Paul Heyman On How Authenticity Is A Current Selling Point To Fans

WWE's Paul Heyman joined The Masked Man Show to talk about his most recent run in the company, which largely sees him serving as the advocate to WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns. While they have gone their separate ways at times, offscreen Paul Heyman has nothing but praise for Reigns and how now is the perfect time for him to present the Tribal Chief persona.

"I'm indescribably proud of both of them," Heyman said of Reigns and the Tribal Chief character. "Roman Reigns is a very strategic performer. And the 'Tribal Chief' has lived inside of Roman Reigns for a long time. It wasn't the right time to present this persona because he had to go through all the trials and tribulations in front of the public firstly.

"He needed his face roughed up a little more. He needed to show a little bit of age. The Tribal Chief couldn't be just the best-looking man in the industry in his late 20s. He had to be more seasoned, he had to be a little more grizzled. To speak as the Tribal Chief before he's the Tribal Chief would not have made sense. But he's very comfortable in this presentation. This is authentically who he is, this is how he sees himself."

Paul Heyman also noted that because we're seeing the real Roman Reigns for the first time, it has made Friday Night Smackdown a better program. Thus, Heyman believes that Smackdown has become TV's best reality show.

"I like to say that SmackDown is the best reality show on television because you're getting to see the real Roman Reigns for the first time," Heyman said. "He's not being forced to go out there and smile, and tell you just how much he just loves to go, and then sign autographs at four in the afternoon for all the little kids. No, he doesn't want to. He doesn't want to have to do media appearances that he doesn't want to have to do. He does the ones he chooses to because they're the right ones who host the Tribal Chief."

Though he has moved on from aligning with Brock Lesnar (at least, for now), Heyman also had praise for The Beast Incarnate.

"Brock just never felt like talking," Heyman said. "And Brock Lesnar does what Brock Lesnar wants to do, and Brock Lesnar doesn't do what Brock Lesnar doesn't want to do. And when Brock came back, he had been gone long enough and looks different enough and is really comfortable with himself now that he just says 'screw it, they'll like me for who I am, or they won't and I'm just going to give them the real Brock Lesnar, which is a far more-smart as Brock Lesnar than more people were even prepared to see.' But if you watched him in UFC press conferences, this is who he is. So it's just, again, in an age where authenticity is a very big selling point with the audience, it's just getting both of them to be authentic."

Please provide an h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription