Paul Heyman Defends the Wild Card Rule, Says Working With Ronda Rousey Was ‘Life-Changing’

— Paul Heyman talked to TV Insider recently about Brock Lesnar’s surprise MITB win, and how working with Ronda Rousey was a life-changing experience, as well as giving some comments on the much maligned Wildcard Rule.

He explained that they saw an opportunity in seeing the situation unfold between Braun Strowman and Sami Zayn, in which Zayn took the Monster Among Men’s spot in the ladder match amidst an escalating feud.

“Where there is chaos there is opportunity. The whole Braun Strowman-Sami Zayn situation playing out on Monday night told me the men’s ladder match was in chaos. We have super popular champions in Seth Rollins and Kofi Kingston, and nobody seems to give them a challenge. It [looked] like the opportunity was ripe for an invasion of the beast, so we watched what many people would call a real-life implementation of a conspiracy theory. It played out perfectly to our advantage at Money in the Bank.”

Heyman also spoke in defense of the Wild Card Rule, the newly established concept in which a select amount of superstars from Raw or SmackDown can appear on the opposing brand within a given week. Heyman claimed this year’s Superstar Shake-Up was better than last year’s, due to the Wild Card Rule acting as a bonus.

“I view the ‘Wild Card Rule’ as the other shoe dropping within this year’s roster Shake-Up. It happened the week after — people were assigned to Raw, people were assigned to SmackDown Live. Then it was, ‘Oh, by the way, here is a bonus: up to four can go in between the brands on any given show.’ I think instead of doing a roster Shake-Up like last year, this year it was one better because you got the bonus of the ‘Wild Card Rule.’ That’s the way I look at it, and I would suggest my viewpoint is far more intelligent than anyone else’s viewpoint out there. So now people should be enlightened.”

He mentioned that he didn’t want people knowing about his role backstage or what segments he does or doesn’t have a part in, as he’d prefer people simply focus on the product he’s trying to highlight.

“I like the speculation as to where my role is and where my role isn’t in WWE because I think people should have the opportunity to simply enjoy the product, not worry about if Paul Heyman is involved in this idea or Paul Heyman wasn’t involved in that idea… If you’re noticing what I’m doing behind the scenes, then you’re missing the point of what I want you to pick up on, which is the characters and the storylines. I’m glad that many people don’t know what I’m doing right now because it gives them an opportunity to simply judge the product, and oh my God, enjoy the product for what it is.”

He also briefly commented on working with Ronda Rousey in her presentation, and called working with her a life-changing experience.

“I had a blast working with Ronda Rousey. Working with Ronda Rousey was a life-changing experience for me, and I hope I get a chance to work even more with Ronda Rousey in the future.”