Greetings to anyone able to get here. Tonight we shall fantasy book a storyline which is highly unlikely, but one that I am sure a lot of fans would enjoy seeing. Here we go…
After Raw this past Monday, I was left wondering about the Paul Heyman promo/apology given to Stephanie McMahon. It left me feeling that this confrontation was simply a setup for a future story. But what could that story be? Is Paul Heyman in cahoots with someone and trying to sabotage Stephanie and/or Shane? Perhaps he has struck a deal with Triple H and they are working on multiple fronts to take over the company? At this point, it seems too early to begin conjecture, but that doesn’t mean I can’t add an interesting possibility into the ether of the internet.
The promo/apology by Paul Heyman to Stephanie McMahon would prompt Shane McMahon to summon Heyman and Lesnar to Smackdown Live to apologize directly to him. Lesnar would no show this meeting on advice of his advocate (since he is not a Smackdown Live superstar). Heyman would come onto Smackdown Live on his own and confront Shane. He would tell Shane that if he wants Lesnar on his show, he needs to cough up the dough. Shane is offended by this and says Lesnar should face him like a man. To that, Heyman just laughs and says he always suspected Shane had a deathwish.
Heyman would continue to say that he doesn’t care what Shane wants because he knows that Lesnar would be open to a lawsuit if he come on Smackdown Live. Not only from Shane, for the beating he would take, but Stephanie would file a breach of contract suit. However, Paul Heyman’s contract does not preclude him from appearing on Smackdown Live, and if Shane wanted to play ball, maybe there was something else he could offer Shane to appease him. Shane would get angry again and punch Heyman down and then leave the ring. The camera would focus on Heyman laying on the mat, smiling.
Meanwhile, Heyman will continue to appear on Raw, often in disputes with Stephanie McMahon. She will be furious that Heyman has been appearing on Smackdown Live, but Heyman will make it clear what his contract says. Heyman will tell Stephanie to continue to focus on her “female empowerment” movement and let him take care of the business of Brock Lesnar. Stephanie will be incensed at this, slapping Heyman and saying that neither Lesnar nor Heyman could handle the women’s revolution. Stephanie ends one of these promos with a warning that she will be watching Heyman and one step out of line with his contract and he’s done for good, like ECW.
On the next show, or the next one, or even the one after that, we would get a shot of Heyman walking out of Shane McMahon’s office, putting an envelope into his jacket pocket, tapping it, and smiling. After the break, we see Daniel Bryan and Shane McMahon arguing. Bryan would be telling Shane that he can’t trust Heyman and this was a huge mistake. Shane would counter that he doesn’t trust Heyman, but this gets him one step closer to getting his hands on Lesnar. Bryan will point out that he is becoming dangerously obsessed with Lesnar and that can only end poorly.
Later, we get AJ Styles in the ring as the new WWE World Heavyweight Champion. (Honestly, who doesn’t think that Styles will be the champion sooner rather than later.) Styles gets the crowd going with a “We want AJ” chant which he says everyone should chant at all times. He gets interrupted by John Cena who challenges him tonight. Styles backs off, saying Cena doesn’t deserve a shot. Cena mocks Styles and the crowd, and the crowd starts into a loud “We want AJ” chant. Styles accepts the challenge and even puts the belt on the line.
Main event of Smackdown Live comes up and Styles is scheduled to wrestle John Cena. The match actually starts with 30 minutes to go, so everyone is expecting a decent match. The match goes back and forth and back and forth. Towards the end of the match, Cena hits an AA on Styles through the announce table outside the ring. The referee begins to call for the disqualification, but Cena begs him not to do that. The crowd starts chanting for Styles to make his way back into the ring. The referee hits the ten count though and declares Cena the winner. Cena is mad since he doesn’t win the belt via a countout and he goes back outside the ring, hits another AA on Styles onto the shards of the announce table and then storms out. Cena gets even more boos than usual for that and this pro-Styles crowd begins a “We Want AJ” chant. Styles staggers to his feet and slides in the ring with the belt.
However, just as the chant starts to die down, some familiar music hits, and AJ Lee comes skipping down to the ring. The crowd is going nuts and Lee circles the ring all smiles. She climbs into the ring and just leans against the ropes smiling that crazy smile. Styles tries asking why she is out here, but doesn’t get any response except for a coy smile. Then, “Cult of Personality” hits on the loudspeakers and the crowd, which was loud previously, goes insane. From the back walks out CM Punk and the volume of the crowd is off the charts. Paul Heyman follows CM Punk out with an evil little smile on his face.
CM Punk climbs into the ring and is offered a mic, but he refuses. He walks right up to AJ Styles and stares straight through him. Then he points at the title belt and and takes one step back. Heyman steps between the two men and tells Styles that the Age of Punk is back and he will take what he is owed, namely, that belt. I can imagine the staredown in the ring, with Punk looking confident and Styles looking like he’s just seen a ghost.
The next week, Heyman and Lesnar would come out onto Raw. Heyman would give a typical promo before he would turn his attention to Kevin Owens. Heyman would tell Owens that his time is almost up and he better prepare himself for the beast. Stephanie McMahon would interrupt and tell Heyman that Brock Lesnar is not the number one contender for the WWE Universal title. She would say you can’t just walk out on Raw and declare that you will get a title shot. “This isn’t Smackdown Live after all.”
Heyman would counter that Brock Lesnar is the most money attraction in the business today and if Stephanie were smart, she would beg Lesnar to main event their next PPV. Stephanie counters by saying that if Lesnar wants a spot, he has to earn it. She proposes three matches in the next three weeks. If he wins all three, he will get the title shot at the next PPV. Heyman tries to counter the offer, but Lesnar grabs the mic and says it’s a deal and let’s start right now. Stephanie signals for Kane to come out.
Lesnar makes short work of Kane. In fact, he beats Kane so quickly Stephanie hasn’t even made it back to the locker room. Lesnar grabs the mic and tells Stephanie to hold up. Stephanie stops at the top of the ramp looking back at the ring in disgust. Lesnar then says, why wait another couple weeks? He will beat all three of her challengers today. Stephanie smiles and goes into the locker room while Heyman looks concerned in the ring.
Back from break, we see Heyman trying to talk Lesnar out of taking on three competitors in one night, but Lesnar is having none of it. We cut from there to Stephanie talking on the phone to someone.
Later that night, Stephanie is interview backstage who says she was on the phone with the number one contender Seth Rollins. Rollins has agreed to forfeit his title shot at the PPV if Lesnar beats all three opponents. She also says that Rollins helped her figure out the other two opponents for Lesnar tonight. Next will be Baron Corbin. And finally will be Braun Strowman. Off camera, you hear Paul Heyman laughing and the camera pans over to him standing there. Stephanie flies into a rage and says, “That’s funny, Paul? How about this then? Next will be Brock Lesnar versus Baron Corbin AND Braun Strowman. And tonight’s main event will be Brock Lesnar versus all three members of The New Day.
Lesnar will of course defeat Corbin and Strowman by hitting Strowman with an F5. Corbin and Strowman will both get in a large amount of offense though, to make Lesnar appear to be weakened going into the main event. In the main event, Lesnar will do very well against The New Day until the commercial break. Returning from the last commercial break, New Day will have the advantage, using their numbers effectively. We will get some good teases of a power matchup between Big E and Lesnar and Kofi and Xavier bouncing around like pinballs. The match will end with Lesnar throwing Kofi into the ringsteps, throwing Xavier into the ringpost, and sliding out of the Big Ending to hit an F5 on Big E. Lesnar looks tired after the match, but Heyman is gloating.
The next day on Smackdown Live, CM Punk and AJ Lee come down to the ring to start the show. Punk explains how he fulfilled his dream of fighting in MMA and he realized that something was unfinished. He watched an episode of Smackdown Live and saw AJ Styles running around like he was the best thing since sliced bread. Punk wanted to remind everyone that he is the best in the world, not AJ Styles. And he and AJ Lee started talking about a possible comeback. But before they could even make a call to the McMahons, Paul Heyman called him. And they had a talk. For hours. In fact, the conversation was four hours. They hashed out a lot of stuff between them. Then Heyman brainstormed with Punk about a possibility of coming back and putting his name where it should be – as the greatest WWE World Heavyweight Champion of all time.
Punk talked a little bit about Lesnar, and Heyman pointed out what he has done as Lesnar’s advocate. About how Lesnar can do what he want with very little repercussions. About how Lesnar can go fight MMA if he wants and still come back and main event SummerSlam. About how Lesnar has his own licensing deals as well as the WWE ones. And he talked about how he helped build Suplex City. Punk paused there and said that Heyman did what Heyman does, and he sold him on the idea. So here he is.
AJ Styles music hits and he comes out to confront Punk. Styles says that Punk surprised him last week because he thought Punk was still whining at home like a baby. Punk reminds Styles that before Styles was here, Punk was the phenomenal one. Styles counters by saying that he might be great, but he was never phenomenal, and the only reason he ever held a WWE strap was because Styles hadn’t decided to come here yet. Before these two can come to blows, Daniel Bryan comes out to settle things down. And the internet breaks immediately. Bryan has a funny little exchange with AJ Lee and then addresses Styles and Punk. He tells the audience that Shane McMahon has signed CM Punk to a Smackdown Live exclusive contract and one of the conditions was a WWE World Title match. Bryan tells Styles that he is sorry to have this sprung on him, but it is the way things go. Bryan announces the title match for the next PPV as the segment ends.
The next Raw features a contract signing between Brock Lesnar and Kevin Owens. During the contract signing, Seth Rollins hits the ring and attacks Lesnar with a chair. He follows up by bashing Owens a few times with a chair. Rollins grabs a mic and says that he never agreed to give up his shot, so he is adding himself to the match at the PPV, signs the contract dramatically, and stands tall in the ring.
Earlier in the show, Paul Heyman came out during a promo by WWE Women’s Champion Charlotte. Heyman simultaneously praises Charlotte for being a champion and criticizes her for being a puppet of Stephanie McMahon. Charlotte claims that she is not Stephanie’s puppet, but Heyman lays out a case that Stephanie has hand-picked her to be the leader of this division. He points out that Charlotte is allowed to have a “protege” while no one else is. That she received a rematch against Sasha Banks even though Banks was injured and shouldn’t have been wrestling. Charlotte was Stephanie’s second overall draft pick, even higher than Brock Lesnar.
Charlotte continued to try to dispute this, but Stephanie came out. Heyman just laughed and said that here comes her protector. Stephanie told Heyman that he has no reason to be out here. Then she turns to Charlotte and says that she is her biggest backer and she drafted her highly because she is a champion and a great champion. She says she got her rematch against Sasha Banks because a champion defends the belt regardless of being hurt. She says she backs her because she is the best woman’s wrestler and the greatest female athlete in the WWE. Heyman jumps in and says to Charlotte that this is how Stephanie does it. This is how she gets you under her control. She tells you want you want to hear until you are complimented into doing whatever she wants.
Stephanie turns and begins screaming at Heyman. She tells him, “Paul, you have no reason to be out here. You have nothing to say about the woman’s division. You have nothing to say about the Woman’s Champion. You are a simple troll and you should leave the ring before I suspend you.” Heyman backs off and walks up the ramp saying, “We’ll see.”
Later in the night, Mick Foley tells Stephanie that he knows Paul Heyman has been driving her crazy, but he has a surprise for her next week that will pretty much guarantee a ratings blockbuster. This perks Stephanie’s interest, but Foley says she is just going to have to wait until next week. But the surprise is a big one.
On the next Raw, Mick Foley comes out to start the show. He announces that he has authorized a major title match for the next PPV. He says that Charlotte came to him backstage and said that she wanted to prove that she is the best female athlete in the WWE. He said that she didn’t need to prove anything, but she insisted. So Foley went looking for an opponent for Charlotte. The crowd starts chanting for Foley’s daughter, to which Mick laughs and plugs “Holy Foley” on the WWE Network, but says, no, she’s not ready. As Foley starts again, Paul Heyman comes out and walks down to the ring.
Heyman apologizes for interrupting Mick, he just wanted to be here for the big announcement since he was tossed out of the ring last week. Stephanie McMahon then comes out to tell Heyman to leave again. But Foley stops Stephanie and says, “You might want to leave him stay. This does involve him somewhat too.” Heyman just starts grinning and Stephanie looks very confused. Mick continues and says, “You see, Charlotte will get a chance to prove that she is the best female athlete in the WWE when she takes on, at the PPV, the newest member of the WWE roster, Ronda Rousey!” With that, Heyman just smiles very big and Stephanie is beside herself. Rousey comes out to a huge pop and stands next to Paul, looking menacing as we break for commercial.
Now, I am not sure what pay-per-view is upcoming, but Paul Heyman is promoting Brock Lesnar fighting for the WWE Universal Title against Kevin Owens and Seth Rollins. He has CM Punk fighting for the WWE World Heavyweight Title against AJ Styles. And he has Ronda Rousey fighting Charlotte for the WWE Women’s Title. Regardless of the outcome of those matches, Heyman has established a solid group of fighters, not just sports entertainers. Lesnar, Punk, and Rousey all scream of legitimacy and the crowds want to see them destroy people.
Heyman will take a couple weeks after the PPV and toss around names for this elite group of workers. He’ll toy with the Triple B’s – The Beast, The Best, and the Beauty. He’ll toy with the Ultimate Invaders. He’ll toy with a number of name possibilities, making some fun little interview segments. But, in the end, he will simply post a photo to Instagram or Twitter of him in front of Lesnar, Punk, and Rousey with a caption of “The Dangerous Alliance has risen!”
And that’s as far as I am taking this fantasy booking today. If everyone enjoys it and wants to hear more about how this plays out, let me know in the comments. Maybe I will return to it and see how the matches turn out and the next steps for Paul Heyman and crew. Who knows, maybe Stephanie or Shane decide to turn to Conor McGregor to counteract Heyman’s UFC heavies.
Until next time…
