Paul Heyman has shared why he finally accepted a WWE Hall of Fame induction after turning it down four times.
Speaking on What’s Your Story? With Steph McMahon, Paul Heyman said that he wanted his Hall of Fame speech to be about the next generation of wrestlers as much as it was about him and his legacy. He also revealed that he had turned down an HOF induction four times before he finally accepted.
“I wanted a lot of my Hall of Fame speech to be to the next generation,” Paul Heyman began. “Here it is, I get to work with Bron Breakker, I get to work with Rhea Ripley, I get to work with Bianca Belair. I get to work with these fascinating young talents that are coming up. I wanted it to be about them as much as it is about me or about my past.
“And then I knew I’d go home on all the catchphrases, because that’s an easy way to get out, and you’ll leave on a high note, and then it’s to everybody else that had to follow that motherf***r.
“When I started talking about Paul (Levesque), that wasn’t planned. But it’s like, okay, why am I here? I turned down the Hall of Fame four times. I just thought I’ll never do it while I’m active, and my kids always wanted me to accept it, because they were afraid they were going to have to accept it for me after I died.”
Paul Heyman Also Shared The Reasons For Finally Accepting A Hall of Fame Induction
Speaking further, Paul Heyman shared four reasons why he finally accepted a Hall of Fame induction, and gave significant credit to Paul “Triple H” Levesque in most of them.
“The reason why was number one, it was WrestleMania 40, pretty momentous,” Paul Heyman continued. “Number two, I was the first person asked by Paul Levesque, with him being in complete control of the Hall of Fame, and to me, that was a lifetime honor. Number three, he asked me to headline it, which was also his first Hall of Fame that he’s running, and I’m asked to headline. What an honor!
“And number four, we were coming out of a very chaotic time corporately, and no matter what, no matter who had what opinion, this man was doing a magnificent job in steering the ship, and someone had to say it publicly. Someone had to say, only one person can drive the car out of chaos, and it’s not just how he leads, it’s the manner in which he does.”
Apart from these reasons, Paul Heyman also mentioned that since the ceremony took place in Philadelphia, the home of ECW, he considered his Hall of Fame induction ECW’s induction.
“And also, I neglected to say this, it was Philly. I felt that this was ECW’s induction into the Hall of Fame.”
Read More: Matt Hardy Says Recent WWE RAW Match Represents The True Essence of Pro Wrestling
If you use the quotes from this article, please credit What’s Your Story? With Steph McMahon and give an H/T to WrestleZone for the transcription.
