WWE's Paul Heyman Previews Supersized SmackDown, Brock Lesnar's Return, and More
WWE fans are in for a treat tonight, as there will be a supersized edition of SmackDown kicking off at 8 PM EST on FS1. The two and a half hour SmackDown is loaded, starting with The Beast himself Brock Lesnar making his return to SmackDown, and he's sure to have words for the Tribal Chief Roman Reigns and his Special Counsel Paul Heyman after their words last week. Add in an epic match between Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch and new rounds for King of the Ring and Queen's Crown and you've got yourself quite a show. ComicBook.com had a chance to speak to Paul Heyman ahead of the special episode, and he explained what we can expect from Lesnar's return to the blue brand, who he sees as competition for Reigns moving forward, and why he is sometimes at odds with Kayla Braxton.
First though I had to address Lesnar's impending return, and when asked what we could expect from his former client, it came down to one word for Heyman.
"I'll use a politically incorrect word, especially for the family-friendly WWE. What do I expect from Brock Lesnar? Violence. Nothing short of it. He's a violent man, another politically incorrect word. Violence and violent, oh, we don't like those words, but that's Brock Lesnar," Heyman said. "I mean, the man has spent the past year and a half in Saskatchewan, feeding his family whatever prey he kills out in the wilderness of Saskatchewan. His children eat moose meat and Sasquatch meat, because that's what he goes out and hunts, and puts on the dinner table."
"And now, now that he sees what a humongous, amazing, greatest-of-all-time star Roman Reigns has become, that has wet the appetite of the greatest predator in the history of WWE, and in UFC, Brock Lesnar, to come back, try to get some of that for himself. That's what I expect tomorrow night on FS1, a supersized SmackDown. A two and a half hour edition, I might add. Starting at 8:00 Eastern time," Heyman said.
While Lesnar will be Reigns' most immediate threat, he's not the only threat to the Bloodline leader's rule over SmackDown, especially with the draft bringing in so many new faces. So, is there someone who, with the right backing and special counsel of their own, could be the same level of star as Reigns?
"No. But can they be in the ring with Roman Reigns? Absolutely. Absolutely. Drew McIntyre belongs in the ring with Roman Reigns. And it's a pleasure to watch Roman Reigns smash Drew McIntyre. Xavier Woods, who upset Bobby Lashley on an episode of RAW, obviously deserves to be in the ring with Roman Reigns. And it would be a pleasure to watch Roman Reigns smash Xavier Woods," Heyman said.
"Kofi Kingston is a former world heavyweight champion, deserves to be in the ring with Roman Reigns," Heyman said. "It would be a pleasure to watch Roman Reigns smash Kofi Kingston. It would be a pleasure to watch Roman Reigns smash Humberto Carrillo. It would be a pleasure to watch Roman Reigns smash Angel Garza. There are a plethora of potential challengers coming over from RAW, from NXT, that should be in the ring with Roman Reigns, so that Roman Reigns can demonstrate his superiority in a declarative statement. The same way he did at WrestleMania when he beat Edge and Daniel Bryan, and stacked them on top of each other like it was a handicap match, and pinned them both."
Now, this is when the question of superheroes came up, and I, unfortunately (for me) asked if there was someone in the pop culture universe or the superhero world that Heyman saw fit to have as a client.
"See, I don't ... With the exception of Kayla Braxton's sapiosexual lust for me, I don't deal in fantasy. I deal in reality. I deal in fact. I deal in absolutes. This whole thing, and I understand you're from the comic book world, I don't deal with that. I deal with reality. I deal with the fact that Roman Reigns is carving out a GOAT legacy here in WWE. And every single solitary moment of my day is designed to be special counsel to that goal, to that achievement, that he is smashing out of the park every single time he appears. Such as tomorrow night in Supersized SmackDown for two and a half hours on FS1, starting at 8:00 PM Eastern time," Heyman said.
"And then, I also happen to serve as the warden for the Uso penitentiary, the Tag Team Champions, the best tag team in the past 20 years, if not of all time, as well," Heyman said. "So to deal with this fantasy-shmantasy, what am I supposed to say? Oh, I'd really love to be special counsel for Batman?"
That would have been a pretty great answer to be fair, (I mean, Heyman and Batman? Gold) but Heyman wasn't having it. That said, he did bring up Kayla Braxton a few times, so had to ask why there's a feud there.
"I don't ... I like Kayla. I think Kayla has great taste in men, because she has such a crush on me. I don't dislike Kayla at all. I think Kayla's a remarkably talented person, but she's a stalker, and she's stalking me, and she's bothering me. And she's nagging me. And she pokes pokes, pokes, pokes, pokes, pokes, every time, with her freaking questions, and her interrogatories. It's like being in a deposition. It's just like, 'Leave me alone. Go bug somebody else. Bug you. She has two hours, you should call her right now, if she's awake. Oh, it's only noon at this moment. God knows if she's up at this hour. But you should call her now and have her on for a couple of hours, and talk to her, and gossip. That's what she does, she gossips. She'd love to talk about superheroes. She thinks she's Wonder Woman," Heyman said. "But I have nothing against her. I like her very much."
Well, there you have it. I don't see the back and forth between Heyman and Braxton ending anytime soon, and it will be interesting to see what the next chapter holds in this rivalry.
You can catch Paul Heyman, Roman Reigns, The Usos, and Kayla Braxton live on a special two-and-a-half-hour Supersized edition of SmackDown, which airs tonight on FS1 at 8 PM EST.
We'll be covering SmackDown all night right here on ComicBook.com, and you can talk all things wrestling with me on Twitter @MattAguilarCB!
