Paul Heyman went viral when he took a shot at Bobby “The Brain” Heenan on First Take, but he initially wasn’t supposed to be there.
Ahead of WWE SummerSlam, Heyman and Roman Reigns appeared on Stephen A. Smith‘s popular First Take show on ESPN. Heyman sparked plenty of buzz when he called himself the G.O.A.T. and noted that legendary manager Bobby “The Brain” Heenan was dead.
Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated reports that only Reigns was originally scheduled for the show. But according to ESPN sources, Stephen A. Smith had a discussion with his producer after he learned that Heyman was with Reigns. They decided that Heyman should also appear on the show, and Reigns approved of the move.
ut multiple sources from ESPN confirmed that changed when First Take host Stephen A. Smith learned Heyman had accompanied Reigns to the set at Seaport District Studios in New York City.
The full segment with Reigns and Heyman on First Take can be found here.
Paul Heyman Says Bloodline Story Is Only In The Third Inning
At WWE SummerSlam, Jimmy Uso turned on Jey Uso and helped Roman Reigns beat him in a Tribal Combat match. At the post-show press conference, Heyman explained that the Bloodline story is only in the third inning.
“We are just figuring this stuff out. We haven’t even hit our stride yet. If you want to take the arrogant approach, I’m sure Paul Levesque will tell you all the box office records that have been smashed. Every Friday night when we show up at SmackDown, we’re always told, ‘this is the largest gate of this and the largest gate of that.’ ‘This is the largest premium live event.’ ‘This is the largest WrestleMania.’ Okay, we can sit there and point to what clearly drove all this, and it’s the Bloodline, and when I say the Bloodline, I mean the Tribal Chief Roman Reigns.”
“There is so much more for us to master. It’s a craft, and it’s an evolving craft. It’s an ever evolving form of entertainment. If you sit there and you think, ‘we got this, this is it, we’re cruising to WrestleMania,’ we’re going to be replaced, and we should be. If you don’t come at this with the greatest ambitions to be much better tomorrow than you are today and much better two days from now, then you’re not here to be the greatest of all time.
“What inning are we in? Bottom of the third. Wait until you see what we have in the fourth.”
Catch up on our coverage of WWE SummerSlam here.
