them that Joey is his friend and is giving him a tryout. Soon Joey gets named as the lead announcer for ECW and he was taught by Heyman who used everything he learned from JR. So Joey was indirectly taught how to be an announcer by Jim Ross. Cool!

-Gave Sapolsky next as he talks about how Paul was always the first guy he called when issues would arise. He brings up how in the early days of ECW Gabe quit because he couldn’t stand working for the guy who did the merchandise. He tells Paul he is quitting just before the show started and Paul immediately drops all he is doing and fires the merchandise worker to keep Gabe on board.

-Tommy Dreamer is asked if Heyman pushed people too much and he says yes. He talks about how he tried to convince everyone that RVD could springboard from one side of the ring to the other and spring back. Tommy tried to tell him it was impossible, but all Paul could say is Rob could do it. Then he tells a road story where Paul gets into a fight Taz just to get him in a pissed off mood just because he knew Taz needed to vent and until he did he knew he couldn’t get him to do what he needed to do.

-Some backstage footage from ECW where Guido blows a line during a taped interview. Paul steps in and does the interview so Guido can watch, and it’s pretty cool watching him seamlessly step in and work with the rest of the FBI. We then see the finished product with Guido pulling off the interview.

-Back to Dreamer as he tells a funny story surrounding November 2 Remember. Dreamer was in a tag match with a mystery partner, but Paul won’t tell him who it is. The night before the show they were part of a float on Bourbon Street and Dreamer is drunk. He gets a call at 9 AM and Paul tells him he needs to go get a 12 foot python because Jake Roberts is his partner. This is on a Sunday and Dreamer tells Paul no way he can get one, and Paul tells him that it’s New Orleans and he can get one. Dreamer calls one pet store and they have no answers, so he doesn’t get one. He is just amazed that Paul figured any street corner in NOLA would be selling a python.

-Gabe again as he mentions he was paid via program money as they didn’t want anyone on salary in ECW. So he sold the programs and made very little money, but as the company grew he began to make more money. As they got bigger others wanted the program money, but Paul always kept his word and fought for Gabe to keep the money.

-Dreamer with another story and this time he talks about a bowling bag Paul always carried around with him. He calls it just a disgusting thing, and once when he went to clean it out he saw they were being sued by Sony, and Paul said that it was no big deal unless they served him, so things just went on like that.

-Edge shows up and talks about how he never saw ECW in Canada as they didn’t get the show. He and Christian did send a tape to ECW as they figured it was a good fit for them based on what they hear about ECW. He doesn’t know if this was true or not but he heard they were rejected because Christian was wearing orange in the tape, and Taz put the brakes on them getting a shot in the company.

-Joey is asked to tell a Paul story and he starts cracking up before he can even tell it. He asks Paul to be in his wedding because of all he did for his career. The wedding was on a Sunday afternoon so it didn’t interfere with anything ECW related and the wedding was 15 minutes away from Paul’s house. Paul no shows the wedding and after waiting 15 minutes they go through with the 90 minute ceremony. Pictures were taken and there was still no Paul. Finally half way through the reception Paul shows up in his tux with a black eye and some scrapes on his arm. He tells Joey he was picking up his date (a model) and they got into a car accident in the taxi and he had to be taken to the ER where they wouldn’t let him leave. Joey says he can tell what real injuries are and what are sports entertainment injuries, and even after 16 years Paul is sticking to the story. They cut to Paul and on cue he says he missed the wedding because he was in a car accident in a cab because his car was broken down in West Chester. Back to Joey who says “Paul Heyman missed my wedding and beat himself up so because he was so afraid of what I might do.” Joey dares anyone to top that story. Yeah, that is going to be tough.

-Dreamer talks about how outside of ECW he and Paul didn’t know what to talk about because they were just wrestling fans. They used to go out in New York and once at the China Club they walked right in and it was just after the Rangers had won the Stanley Cup. So Dreamer got to drink out of the Cup with Mark Messier, and then he talks about how they used to score a lot of women because of the way they talked.

-Joey again as he talks about Paul driving him in his white corvette back to NYC so he could get to his job. It was always in the middle of the morning and Paul would routinely break 100 miles an hour and Joey would sleep because he was so afraid to be awake. You can just hear the terror in his voice. Buffone tells a similar story as they would rush the tape to air and it was scary as all hell in that car.

-Paul talks about the dying days of ECW and he was sitting in the offices of USA Network negotiating with the president of the network to get ECW a slot. USA was in a lawsuit with the WWF at the time, but that didn’t stop Vince from sending a memo telling USA that it would be a mistake to not bring Paul and his company onto the network. He also waived the exclusivity clause he had with TNN to let ECW have a little longer on the network to try to find another deal. He says Vince never took anything personally that was said in ECW.

-Paul talks about making unpleasant decisions in ECW, but he can look back with a clear conscience. He knows a lot of people made a lot of money off the corpse of ECW, but he wasn’t one of them. He tells everyone to get over the fact that he showed up on RAW just after the company closed. He mentions that he went bankrupt and while other guys who run companies save a nest egg for themselves he got out with nothing. He isn’t unsympathetic for the guys who got burned because he is with them.

-They have Paul go back to the ECW Arena and he feels the idea kind of sucks because he isn’t emotional about the place. He says he doesn’t feel a connection with the building but does so with the fans and the talent, but not real estate. So instead we get Sapolsky giving the tour and he gets some pub by mentioning he created ROH, Dragon Gate USA and Evolve Wrestling. Cool addition for those wanting to know what the place looks like without a ring and all the fans.

-JR tells the story of Paul’s last night on RAW following the Invasion storyline. It was Paul’s idea to leave with JR beating the hell out of him on the announce table and then being dragged out by security. JR says that Paul stole the thunder of Lawler’s return.

-Paul talks about how he and Brock became best friends when they were flying overseas. Nobody knew that either man was an expecting father, and they let each other know. That is the moment they formed a common bond even if they are 2 completely different people.

-Big Show talks about trying to cut a promo on Brock and Heyman laughs because Show apparently sounded like an old Jew. Show says he always made him laugh and Paul told him to smash Vince’s desk during a segment on SmackDown. They show the segment and Show goes crazy in destroying the desk and just like Paul said, Vince fed off the energy.

-Edge talks about how he and Brock wrestled a bunch on house shows and then got a shot on the England PPV Rebellion. The difference was Paul was added to the match to make it a handicap match. Edge was great at putting things together on the fly and Paul was great at making the storyline work. Edge came up with a spot where Paul would take a baseball slide dropkick, something he had never done. The moment comes and Edge crushes him with it, and it is rather funny to see.

-Show once again as he talks about how creative Paul is. He talks about being in a Double Tree Hotel and he was in a lot of pain due to his back injury. They are discussing ideas for his feud with Taker after slamming him off the stage. Show joked around about writing Taker a letter to apologize and they start laughing at the thought of it. Paul takes that idea and they start sending Taker gifts and that gets Show off TV for a few weeks to heal. The first gift is a guy with a singing telegram (Brian Kendrick), and then a wooden box with Brother Love inside. Two more boxes come and finally Show comes back to continue the feud.

-Beth Phoenix talks about being in OWV when Paul was in charge. She was having a match with Trinity and Paul wants her to hit the DVD (called Beth Valley Driver for her) and while she had her reservations Paul convinced her it could be done and so it was. They do show the footage of her performing the movie and it is quite impressive.

-Beth again and this she shares a story this is her most vivid Paul Heyman story. She was involved in a 5 person handicap match, and she and Shelly wanted to do a wheel barrow type move. They knew it was something they could botch and they weren’t sure if they should do it. Paul used to watch as they tried to do things in the ring and he asked her if she had ever seen him do a dropkick. She said now and he asked why she never saw him do one, and she doesn’t have an answer. He tells her “because I can’t.” That was a valuable early lesson for her as she learned that the crowd doesn’t know what you can’t do, so don’t show them. Good lesson!

-Mick Foley talks about the only time he ever had friction with Paul. They show a promo from May 2006 where Paul
calls Mick a prostitute and Mick says the “whore” word was thrown around a good bit. He believes it was truly the way Paul felt, so they agreed to air their dirty laundry in front of the fans. He talks about how they were able to use their real life friction and get a great storyline out of it.

-JR talks about the long reported idea that he and Heyman hated each other. He laughs every time he hears that because of how natural they were with each other. They were just so great together that there were times they did get heated with each other, but they would always come back the next day ready to go. JR compares it to a marriage and they were each good at tuning each other out until they were able to cool down. JR says he was told when he started that when you leave the business you will be able to count the number of true fans from the business on one hand, and JR thought that was negative. Now 40 years later and JR realizes that Heyman is one of those guys.

-Show talks about how he has pissed himself laughing from the stuff Paul has done. They were in Alaska and Paul stole a blanket when they got off the plane because he was so cold. They went to a rental place and rented a truck and Show mentions it was equipped for hunting and thus there was some blood in the backseat. He does his awesome Heyman impression and he apparently freaked out about the blood and questioned why Show would want to rent the vehicle. Show tells him that he can’t fit in anything else and only option they have. “Us Jews aren’t hunters. We are furriers.” Too funny!

-Several of the talking heads talk about how Paul has his kids cutting promos as part of his voice mail message. They play the voice mail message and everyone talks about how good of a dad he is.

-Dreamer brings up Paul’s parents and how they often helped out ECW. The only time he feels the real Heyman emerges is when he talks about his father. We cut to Paul and he says that his hero growing up was his father and he is still the coolest guy he has ever met. His says his performances on the mic are nothing compared to what his father could do in a court room. He then calls his son his new hero and he talks about how his son has the best qualities of him, his wife, and his father. With that said he has to compete with his sister, who is apparently ready to take over as head of the family according to Paul.

-Ron Buffone talks about how people call Paul crazy, but really while in ECW, WCW, and now the WWE Paul has been a genius.

-Steph tells an emotional story that nearly brings her to tears and shows how much of a kind person Paul can be. Shortly after Mae Young passed, Paul sent Steph a text because he knew how much Mae meant to her. Steph has the text saved and reads it and barely gets through it without breaking down. Great story and Steph says that she will always call Paul her friend.

-We finish the set with one final promo and this is the one from the RAW after WrestleMania XXX where Paul gets to gloat about Brock ending Taker’s Streak. The crowd is none too pleased which is kind of cool considering we get smark heavy crowds at the Post Mania RAW. Paul is in all his glory gloating about how they told everyone what was going to happen, so he doesn’t know why they are all in shock. Great line as he says Brock isn’t here to put smiles on people’s faces and instead put tears in the eyes of children. That actually gets a round of applause from the fans and so does Paul mentioning he will shoot from the hip. They talk about how Taker collapsed 5 seconds after getting to the back after the match and Vince McMahon left Mania to ride with him to the hospital. Taker is being treated for a concussion and come close to breaking his neck and cracking his skull. The fans can be angry but last night The Undertaker was a loser and the winner was Brock Lesnar. Daniel Bryan, John Cena, and The Undertaker never fought in The Octagon because they are all wannabes. The Rock, Hulk Hogan, and Steve Austin are also all wannabes because they couldn’t be WWE Champion, NCAA Champion, and UFC Champion. Randy Orton, HHH, and Shawn Michaels couldn’t break the streak so they are all wannabes. The fans try to get to him with “what” chants, but Paul cuts them down by speaking very slowly and that gets a mix of applause and boos. Just masterful stuff here!

9.0
The final score: review Amazing
The 411
I gave the first disc a rating of 9.5, but this one brings things down just a tad. Heyman obviously isn't a wrestler and I understand the Brock tag and Axel tag being on there as Paul got to pin 2 rather big stars. There had to be a better Midnight match somewhere they could have used, or maybe a Cornette/Heyman match. I also would have liked to see a match featuring JR and Heyman on commentary. The Survivor Series Elimination Match to end the Invasion storyline would have been perfect as they were awesome on that one. The extra stories were all pretty good with the Styles wedding one stealing the show. The set overall is one of the best released by the WWE with the documentary being damn near perfect.
legend