Paul Heyman has always had a good eye for talent in wrestling.
He managed to hand-pick stars from across the globe to become main eventers in ECW. He helped introduce the likes of Chris Jericho, Ultimo Dragon and Eddie Guerrero to the mainstream pro-wrestling fans in the United States.
He also took home-grown talent and made them big stars in the promotion. By hiding their flaws and accentuating their positives, he turned workers others wouldn’t bat an eyelid at into the backbone of ECW.
He made mid-card wrestlers like Taz and Sandman into legends of the ring, remembered as heroes to many even to this day.
Paul Heyman even made predictions about the future of the business. In a 1992 edition of the WCW Magazine, the former ECW owner wrote about one wrestler that he thought would become a megastar – Steve Austin.
Paul Heyman On Steve Austin
Writing as Paul E. Dangerously, Paul Heyman predicted that Steve Austin would become the biggest star in wrestling.
Then known as “Stunning” Steve Austin, the Texan was a fantastic in-ring worker but was missing something in his character. He was not pushed as a main event star in the company and would be fired by Eric Bischoff whilst injured years later.
In the article, Paul Heyman writes that Austin will “Dominate the sport” by the year 2000, a huge claim for the young star who had yet to achieve anything.
“Stunning” Steve Austin: The World TV champion, which makes him the best wrestler on TV today. Austin could quite possibly be The Dangerous Alliance’s most impressive coup.
By acquiring the World TV champion, we have bought an incredible amount of leverage with the championship committee.
Austin is the young lion of WCW, an incredible specimen still five or six years away from his prime. When the year 2000 arrives, this man will single-handedly dominate the sport. And even Sports Illustrated will have to acknowledge him as The World’s Greatest Athlete.
He was completely right, of course. “Stone Cold” Steve Austin would become the biggest star in wrestling history, dominating the sport as the biggest star in the WWE.
