WWE Hall of Famer Paul Heyman spoke with Newsweek on a number of topics, including how he believes he could recreate 2002’s SmackDown Six group with today’s WWE roster.
Heyman said, “Every member of The Bloodline. Every member of Solo’s bloodline, obviously, because there’s a lot of money to be made there. Seth Rollins, CM Punk, Bron Breakker, Rhea Ripley, Liv Morgan, Dominik Mysterio, Austin Theory.”
On the current state of NXT:
“A third of the NXT roster, which I think is ready to be called up into action now; it’s just the timing has to be right. The presentation has to be right. The packaging, the marketing has to be right. Why rush it?”
On stars he could build a promotion around:
“I mean, there is a plethora of talent right now. If you told me I can’t have any of those people, any of them, I can still build a magnificent roster,” he said. “I mean, give me Pat McAfee on as a commentator to just keep the energy level at nuclear. Look at Logan Paul. I mean, you can certainly build a promotion around Logan Paul. LA Knight. I mean, there’s just so much talent out there. Dominik Mysterio. My God, the wealth of talent that — Charlotte Flair, who is right on the cusp of just being labeled a legend, and still has so much more to accomplish. I could probably put together four or five rosters of SmackDown sixes with today’s crew,” Heyman continued. “One of the things that really clicked about the SmackDown Six is that they weren’t main eventers. They weren’t perceived as main eventers. Kurt Angle had been in a few main events, but he was always considered semi-main event until then. The Guerreros, Edge, Mysterio, these people were not headlining, and now all of a sudden, they were. So that’s another thing. Who do you move up the ladder? Who moves up? Who becomes the next big star? Is it from NXT? Is it from Smackdown? Is that person from Raw?”
On the idea behind the SmackDown Six:
“That was the beauty of the SmackDown Six: we took people who weren’t considered main eventers and made them main eventers,” he added. “So, you know, SmackDown Six, I could put in today, ‘Roman Reigns and this person, that person,’ but also, the concept would be, who’s not a main eventer right now that can be and should be and will be, and that over-delivers on an under promise.”
