Legendary Photo Serves as Prelude to Paul Heyman’s Greatness

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Paul Heyman: “The significance of that picture was not obvious at the time”

Paul Heyman never intended to play an on-screen role in pro wrestling.

“I didn’t want to be a performer,” said Heyman. “I wanted to write, direct, and produce projects. I never saw myself in front of the camera. I saw myself behind the scenes.”

One of the most iconic performers in the storied history of professional wrestling, Heyman has enjoyed countless unforgettable moments throughout an ongoing career that has already surpassed four decades. He was in Brock Lesnar’s corner at WrestleMania XXX when Lesnar pinned The Undertaker, ending the lore of Taker’s vaunted WrestleMania undefeated streak. Holding a live microphone the following night at Raw, Heyman perfectly made sense of the moment, articulating and explaining why Lesnar was the only man in the world up to the task of conquering “The Streak”, then considered the holy grail of professional wrestling.

Heyman feuded with Jerry “The King” Lawler in Memphis when the territories were still battling Vince McMahon for wrestling supremacy. He oversaw The Dangerous Alliance in WCW, which foreshadowed the future of the industry, and ultimately led a rebellion in ECW. After a legendary run with Lesnar, Heyman is now crafting a brilliant new chapter on-screen beside Roman Reigns. The single biggest star in the industry, Reigns has benefited tremendously from working beside Heyman.

Yet Heyman’s most poignant moment may be the first instance when he appeared in front of the camera.

One of wrestling’s most essential photographs is a black-and-white featuring Heyman, “Classy” Freddie Blassie, The Grand Wizard, and “Captain” Lou Albano. It was taken backstage at Madison Square Garden, with WWE’s famed Wise Man smiling beside The Three Wise Men of the East.

Except this was 1981. Heyman, who was only 15 years old, had no intentions of ever appearing on-screen or working as a manager/advocate/special counsel for the Tribal Chief. When it was taken 43 years ago, he treasured the photo for an altogether different reason.

“I knew it was a keeper,” said Heyman, who was working as a freelance photographer at Garden shows after pitching to Vince McMahon Sr. that he had his own wrestling magazine. “Just because it was special to me.”

A teenage photography phenom, Heyman prided himself on taking photos that otherwise did not exist in pro wrestling. Possessing a striking creativity that knew no bounds, his affinity was taking unique shots that told a story.

Heyman’s photo with Blassie, The Grand Wizard, and Albano did not materialize because of a request to stand beside his heroes. In fact, it was quite the contrary: it was a result of Heyman’s unrelenting drive.

“At that time, there was only one picture of The Three Wise Men of the East all together, and it wasn’t a very good one,” said Heyman. “I approached all three of them about it, and my idea was to take a new photo of the three of them that documented their monopoly on the manager’s role in the northeast. And they agreed to do it one night at the Garden.”

Back then, the photographers shared the same photographer’s room, so all the photographers had access to this rare moment.

“That night, Ernie [The Grand Wizard] got Blassie to come to the photography room,” said Heyman. “Albano had agreed to do it, but he already forgot. When he saw Blassie and Ernie walking together to go take a picture, he wanted in on it. We got the three of them together, and all of us took a couple pictures of them.”

After the photo session, Blassie unknowingly changed the course of wrestling history.

“So we get them together, take the pictures, and then Blassie says, ‘Kid, come here,’” said Heyman, still in awe of the moment. “Blassie pulled me in. And that’s the picture of all of us.”

A fellow photographer used Heyman’s camera to take the shot. Since, Heyman recalled, the show was on a Monday, he was back in school the next morning. He developed his own film, so by Wednesday of that week, he had the prized picture in hand.

“The significance of that picture was not obvious at the time,” said Heyman. “There still could have been a fourth heel manager added to the territory. Ultimately, there never was under Vince Sr. As long as all three were alive together, no other manager was going to break into the northeast. Vince Sr. would never bring in Bobby Heenan. Jimmy Hart was in Memphis. Andy Kaufman tried, but they weren’t interested. And the only other one was [Arnold] Skaaland, who was the babyface manager.

“I think the picture was taken around March of ’81. At that time, The Three Wise Men of the East were a legendary thing. But their monopoly wasn’t yet etched into history.”

In the coming weeks, Heyman will once again join Blassie, The Grand Wizard, and Albano–this time beside the late, great legends in the WWE Hall of Fame. The headlining member of the Class of 2024, Heyman will be inducted into the Hall during WrestleMania weekend.

It reads more like fiction than reality, but two generations later, Heyman has carved out an enduring place in history as the most dominant WWE manager of all-time. By chance, Reigns even began calling him The Wise Man. Decades after it was snapped, the magnitude of that picture begins to come into sharper focus.

“The enormity of that picture, let alone how f------ crazy it is now that all four of us are together, it’s hard to imagine,” said Heyman. “It’s just another reminder I’m blessed to have led this life.”

Before WrestleMania and the Hall of Fame induction, Heyman is slated to be one of the most prominent speakers at today’s Barrett Sports Summit in New York City. These are the type of events that once seemed outlandish or out-of-place for personalities in pro wrestling. Yet, as Heyman looks forward to conferring with fellow speaker Stephen A. Smith, that is clearly no longer the case.

“The goal is always to expand,” said Heyman. “Never limit your own growth. In ECW, we used to say, ‘If you’re a fan of professional wrestling and you come to see ECW, you will be a fan for life. And if you’re not a fan of professional wrestling and you come to an ECW show, we’re going to turn you into one.’

“I’ve tried never to look at what I do as merely a wrestling promo. To me, it’s a performance. It’s art, and we’re artists plying our trade–and it needs to be treated as such. It’s a continuous drive to upgrade and elevate the manner in which we present the stories we tell.”

As for the photo of The Wise Man standing beside The Three Wise Men, Heyman still treasures the memory. And that includes how he maneuvered his way into a photography position as a teenager.

“When I bullshitted my way into the Garden, I told Vince Sr. I had a magazine called The Wrestling Times, which I named after The New York Times,” said Heyman. “After three or four times at the Garden, he asked me for a copy. So I started posting my photos and my interviews. [Gorilla] Monsoon would sell programs in New Jersey, and we’d stick The Wrestling Times in there with the program on the back.”

And thus, a famed odyssey took place–with a new chapter beginning during the Hall of Fame before returning to the side of Reigns for the main event of WrestleMania 40.

As Heyman prepared to focus his attention to his next task, he was asked one more question about the men in the photo. If they were all alive today, who would have been the first of those men to congratulate him on his Hall of Fame induction?

“That’s a most intriguing question,” said Heyman, who broke into a smile and softly chuckled. “Blassie would have been first. Albano would have ultimately topped whatever Blassie said. Ernie [The Grand Wizard] would let everybody get it out of their systems, then say something like, ‘How do you parlay this into something bigger?’”

Whenever he sees that familiar photo, Heyman does not necessarily picture himself as a peer of Blassie, Albano, and The Grand Wizard. Instead, he remembers a fearless, hungry kid–one who was willing to sacrifice the blood, tears, and toil in order to make a name for himself in the crazy, cutthroat, outlandish world of pro wrestling–and, remarkably, against all odds, found a way to do exactly that.

Years have passed since that photo was snapped. Yet for all the stark differences in the world and throughout the industry that are a byproduct of time marching forward, there are certain elements that even time has been unable to alter. Looking at that photo of The Three Wise Men, Heyman revealed that those legends still mean the world to him.

“Their contributions to the building of what turned out to be a global empire can never be overstated,” said Heyman. “There’s no Batman without the Joker, no Superman without Lex Luthor. There’s also no Bruno Sammartino or Pedro Morales or Bob Backlund without The Three Wise Men.

“It’s a territory that was built on heroes, and the heroes are only as good as the villains they stopped. That band of villains was legendary, and our heroes stayed our heroes because they successfully saved the world from these villains.”

The (Online) Week in Wrestling

• The Front Office Sports story by Tim Marchman, Brandon Thurston, and John Pollock digs deeper into the Vince McMahon lawsuit that was filed in January.

• The Rock and Cody Rhodes furthered their feud on SmackDown, where Seth Rollins accepted Rock’s challenge for a tag match–pitting Rock and Roman Reigns against Rollins and Rhodes–at Night One of WrestleMania 40.

• These videos by The Rock–this is the second week in a row he posted one–are phenomenal. We can consider them an added treat to his return.

• In the ring and out of it, the Young Bucks and Kazuchika Okada have been great together so far. They have a must-see tag match tonight on Dynamite against Eddie Kingston, Pac, and Penta El Zero Miedo.

• All signs point to Mercedes Moné–who starred in WWE as Sasha Banks–making her long-awaited AEW debut tonight in Boston.

A trip to Austin, Texas for SXSW

On Monday, I moderated the “Disrupting the Long-Monopolized Pro Wrestling Industry” panel at the SXSW conference.

Sitting beside me on stage was the dynamic panel of Tony Khan, Dr. Britt Baker, and Bryan Danielson. For those interested, the audio of our panel is available.

I flew into Austin, Texas on Sunday and carved out time for some barbecue at the renowned Terry Black’s BBQ (which I can’t recommend enough), then met briefly with Khan, Baker, and Danielson before the event on Monday. One of the unique elements of covering wrestling is that you are more likely to be on the phone with a wrestler than doing a face-to-face interview. This is the opposite of most pro sports, though it is changing in pro wrestling. A major reason why that has changed is the accessibility AEW has provided, which encouraged/forced WWE to evolve, too.

I’d met all three at prior events, but it was nice to have the time together beforehand. This wasn’t necessarily valuable for planning out the panel–I was confident in my notes and I preferred that parts of our conversation flowed naturally–but rather for breaking the ice with one another before going on stage.

In a spontaneous moment backstage, Baker mentioned that she was on cloud nine after getting called onto the stage during a Zach Bryan concert. That conversation shifted to Danielson talking about the importance of pro wrestlers stepping out of their comfort zone and singing karaoke, which immediately I knew was a topic we would discuss during the panel.

The speakers were fascinating because all three bring different experiences to AEW. Baker is a true AEW original. We dug into her Lights Out match from 2020–a seminal part of the foundation for a nascent brand.

Danielson offered an entirely different perspective of working for WWE at the time. Hearing him explain how Vince McMahon asked him to tell him what AEW was doing differently from WWE was a real moment of interest.

A key part of the panel was the audience, who were incredibly engaged and involved. Their energy positively impacted the panel as a whole, and it was a joy to experience the moment with them.

Now we’re onto Dynamite tonight in Boston (Khan’s “Austin, Massachusetts” reference at SXSW made me laugh, as I watched Road Trip too many times while in college–and pro wrestling was a minor-but-important part of the plot). All signs point to a debut from Mercedes Moné, an addition that will further allow AEW to disrupt the long-standing pro wrestling climate, which for so long was predominantly defined by solely WWE.

Tweet of the Week

Imagine trying to tell someone 30 years ago that multiple WWE stars would play a role at the Oscars?