WWE announces Paul Heyman as first inductee in the Hall of Fame

Where would the wrestling business be without Paul Heyman? Before Heyman was the brash talking advocate of The Bloodline faction. Heyman carried many other titles such as promoter, broadcaster, and executive. Paul Heyman’s spot in sports entertainment is solidified. You can’t say extreme wrestling without saying Heyman’s name. Now you can’t say WWE Hall of Fame without saying Heyman’s name.

Heyman really made his mark in the wrestling industry in the early 1990s, after being fired for running “a foul” in WCW. He landed at Eastern Championship Wrestling, which was renamed Extreme Championship Wrestling, and gained prominence in the industry with an R-rated approach that became popularly known as “hardcore” wrestling. ECW brought adult storylines, a grittier presentation, and an intentional lack of tradition. It embraced hard landings and bloody faces. ECW was considered a major influence on the late-90s wrestling boom popularly known as the “Attitude Era.” ECW was started out of a bingo hall in Philadelphia. 

In Heyman’s statement this week after he was announced Heyman said. “I’m a native New Yorker, but I don’t think it would be appropriate for me to be inducted anywhere else besides Philadelphia.” ECW eventually went out of business, and Heyman moved to WWE where current fans know him as the voice behind several prominent stars and now he’s the advocate for Roman Rheins. 

“I consistently feel like I’m just getting started, and I’m just figuring this out,” Heyman told the AP. “To me, what is an incomplete body of work, because there’s still things I want to accomplish, I never felt comfortable accepting that is a reflection upon an entire career.”