BOOKED! The Heyman Effect

Brock Hasn't lured audiences as of late like he did when he made his triumphant return back in 2012. In Lesnar's last two appearances RAW's numbers haven't done that well. On August 1st the return of the Beast viewership dipped a little losing 24,334 viewers. August 8th fell below the 3 million viewer mark garnering just 2,911,000 viewers. It seems wrestling fans are no longer enamored with Brock Lesnar and wouldn't mind seeing him go. 

On the most recent Stone Cold Steve Austin podcast special, Dean Ambrose called Brock lazy during their match at Wrestlemania 31.  I couldn’t agree more. Ever since Brock has returned he has done little wrestling. He wrestled more during his fight against Mark Hunt at UFC 200.

Even though viewership has been down when Brock is on the show the one thing that has remained consistent is Paul Heyman. Heyman’s promos are golden and it's a shame that he has to waste them on Brock Lesnar. It seems like every week on our very own RBU podcast I’m fantasy booking Heyman managing another WWE Superstar, like Rusev. 

Rusev already has a manager in his wife Lana and she's good, but Heyman is great. Heyman's history of so called Heyman Guys is filled with names like CM Punk, Big Show, Rob Van Dam, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Rey Mysterio, Mick Foley, The Miz, and of course Brock Lesnar. All are former WWE champions.

Heyman seems to be able to get the best out of the wrestlers he's mentored/been paired with. Rusev is decent on the mic and great in the ring, but he needs a salesman like Paul Heyman to get him over with the casual audience. Sure Lana is beautiful and I enjoy seeing her every Monday night, but I don't think Lana can get Rusev past the mid-card. She lacks the ability to draw the audience in on how really great Rusev is in the ring, she doesn't match his intensity, and she doesn't display strategic moves for Rusev. 
 
Rusev and Lana’s break up should be simple. Lana has aspirations on being a wrestler, she should explain to Rusev that she has gotten him far and now it's time for her to pursue her own journey. After a couple of months of Rusev on his own struggling in the ring, Heyman takes him under his wing and thus another Paul Heyman Guy is born.