Could Paul Heyman turn on Brock Lesnar and side with Roman Reigns at WrestleMania?
By Nick Tylwalk
As unthinkable as it might be to see the advocate in someone else’s corner, there’s at least reason to think the seeds could be planted for it in New Orleans.
For as far back as many WWE fans can remember, Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman have been a package deal. The Beast Incarnate sends foes to Suplex City, while his advocate does the heavy verbal lifting in his various feuds. There are expectations, however, that this different kind of tag team might be at its own fork in the road as soon as WrestleMania 34 on April 8.
The Mirror has a good article on what Heyman’s post-WrestleMania plans entail. He’s going to be working on a reality show of sorts, with him as the subject, “away from the WWE and Brock Lesnar.”
That should work out just fine because most observers expect Lesnar to give the UFC one last shot (last because he’s 40, or else he could just keep on bouncing back and forth). The MMA promotion could desperately use his star power in the near future, so that makes too much sense not to happen.
But let’s say for the sake of argument that Heyman wants to stay in the WWE mix while Lesnar is away. Here’s what the Mirror has to say on the subject of whether he’d play advocate for anyone else on the roster:
"Heyman’s contract is also up and he has stated he would only be interested in staying if he were to be paired with Ronda Rousey or Brock’s WrestleMania opponent, Roman Reigns."
Let’s skip past Rousey for just a second, because she definitely doesn’t seem comfortable this early in her career with pro wrestling-style microphone work, and Heyman would give her the time she needed to improve. That can always happen.
The much more intriguing possibility would be to pair Heyman with Reigns, who doesn’t need a talker in his corner as much as Lesnar and Rousey do, but would still be that much more of an attraction with Paul by his side.
The Mirror is thinking this way too:
"Could we see a double turn in New Orleans?Reigns receiving help from Heyman to win the WWE Universal Title would turn the challenger heel, and be a big shock to the fans, with Vince McMahon trying unsuccessfully to make him the babyface star of the company for the last three years."
A Heyman turn would allow WWE writers to lean into the mixed reaction Reigns has been getting for years. Fans who already boo him would likely continue to do so, while those who adhere to more traditional face/heel cues would absolutely turn against him. It’s the chance to do what WWE never did with John Cena, for various reasons.
Reigns has been a heel before and wouldn’t have too much trouble slipping back into that character. Heyman would only add to his menace, cutting promos as only he can. And when Lesnar returns for his inevitable final WWE stint, he’d be instantly greeted as a face (which tends to happen anyway when performers are gone for a while) and his reckoning with Heyman would be delicious.
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No one is saying a Heyman turn is definitely going to happen, or even that it’s likely to go down in NOLA. It’s just worth keeping in mind that he could leave WrestleMania 34 by the side of the Universal Champion while Lesnar is still lying in the ring, and that would be a WrestleMania moment that wouldn’t soon be forgotten.