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Paul Heyman on What Kind of The Rock vs. Roman Reigns Match Fans Would Not Pay to See, If Rock Was to Work WrestleMania 39, More - March 3, 2023

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Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns is set to defend against Cody Rhodes at WrestleMania 39, but his rumored opponent for quite some time was WWE Legend Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. That match didn’t work out, likely due to Rock’s busy schedule and various commitments, but it’s believed WWE still wants to do The Great One vs. The Tribal Chief down the line.

Reigns’ counsel, Paul Heyman, appeared on Jimmy Traina’s SI Media Podcast this week and said he heard Rock’s name being pitched, but he never actually spoke with Rock about the match. Heyman, who works on Reigns’ creative, also talked about why he doesn’t think people would’ve paid to see a 15-minute Rock vs. Reigns bout.

Heyman was asked if he thinks Rock was supposed to be a part of WrestleMania this year.

“I never spoke to Dwayne about this year’s WrestleMania,” Heyman responded. “I always heard his name being thrown around. I couldn’t imagine with his schedule, with his promotional schedule, with the launch of the XFL, with all the projects that he has on his plate, that he would be able to take the time to get back into what we would call ring shape. Aesthetically, does anybody in Hollywood even compare it to him? No. Could he run a marathon? I don’t know. Maybe. I’m sure he has great cardio, but cardio itself and cardio in the ring and being in ring shape are two completely different things. I’ve seen great mixed martial arts fighters who would have no problem doing 15 rounds of sparring or five rounds in an MMA cage, get into a wrestling ring and within two minutes of hitting the ropes, they can catch their breath. It’s just a different rhythm. It’s just a completely different physical toll that it takes. It’s not like riding a bicycle. It’s not something you can just get back into. It requires you to get back into a specific level of conditioning that is exclusive to the sports entertainment world.”

Heyman continued and discussed what kind of program want would want to see from Rock and Reigns.

“Could Dwayne Johnson have come back and put together a really classic, very memorable 15-minute match with Roman Reigns for this year’s WrestleMania without going through that training? I bet you he could,” Heyman said. “I bet you just based on his knowledge of the ring, his supreme psychology which made him such a huge star, the people that we have around us to diagram such a confrontation, and just the fact that Dwayne will push himself beyond his own limits, we could have had a great 15-minute match. But I don’t think anybody would have paid to see the main event of WrestleMania of a fantasy match-up, of a dream match, between the Tribal Chief Roman Reigns and The Rock himself, I don’t think anybody would wanted to pay to see a 15-minute match. I think people would pay and expect to see, and rightfully expect to see, a far longer story be told in a most exciting, in an A-plus, plus, plus, plus level fashion. There was just no way that he would have been able to deliver, and I don’t think that he would ever want to disappoint what we end up calling the WWE Universe.”

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Paul Heyman on Shane Douglas and the birth of Extreme - 27th August 2013
(WWE)

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Nearly two decades ago on a muggy summer night, 1,000 wrestling fans packed into a bingo hall in a grungy Philadelphia neighborhood to witness history. After WCW withdrew from the National Wrestling Alliance, the NWA had been left without a World Champion. A young and exciting northeast-based organization called Eastern Championship Wrestling was selected to carry the torch of the NWA and steward the title. On that evening in Philly, an eight-man tournament was held to crown a new NWA World Heavyweight Champion. The action unfolded as normally as most sports-entertainment encounters, but after Shane Douglas was victorious in the finals, nobody could have predicted what happened next.

With the NWA Title on his shoulder and a microphone in his hand, The Franchise paid tribute to former champions like Dusty Rhodes, Harley Race and Ric Flair before committing the ultimate blasphemy by tossing his newly won championship – and 46 years of history – down to the mat. “I am not the man who accepts a torch to be handed down to me from an organization that died – R.I.P. – seven years ago,” Douglas proclaimed, referring to Ted Turner’s purchase of Jim Crockett Promotions. Instead, Douglas called himself “the man who ignites the new flame of the sport of professional wrestling.” He announced that he was the ECW Heavyweight Champion of the World, with the “E” switching from Eastern to Extreme.

In an in-depth and revealing conversation, we spoke with Paul Heyman about one of the most controversial incidents to ever occur at any sports-entertainment event. How was it orchestrated? Who knew about it? And why are there still rumors about ulterior motives? The speech had a ripple effect throughout the entire wrestling world and the battle lines were drawn. The era of Extreme had only just begun.

See rare photos of the historic night in Philadelphia | Watch videos of the NWA Title Tournament at the ECW Arena

WWECLASSICS.COM: What was the local wrestling landscape in Philadelphia and the northeast before ECW?

PAUL HEYMAN: Before the existence of ECW, Joel Goodhart had an independent promotion in Philadelphia called Tri-State Wrestling. Much like any other independent promotion that was running, especially in the northeast, the whole concept of Tri-State was to bring in guys who were fresh off WWE, WCW or AWA television – big name national or international stars working for a non-affiliated promoter. Usually, guys freshly fired, freshly quit or in between promotions, would come in for one-nighters. Eddie Gilbert, who was fresh out of WCW, and Cactus Jack, who wasn’t getting full time work in WCW, had a tremendous series of matches in Tri-State. Like all of these promotions, there was no way Joel Goodhart could cover the expense of flying all of these major names in and paying them their one-night fees. So, Tri-State went out of business.

WWECLASSICS.COM: What kept local wrestling alive in that area after Tri-State closed?

HEYMAN: One of the investors in Tri-State was a pawn shop-slash-jewelry store owner in Philadelphia named Tod Gordon. Tod continued on the concept of bringing in big names like Jimmy Snuka, Don Muraco, Jim Neidhart, Terry Funk, Stan Hansen, Abdullah the Butcher, Kevin Sullivan, Ivan Koloff – you name it – and started running shows in 1992 at some local Philadelphia-area bars, then at Cabrini College, and hired Eddie Gilbert as his lead producer of television. Gordon was running small shows using big names and he got into a conflict with an NWA-affiliated promoter in New Jersey, because they started running events on the same evenings and were trying to schedule some of the same performers. At that time, the National Wrestling Alliance did not have one promoter with a television outlet.

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