Paul Heyman Gives Advice To WWE's Young Talent Following Releases

During a recent sit-down interview with Ariel Helwani of BT Sport, Paul Heyman spoke about the number of releases WWE has made in the past year. The Special Council for Roman Reigns spoke about being upset about the talent being let go but shared another way those releases can be viewed by young talent.

"There's a lot of them and it's not limited to the past few weeks," Heyman said. "It's limited to months and years. There are two ways to look at that, and one way to look at that is all the time we invested in that person. You know what? It creates an opportunity for somebody else to step up and grab it. The whole WWE mentality of grabbing the brass ring, there is a lot to say about seizing the moment. There's a lot to say about grabbing an opportunity when it's there and some people need to create their own opportunity. Some people need to just realize when someone leaves there is a position that's open.

"Entry level position is now open for someone to come in and steal the whole show and do something different and make themselves noticed and be better than everybody else on the roster and talk better and perform better and flip and flop and interact with the crowd better than anyone else. Every single time someone is out the door it enables someone else to come in the door, kick open the door or at least say 'Hey that guy is gone, screw him, give it to me.'"

WWE added to the list of recent releases this past week, including John Morrison, Hit Row and several others. Over 80 WWE releases have occurred this year, including major names like Bray Wyatt, Braun Strowman, Keith Lee and several others.

Paul Heyman continued to talk about the opportunity that's now become available in WWE with so many talent being let go in the past year. The former ECW President gave a detailed description of what he'd do if he were a young talent trying to make a name for themselves in WWE.

"If I was a young guy in this industry, I wouldn't even wait for the entry-level positions, I'd be pitching for the top," Heyman said. "Put me in there and you know what, don't fill the 7th match on the card with someone with tenure, put a new guy in there, put me in there and see if I sink or swim. If I sink, I'll just be another guy out the door and this one that doesn't have any emotional connection with the audience that the other guy who just left or you had fired has had for years. I'll be a new guy that's shown the door, who cares about the new guy. But if I hit? If I score? If I connect? If I interact? If I draw money? If I sell t-shirts? If I'm box office?

"Look what you've got. A new guy, a brand new guy in the mix that can move up to the top that's fresh and new and different than what everybody else has been watching on one or two different TV screens for the past year or so. Give me that opportunity. Imagine somebody new and fresh with innovative ideas that no one has thought of before walking in the door and saying let me oppose him, let me bring a different perspective, let me bring a different viewpoint. I bet the audience looks at me and goes, 'these guys are together but this guys is a disruptor.'"

Heyman also gave major praise to a specific WWE superstar who he believes has all the qualities in a superstar who's willing to take chances.

"Look at Mustafa Ali, he's one of the most foremost talents in WWE," Heyman said. "Why? Because he constantly pushes against boundaries. He is going to be a sensation. One day or the next, he's going to be. Why? Because he's not held to convention, he's not held to what's been done already. He looks and he says this is what I can do in the next 36 months and nobody else is doing it. We need more people like that. We need more people like what we have in NXT, of young talent that's just sitting there saying, 'I'll do it better than what everybody else is doing. Glad these guys are doing so well but put me in there and I'll change the game, I'll disrupt the industry.'"

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit BT Sport with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.