History Wrestling / PaulHeyman

** The Dangerous Alliance, most famously in WCW, though he had different versions of the group in ECW, ICW/IWCCW (New England) and Continental (Alabama.)

* SelfDeprecation: After [[Wrestling/TheDudleyBoys The Dudley Boyz (Buh Buh Ray and D-Von)]] left ECW for WWE in September 1999, Heyman repackaged their manager Sign Guy Dudley (real name Lou D'Angeli) as a knockoff of ''himself,'' (or rather, his previous "Paul E. Dangerously" manager persona) as "Lou E. Dangerously." Lou E. even assembled his own stable, the New Dangerous Alliance, with "The Enforcer" C.W. Anderson, long-time ECW jobber "Beautiful" Bill Wiles, valet Elektra (real name Donna Adamo, the real-life wife-turned-ex-wife of Alex "Big Dick Dudley" Rizzo) and ''Erik Watts,'' the legendarily talentless son of legendary promoter "Cowboy" Bill Watts, who had fired Paul E. from [=WCW=] in January 1993. On the January 1, 2000 (taped December 23, 1999) episode of ''ECW Hardcore TV,'' Japanese [[GarbageWrestler hardcore wrestler]] Kintaro Kanemura d. C.W. Anderson (w/Lou E.) Before the match, Lou E. cut a promo where he said that he wasn't paying tribute to Paul E. because Paul E. sucks.

*** Boasting that as ''[=SmackDown=]'' General Manager, Heyman was the only one still guaranteed to have a job on Thursday nights following the then-upcoming 2004 WWE Draft. For the final pick of the draft, Wrestling/EricBischoff ends up drafting Heyman to ''Raw'', prompting Heyman to [[ScrewThisImOutOfHere quit on the spot]].

** He's developed a very bad habit of tempting fate with Triple H, insulting his [[Wrestling/StephanieMcMahon wife]] (and getting clocked in the face as a result), then later insulting his children (getting him wailed on by both [[PapaWolf Triple H]] and [[MamaBear his wife]]). Granted, he had a reason to act cocky, since they didn't get their claws into Heyman for long before [[OhCrap finding out he'd brought Lesnar along as a surprise peace keeper.]] He was often GenreSavvy enough to do this again in later promos he tries this (you can usually tell if Lesnar's theme is about to blare depending on whether Heyman is suicidally [[BerserkButton pushing buttons]] or [[OpinionFlipflop sniveling cautiously]]).

** So, why did he continue to taunt Stephanie [=McMahon=] about her children after he had gotten enough rise out of her to get what he wanted? Why did he feel the need to insult Wrestling/BigELangston, who had done nothing wrong and nothing to him? Why...well you could be on this entry all day if we decided to list every last thing to show why Paul Heyman is an example.
** On January 26, 2014, CM Punk abruptly, legitimately leaves WWE. Four months later, the ''Payback 2014'' PPV takes place in Chicago, Illinois; Punk's hometown. So, naturally, Heyman [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3leeQkAq9LE adresses it the only way he knows.]]

** Heyman tends to think little of some of the people that he and Wrestling/BrockLesnar feuds with such as Wrestling/TheUndertaker or Wrestling/TripleH. This usually ends with them getting their asses handed to them.
** On the November 28, 2016 episode of ''Raw'', Heyman tearfully admits this mistake to Wrestling/MichaelCole during an interview following the conclusion of ''Survivor Series 2016''. According to Heyman, he and Brock thought that {{Wrestling/Goldberg}} would be an easy payday considering Goldberg hasn't wrestled for 12 years. Goldberg proved both Heyman and Lesnar wrong by [[CurbstompBattle squashing The Beast]] in 86 seconds.

* VerbalTic: He always refers to Brock Lesnar by his full name during his promos, or as he puts it "BROOOOCK LESNAAAAAR"
* VillainousBreakdown: Following Rollins' big (and clean) win over Lesnar at ''[=SummerSlam=] 2019'', Heyman began ranting over the WWE denying his client an automatic rematch clause... and is at a loss of words immidiately after saying it before going back inside Lesnar's locker room, heavily implying that he and Lesnar are planning something, which is later confirmed to be true: going after Kofi's World Title by paying a visit to ''[=SmackDown=]!''.
* VocalEvolution: From the very beginning of his career, Heyman, also known as Paul E. Dangerously back then, once had a smooth, deep baritone voice at the age of 21, until at the age of 28, his voice began to sound pretty shrill and squeaky to which he still retains to this day.
* WeUsedToBeFriends: With CM Punk. When Punk told Heyman he didn't need him any more, and with Heyman up till that point been in Punks corner promptly turned on, claiming all of Punk's success been because of him.

* WorthIt: Heyman claimed this after his snide remarks provoked Triple H's wrath ''again'', especially since he got to bite him back by booking a career defending match against Brock Lesnar afterwards.

* YiddishAsASecondLanguage: Sarcastically said, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mazel_tov "Mazel tov"]] in his promo on CM Punk on the August 16, 2013 ''[=SmackDown=]''.
* YouHaveToHaveJews: As shown above, he's one of the very few Jews in a high profile position in the wrestling business.

->'''"Ladies and gentleman allow me to remind that… My client, Brock Lesnar conquer The Undertaker's undefeated streak at [=WrestleMania=]! My client, Brock Lesnar conquer The Undertaker's undefeated streak at [=WrestleMania=]! My client, Brock Lesnar conquer The Undertaker's undefeated streak at [=WrestleMania=]! My client, Brock Lesnar conquer The Undertaker's undefeated streak at [=WrestleMania=]!'''

* HammyHerald: Heyman is always, ''[[SeriousBusiness always]]'', the one to introduce Brock Lesnar when he enters the ring for a fight or segment. He also [[MouthOfSauron does all Lesnar's promos for him]]. By all indications this is because Lesnar, whatever about his in-ring ability, is not good on the mic; when he returned to WWE, he cut one disastrous promo and, immediately recognizing that it was terrible, he pushed for Heyman to be brought back for this exact reason.

* HeyThatsMyLine: He's pretty particular about being the only one allowed to introduce Brock Lesnar. If the in-ring announcer tries to do so, Heyman will non-verbally stop them, gesture to be given the microphone and then introduces Lesnar as [[LargeHam only he can]].

* HotBlooded: When he really gets going in his promos. He also mocked the idea in an interview with Renee Young while explaining how CM Punk was set to go off like a volcano but he, Heyman, was in control of his emotions...right.

** He also doesn't like being called a "manager", and instead prefers being called an "advocate".
** This continues into his "special council" role with Roman which not only he does prior stuff above for Roman (as the [[{{Pun}} Reignsing]], defending, undisputed WWE Universal Heavyweight Champion]]) but also calls him the ''sole'' preeminent Champion of WWE, calling the other champions mere title-holders.

* KneelBeforeZod: To the Undertaker after stealing his urn and kidnapping Wrestling/PaulBearer. It only worked once, as Taker took the urn back and buried Paul Bearer in cement (what Heyman was going to do to Bearer anyway if Taker did not comply)

** During his appearance on "[[Wrestling/TheMiz Miz]] [[TalkShowWithFists TV]]" on the June 28, 2013 episode of ''[=SmackDown=]'', while introducing Curtis Axel, he said, "Ladies and gentlemen, and you too Miz."

* MysteriousMiddleInitial: The "E." in "Paul E. Dangerously." While in ECW, he'd say "The 'E' stands for ''Extreme''," it was never clarified what, if anything, it stood for ''prior'' to ECW. Probably due to the fact that he took his ring name from ''Film/JohnnyDangerously'' due to him bearing a passing resemblace in his youth to Creator/MichaelKeaton, he added the "E." in order to keep the rhythm of the name, rather than be "Paulie Dangerously".

* NonActionGuy: He's been in some matches, but it's not really his role. Anyone who gets past his clients (who typically double as his bodyguards) can usually reduce him to pathetically begging for mercy.

** After Wrestling/{{Goldberg}} hit Lesnar with the second consecutive Spear during their ''Wrestling/SurvivorSeries 2016'' match and looked like he was going to go for the [[FinishingMove Jackhammer]], Heyman was ''on his knees'' at ringside with his hands together, desperately praying either for Goldberg to have mercy (fat chance of that), or possibly divine intervention.
** The July 30, 2018 edition of ''Raw'' sees an awesome DoubleSubversion. First after Wrestling/KurtAngle fired Heyman on the spot for Lesnar's continued no-shows on ''Raw'', Heyman grabs Angle by the leg and begins begging to let him keep his job. Then Lesnar's theme begins blaring over the loudspeakers, causing Heyman to break out into a shit-eating grin as Lesnar gives Angle an F-5. Then Lesnar grabs a shocked Heyman by the throat, choking him and forcing him down to the mat.
** His reaction to seeing his newest client Wrestling/RomanReigns match against his own cousin Jey Uso. Roman was absolutely tearing Jey apart, and Paul was just watching in horror that someone is capable of doing this to his own family. When Roman begins demanding Jey to "acknowledge" him as the head of the table, Paul tries to calm him by saying "you're my tribal chief", but it doesn't work. What scary is that, with Brock Lesnar, you get the sense he has some semblance of control over him, like if he's about to kill someone, Heyman can somehow convince him not to. Roman, on the otherhand, doesn't roll like that, and continues to beat his cousin until Jimmy Uso comes in and throws in the towel on behalf of Jey. Paul might work with Roman, but he certainly can't control him, and he knows that.

** Crossed with BullyingADragon[=/=]TooDumbToLive: At the ''[=WCW=] [=WrestleWar=] '91'' [=PPV=] on February 24, 1991, he made the very dumb decision to issue racist threats to ''[[Wrestling/GiantGonzalez El Gigante (Giant González)]]'', who was '''7'7"''' and over 400 lbs., and Gigante beat him up for it, of course.

** Subverted and thoroughly justified in October 2017 when he addressed Lesnar's ''Wrestling/SurvivorSeries'' cross-brand opponent, WWE Champion Wrestling/JinderMahal; he states he doesn't trash-talk Lesnar's opponents the way fans would like him to because that is [[DiscreditedTrope tired and played out]], and [[WorthyOpponent anyone positioned to fight Brock Lesnar must have something real to them]]... but [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness Mahal is an exception]], as he and Lesnar don't consider Mahal a WorthyOpponent or even a worthy WWE Champion and Lesnar plans to brutalize Mahal similar to how he did Wrestling/RandyOrton a few months prior at ''[=SummerSlam=] 2017''. In fact, this promo was such a rare return to Paul E.'s old-school scathing form that some believed Heyman was in part responsible for Mahal losing the WWE Championship to Wrestling/AJStyles before ''Survivor Series'' and thus changing the match to a dream-match scenario of Styles vs. Lesnar.

** A red-letter example was his trolling of Wrestling/EddieGuerrero and Wrestling/ReyMysterio (see PoliticallyIncorrectVillain). Then Wrestling/TheUndertaker's *GONG* went off. His face instantly went to, "Wait a second, that's not who I think it is..." Then it went off again and the lights cut out. Cue epic "OhCrap" face, and, naturally, cue [[FinishingMove Tombstone Piledriver.]]

* NonActionGuy: He's been in some matches, but it's not really his role.

* SmugSnake: Oh, he's such an asshole that in WCW the fans cheered for ''Wrestling/JimCornette'', of the "beat Ricky Morton with a tennis racket" fame, just because they were so desperate for someone to shut up Paul E. Dangerously.

* YouKeepUsingThatWord: He joined Wrestling/JoeyStyles on commentary for the [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/ecw/ecw-h.html NWA ECW Heavyweight Champion]] Wrestling/TerryFunk vs. Wrestling/ShaneDouglas match on the January 18, 1994 ''ECW Hardcore TV.'' Paul mixed up the words ''unrelenting'' and ''relentless'', saying Shane was ''[=unrelentless=]''. Aside from that not being an actual word, even if it was it would have meant the opposite of what Paul was trying to say.

[[quoteright:232:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/paule_9713.jpg]]

* TheCorrupter: He has a tendency in kayfabe to be able to convert ''anyone'' to his cause with a few honey-soaked words playing to their egos and insecurities.

** His reaction to seeing his newest client Wreslting/RomanReigns match against his own cousin Jey Uso. Roman was absolutely tearing Jey apart, and Paul was just watching in horror that someone is capable of doing this to his own family. When Roman begins demanding Jey to "acknowledge" him as the head of the table, Paul tries to calm him by saying "you're my tribal chief", but it doesn't work. What scary is that, with Brock Lesnar, you get the sense he has some semblance of control over him, like if he's about to kill someone, Heyman can somehow convince him not to. Roman, on the otherhand, doesn't roll like that, and continues to beat his cousin until Jimmy Uso comes in and throws in the towel on behalf of Jey. Paul might work with Roman, but he certainly can't control him, and he knows that.

** He tempted fate when he boasting that as ''[=SmackDown=]'' General Manager, he was the only one still guaranteed to have a job on Thursday nights following the then-upcoming 2004 WWE Draft. During the draft, Wrestling/EricBischoff ends up drafting Heyman to ''Raw'', prompting Heyman to [[ScrewThisImOutOfHere quit on the spot]].
** "...and there's not a ''[[ExactWords man alive]]'' who's gonna stand in my way!" Um, Heyman? Bad words to say when you've got someone like ''Wrestling/TheUndertaker'' around.

He was briefly a booker for ''[[Wrestling/WWESmackdown SmackDown]]'' before becoming its onscreen general manager and would later head the revived ECW brand. He would depart from the company after a behind-the-scenes dispute with Vince [=McMahon=] over ECW's only pay-per-view under WWE post-revival, ''December to Dismember''. He returned to WWE in May 2012, as the hype man for Wrestling/BrockLesnar, and would also align himself with Wrestling/CMPunk before later becoming his rival.

** After Lesnar won the WWE World Heavyweight Championship and later the WWE Universal Championship, he would say "I am the advocate for the reigning, defending, undisputed WWE World/Universal Heavyweight Champion, BRRRRRRRROOOOOOCK LLLLLESNAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARR!"

* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: He genuinely cares for Brick Lesnar and was willing to put himself at risk to protect him from Triple H at Extreme Rules in 2013.

** More indirectly, he generally hypes up any opponent for Brock Lesnar as one.

** Like Lawler before him, he was not a fan of Right to Censor and took offense to J.R. using the word "extremist" in describing them, as he didn't want a word used to describe ECW wrestlers, who famously broke standards, to be used to describe a stable of MoralGuardians.

* FatBastard: And unlike ComicBook/TheKingpin, it is ''not'' a source of StoutStrength. He was comically nicknamed "The Walrus" at one point.

%%* FullNameBasis: With Wrestling/BrockLesnar

* HistoryRepeats: When his then-client Wrestling/BrockLesnar defended the WWE Championship against Wrestling/TheBigShow at ''Survivor Series 2002'' despite Heyman's insistence Lesnar not do so, Heyman ended up betraying Lesnar and siding with Show, leading to Lesnar's first pinfall defeat in WWE. On the July 4, 2006 edition of the WWE version of ECW, Wrestling/RobVanDam defends the ECW World Championship against Big Show, despite Heyman telling him not to do so. Heyman once again screws his client, paving the way for Big Show to once again become champ with Heyman's help.

* IFightForTheStrongestSide: If he's managing you, expect to be back-stabbed when someone tougher comes along. One of his mottos is to always look for "the next big thing". Which ironically enough turned out to be a [[Wrestling/BrockLesnar certain freakishly strong wrestler's]] RedBaron when he met him in 2002; and in 2014, he found another freakishly strong, potential next big star in one [[Wrestling/ClaudioCastagnoli Antonio Cesaro]]. Ultimately subverted, however, as Heyman dropped Cesaro almost as quickly as he picked him up.

** Has a habit of using unique descriptors when it comes to Brock Lesnar. Instead of "WWE Champion" or "WWE Universal Champion", (depending on which title Brock has) as every other man to hold the belt is known, he refers to him as the "Reigning, defending, undisputed" WWE Universal Heavyweight Champion/WWE Heavyweight Champion of the World. Brock also isn't a "wrestler" or a "superstar"; he's a "fighter" (similarly, he "fights" as opposed to "wrestling" or "competing").

* MysteriousMiddleInitial: The "E." in "Paul E. Dangerously." While in ECW, he'd say "The 'E' stands for ''Extreme''," it was never clarified what, if anything, it stood for ''prior'' to ECW.
** Probably due to the fact that he took his ring name from ''Film/JohnnyDangerously'' due to him bearing a passing resemblace in his youth to Creator/MichaelKeaton. In order to keep the rhythm of the name he added the "E." rather than be "Paulie Dangerously".

* SelfDeprecation: After [[Wrestling/TheDudleyBoys The Dudley Boys (Buh Buh Ray and D-Von)]] left [=ECW=] for [=WWE=] in September 1999, Heyman repackaged their manager Sign Guy Dudley (real name Lou D'Angeli) as a knockoff of ''himself,'' as "Lou E. Dangerously." Lou E. even assembled his own stable, the New Dangerous Alliance, with "The Enforcer" C.W. Anderson, long-time ECW jobber "Beautiful" Bill Wiles, valet Elektra (real name Donna Adamo, the real-life wife-turned-ex-wife of Alex "Big Dick Dudley" Rizzo) and ''Erik Watts,'' the legendarily talentless son of legendary promoter "Cowboy" Bill Watts, who had fired Paul E. from [=WCW=] in January 1993. On the January 1, 2000 (taped December 23, 1999) episode of ''ECW Hardcore TV,'' Japanese [[GarbageWrestler hardcore wrestler]] Kintaro Kanemura d. C.W. Anderson (w/Lou E.) Before the match, Lou E. cut a promo where he said that he wasn't paying tribute to Paul E. because Paul E. sucks.

** A week prior to his client Wrestling/TheBigShow's WWE Championship defense against Wrestling/KurtAngle at ''Armageddon 2002'', Heyman secretly picked up Angle as a client as well. No matter who won, one of his clients would be walking out of the pay-per-view as champ.

* TheBarnum: Heyman is something of a Messiah figure in the IWC. The romanticism of Heyman is often overstated, but probably well-deserved. He has proven time and again that he can magically make anyone a star and cobble a satisfying show out of nothing. Heyman has always said that his objective is to create stars, and to that end, he figures out what someone is good at and shines a big spotlight on it while hiding their shortcomings. He even got a dude over whose only distinguishing feature from other cruiserweights was a superhero gimmick and a chokeslam! ([[Wrestling/GregoryHelms Hurricane Helms]])

--->'''Heyman:''' My client wins tonight.

* TheBarnum: Heyman is something of a Messiah figure in the IWC. The romanticism of Heyman is often overstated, but probably well-deserved. He has proven time and again that he can magically make anyone a star and cobble a satisfying show out of nothing. Heyman has always said that his objective is to create stars, and to that end, he figures out what someone is good at and shines a big spotlight on it while hiding their shortcomings. He even got a dude over who literally couldn't do anything but a chokeslam! ([[Wrestling/GregoryHelms Hurricane Helms]])

** In a great example of TheDogBitesBack: At ''WCW Halloween Havoc 92'', October 25, 1992, [[Wrestling/{{Vader}} Big Van Vader]] (w/manager Wrestling/HarleyRace) defended the [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wcw/wcw-us-h.html WCW United States Heavyweight Title]] against [[Wrestling/NikitaKoloff "The Russian Nightmare" Nikita Koloff]], retiring him in the process, for [[Wrestling/RickRude "Ravishing" Rick Rude]], who was challenging Wrestling/MasahiroChono for the [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/nwa/world/nwa-h.html NWA World Heavyweight Title]] that night. After the match, Paul E. fired Wrestling/{{Madusa}} from what remained of the Dangerous Alliance (Paul E., Madusa, and Rude)[[note]][[Wrestling/StoneColdSteveAustin "Stunning" Steve Austin]] had broken away, Wrestling/ArnAnderson and Bobby Eaton were aligned with Michael Hayes, and Larry Zbyszko had been kicked out following his costing the D.A. the win in [[GimmickMatches War Games]] against Wrestling/{{Sting}}'s Squadron ([=Sting=][=/=]Wrestling/RickySteamboat[=/=][[Wrestling/{{Goldust}} Dustin Rhodes]][=/=]Nikita Koloff[=/=]Wrestling/BarryWindham) at ''[=WrestleWar=] 92'' on May 17.[[/note]], [[http://www.cagematch.net/?id=93&nr=195 saying that he only hired her "because the other hooker had a prior engagement," and finished with "And because you're a woman and I know that means that you're stupid, I spell it out for you: F-I-R-E-D! FIRED! FIRED! FIRED!"]] Madusa, of course, proceeded to kick Paul E.'s ass right off of the stage, even scaring away Vader, who would go on to become the company's resident ''[[WrestlingMonster monster heel]]'', and [[BadassGrandpa Race]], an ''8-time'' NWA World Heavyweight Champion.

** Has a habit of using unique descriptors when it comes to Brock Lesnar. For example, Lesnar wasn't simply the "WWE Universal Champion" as every other man to hold the belt is known; he was the "Reigning, defending, undisputed WWE Universal Heavyweight Champion". Brock also isn't a "wrestler" or a "superstar"; he's a "fighter" (similarly, he "fights" as opposed to "wrestling" or "competing").

* JerkassHasAPoint: Most managers tend to backpedal by coming up with excuses as to why their clients came up short in a match, like how Lesnar came up short in his 2012 Extreme Rules match against Wrestling/JohnCena, even after ''slaughtering'' him for 20+ minutes. However, Heyman's excuse, that Lesnar was "only at 50%", contains a [[RealitySubtext kernel of truth]], as Lesnar's constant issues with diverticulitis have kept him from performing at full strength and even proved to be a detriment in some cases, like in his ''Wrestling/SummerSlam 2012'' match with Wrestling/TripleH.

** Probably due to the fact that he took his ring name from ''JohnnyDangerously'' due to him bearing a passing resemblace in his youth to Creator/MichaelKeaton. In order to keep the rhythm of the name he added the "E." rather than be "Paulie Dangerously".

* BadBoss: Notorious for willfully screwing his workers out of pay. While everybody continued to work for no pay, Heyman slipped quietly to L.A. to cameo in ''Rollerball''. The salary from Paul E's film appearance (basically a golden parachute) wasn't invested in his dying business; rather, he allegedly hired an agent and wined & dined some TV executives to find other work. Nobody apart from Paul's right-hand man, Tod Gordon (himself a pariah for trading ECW workers to "Al-Qaida" aka WCW), knew about this, to the extent that Wrestling/ShaneDouglas was owed tens of thousands of dollars by the time ECW collapsed. Some wrestlers used it as fodder for angles. Steve Corino in Wrestling/RingOfHonor would also talk about how much Paul owed him, before [[CheapHeat blaming ROH fans for deserting ECW when it was going under]]), New Jack would talk about how all his garbage wrestling ended up leaving him broke, forcing him to return to "regular" wrestling in PWX.