Paul Heyman on the Ending of The Bloodline, Reveals It’s Been Rewritten Multiple Times

– During a recent interview with The Ringer, WWE’s Paul Heyman discussed the ending of The Bloodline stable and revealed that the ending of the group has been rewritten “multiple times.” Below are some highlights:

Heyman on the meaning behind hardcore wrestling: “I never considered hard-core wrestling to be the pursuit of blood. I considered extreme and hard-core to be a testament to the work ethic that was involved. We did an excessive amount of blood in ECW because the others couldn’t offer it.” Heyman also champions the broad range of talent that ECW put on display: “We popularized Mysterio versus Psicosis. We popularized Malenko versus Guerrero. We innovated the tap-out instead of ‘I Quit’ in professional wrestling and sports entertainment with the character of Taz.” And it wasn’t just the action in the ring that made ECW stand out from its competition; its gritty, in-your-face production values (and soundtrack plucked straight from your favorite radio station) also attracted attention. “The stunts and the visuals and the music [were] a counterculture presentation.”

Paul Heyman on the ending of The Bloodline: “I’m a huge proponent of writing the last page of the script first. It’s always to the advantage of long-term storytelling. I don’t think it was ever done better, ever, than the Brian De Palma–directed movie Carlito’s Way, because the very first frame of the movie tells you the ending. The first scene in that movie is the end of the movie. Then you’re taken on a ride with these characters that are so layered. The audience is truly emotionally invested in them to such a degree that when you know the movie is coming to the conclusion, you have forgotten what the ending is, and you’re rooting for Carlito, even though you were just told less than two hours ago he’s going to die on that train platform at the hands of this person in front of his soon-to-be bride. The magnificence of that storytelling is, to this day, so dramatically underappreciated. I’ve always been of the belief that the launch of the story is the first push toward the conclusion. The finish is everything.”

On how the ending has been rewritten multiple times: “All that being said. I think I would suggest the ending of this story has already been rewritten multiple times because the world has changed since the inception of the Bloodline story. Therefore, what was a clear vision of how this should play out almost four years ago changed along the way based on not only the audience’s investment in the characters and the stories but the world itself—society itself, pop culture itself, sports culture itself has all changed, and now we can see the trajectory that we’ve been on takes us so much further than we ever initially imagined.”

Paul Heyman will be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2024 on Friday, April 5 at the Wells Fargo Center. The induction ceremony will be broadcast live on Peacock.