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The Hollywood Reporter took a deep dive into WWE's goals on Netflix through the prism of Paul Heyman's work on screen and behind the scenes.
On screen, Heyman was compared to Star Wars composer John Williams, which is an amazing compliment, with the piece noting, "He’s something like a John Williams of the WWE. Just as Williams’ music can make Darth Vader that much more ominous, or Luke Skywalker that much more heroic with subtle scoring notes, Heyman’s job on the mic is to make the good guys look that much better, or the bad guys that much more evil. And to do so in a way that explains the storyline for viewers at home."
Heyman noted, "Even if the scene is only with me, I’m there to advance the story and explain it to you in sound bites that hopefully go viral so that more people can have access to it."
Paul Levesque noted in the piece that Heyman has been working with and coaching Bron Breakker for a long period of time, commenting, "[Bron]’s a young guy, incredibly athletic, great character, he’s a sponge. I have Heyman spend a lot of time with him to help develop him with his promos, to help develop his character, to help push him in a direction. Then Paul talks to me and talks to the writers about where do we want to take that, and then he’s the conduit for where we want to go to that talent.”
In noting the success of Roman Reigns Tribal Chief character during the COVID, Heyman commented, "When Roman Reigns and I came up with the character, I had Roman study Apocalypse Now, because the initial launch of the tribal chief to me was Colonel Kurtz. [Marlon] Brando,” Heyman says. “All things on the island of relevancy flow through the tribal chief Roman Reigns, we all rely on him. We all look to him for the answer, and at the end of the movie, when Martin Sheen has fulfilled the directive of the United States military’s covert operation, to terminate Kurtz’s command with extreme prejudice, he opens up the book written by Kurtz. He sees what Kurtz has written, ‘drop the bomb.’ “The burden of leadership, the burden of the worship, the burden of the expectations, the burden of, let’s call it the acknowledgement, is so heavy on Kurtz that he resents everyone around him for relying on him to this extent, though his power and his entire character is designed for that very purpose."
Heyman talked abouit the importance of social media and leaving Easter Eggs out there for those online to discuss and ponder.
"“I openly invite easter eggs and conspiracy theories in every scene that we do, and we intentionally drop them in there, so that people pick up on it and then develop their own conspiracy theories as to which way the story can go. What’s the difference between a Travis Scott concert and a Frank Sinatra concert. There are certain things that don’t change, right? You’re still performing in front of screaming fans. You’re still performing in front of a rabid live performance-affirming audience. You’re still performing in front of people who paid to see you do what you do better than anybody else on the face of the planet. In that regard, it’s still the same, however, we now have to offer more. We now have to take those performances from the couch and bring that soap opera to play out. Sometimes it’s all physical, so it’s very Shakespeare. And sometimes it’s all words.”
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