Paul Heyman has named the wrestling legend he believes deserves a spot in the WWE Hall of Fame.
During his lengthy career, Paul Heyman has worked alongside some of the biggest and brightest stars to ever step foot in a wrestling.
From working with a young Undertaker and Steve Austin in WCW to his work both behind the scenes and on camera in WWE with the likes of Brock Lesnar, CM Punk and currently Roman Reigns, the curator of chaos has starred with the best of the best.
Sandwiched between these two portions of career, Heyman was also the brainchild of the original ECW, promoting hardcore wrestling, and high-flying cruiserweights in a way which rarely, if ever, had been seen in North America previously.
All of this naturally puts him in an ideal position to assess the merits of any would-be WWE Hall of Famers.
With WrestleMania season in full swing, the Hall of Fame discussion is also well underway. While it has already been confirmed that The Undertaker will be inducted as part of the Class of 2022, Heyman believes that one particular ECW original is also deserving of an induction.
Appearing on the Battleground Podcast, Heyman explained that Sabu is more than deserving of taking a spot alongside legends such as Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart.
“I would say Sabu definitely belongs in the WWE Hall Of Fame,” Heyman claimed. “Because I think the concepts that Sabu was introducing, were 20 years ahead of its time. And I don’t just mean the breaking of the tables. I mean just the manner in which he performed in the ring was so far ahead of its time that he never got the credit he deserved.”
Heyman also heaped praise on former ECW announcer Joey Styles, crediting the commentator with ushering in a more modern style of calling matches.
“I would say Joey Styles was a very progressive announcer that no one understood just how valuable he was to the ECW brand. Because here you had these criminals, and these gangsters and these barroom brawlers and these misfits. Yet you also had these supreme, elite, exquisite technicians,” he added. “Eddie Guerrero, Dean Malenko, Rey Mysterio, Psychosis, Juventud Guerrera, that came over from Japan or Mexico. We scoured the world for the greatest talent.
“And no American announcer had ever called the moves for what they were, Joey Styles did. Joey Styles ushered out the era of, ‘wow that looked great, here’s a replay,’ and started calling the moves by the names that were associated with the moves. And he was completely different than any other announcer because he did his job solo for so many years. So I would say Joey Styles, absolutely.”
During his appearance on The Pat McAfee Show, WWE Chairman Vince McMahon revealed that he will personally induct The Undertaker into the Hall of Fame. At time of writing, no other inductees have been announced.
H/t to Wrestling Inc for the transcription.