It is not often that you come across someone who assiduously puts in hard work to nurture what he once dreamt of as a little kid; and in the process, sacrifices a life of comforts to see it scale heights.
Paul E. Dangerously, otherwise known as Paul Heyman is one such samaritan who put the business of professional wrestling above and before everything else.
The progenitor of the Extreme Championship Wrestling brand is someone who has saved businesses from dying out, courtesy of his workaholic nature. Here are 5 plausible reasons why Heyman would be the perfect replacement for Dana White in the UFC:
#5 Heyman doesn’t ridicule stars
Dana White, though one hell of a promoter, has received criticism over the years for ridiculing fighters into fights and contracts in unsavoury ways. Dana White has received flak for bad-mouthing his fighters who are well-liked by the public.
According to Holly Holm, Dana White often resorts to pushing fighters to do things against their will. Paul Heyman, on the other hand, is someone who would do whatever it takes to back his stars up.
Also read: Importance of Paul Heyman in the Brock Lesnar- Undertaker WrestleMania match
The finest example of this is Brock Lesnar, someone who Heyman nurtured through his days of yore in World Wrestling Entertainment. Heyman knows how to manage his Superstars and has been doing that since his days with the WWE, before he went on to create ECW.
When Paul. E. Dangerously does it his way, it benefits the business, the fans and the stars. He is the absolute best in the business and a move to UFC might be epochal!
#4 Cutting edge promos
Those who’ve followed Heyman since his days in World Championship Wrestling, know that he can literally cut through glass with his sharp-tongued promos.
A paradigm shift to the ECW brought us promos that catapulted the business to a new pedestal altogether, ushering the ‘extreme’ quotient into professional wrestling.
Heyman was on fire when he first partnered a young Brock Lesnar in 2002, in the WWE. Lesnar was booked as an ‘assassin who rarely talked’ so Heyman was bestowed with the duty of being his mouthpiece, a job that he carried out with finesse.
Just imagine Paul Heyman crossing over to the Ultimate Fighting Championship and cutting promos that are reminiscent of his days with the WWE and ECW. I’d trust him to be a far better promoter than Dana White.
#3 His workaholic ways
If it wasn’t for his lazy ways and his shoddy work ethic, Dana White could be very well hailed as the greatest promoter of all-time. On the extremely opposite end of that spectrum stands Paul Heyman.
Heyman defines the word ‘workaholic’ in his own way of doing things. He is someone who’d offer his blood, toil, tears and sweat to see the business grow, even if it means taking on multiple roles to succour the success of the show.
In an interview with the WWE, former superstar-commentator Tazz was all praises for Heyman, calling him one of the greatest people to have graced the business. He went on to say:
“ECW was his life. No girlfriend, no wife, no close friends; just people that worked for him. His family members were his closest friends.”
A person of such credentials, having so much dedication for work is the one who would change the entire face of the UFC.
White is extremely good at what he does, there’s no denying that, but the inclusion of Paul Heyman would mean pushing the limits of the UFC manifold because “Heyman never backs down from any challenge!”
#2 Heyman’s ways of scouting talent and turning them into saleable commodities
After a successful first stint with World Wrestling Entertainment, Paul Heyman resumed managerial duties in 2004 when he was put in charge of Heidenrich.
What ensued didn’t turn out to be successful, so Heyman took some time off from the WWE to ‘call the shots’ at Ohio Valley Wrestling (WWE’s developmental territory).
It was here that he came in contact with CM Punk and both forged an alliance that would end up becoming a force to be reckoned with in the coming years. Heyman was also expertly involved in bringing the previously ignored ‘Cruiserweight Division’ to the forefront, given Vince McMahon’s love for big, muscly men.
Scouting talent and turning them into saleable commodities is what comes naturally to Paul Heyman: you bring the talent, I bring the platform!
#1 Doing what’s right for the fans
Dana White has been trying to shield Conor McGregor from Khabib Nurmagomedov, much to the dismay of the fans who’ve been waiting for the match with bated breath. The fans want to see the Irishman finally meet his match.
This isn’t the first instance where Dana has played the devil’s advocate and gone against the general consensus. It can be clearly seen that Dana offers preferential treatment to those in his good books, often relegating the others to an uneasy secondary spot.
He loves those who get people talking before fights and is often seen to be in cahoots with fighters who go out of their way to leverage ratings. Put Heyman in the same job and he would go an extra mile to ensure that all of his fighters are getting due credit.
Heyman has always been a taskmaster and someone who would submit all of the resources for the greater good of the organisation.
What the UFC needs right now is a real workaholic, who not only cares about the ratings but is also concerned with the well-being of his fighters, in addition to being fair and just.
No one fits the role better than Paul E. Dangerously. Remember when he totally revolutionised SmackDown, changing its fortunes from a “boring WWE peripheral show” to the company’s most popular brand?
That’s the capability this man holds, right from the promos, to making matches, the ex-ECW head honcho knows the game through and through!
Got anything to say in White’s defence?
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