Paul Heyman (born September 11th, 1965) is a professional wrestling manager, promoter and booker best remembered for his time as booker and owner of the original ECW, although he also worked for WWE and WCW (going by the name Paul E. Dangerously in the latter). He first broke into wrestling as a photographer, similar to Jim Cornette. After a succesful run in WCW as a manager, he moved to ECW to assist Eddie Gilbert with the booking, later taking over as booker by himself and then buying the company outright. After ECW folded, he took a job as a commentator for the WWE, later becoming a manager again (mostly notably for Brock Lesnar) and booker for the SmackDown and resurrected ECW brands. He left wrestling after the extremely disappointed ECW December To Dismember PPV in 2006, but returned as Lesnar's legal counsel in May 2012.
- Action Survivor
- Ascended Fanboy: And he employed them, too.
- Bad Boss: Notable for willingly screwing his workers out of their pay to the extent where Shane Douglas was owed tens of thousands of dollars by the time ECW collapsed.
- Bald of Evil: Though he used to have Badass Long Hair back in WCW.
- The Bus Came Back: Came back as Brock Lesnar's legal advisor in 2012.
- Chronic Backstabbing Disorder
- Corrupt Corporate Executive
- Darker and Edgier: His booking in ECW was a very famous successful example of this trope.
- Drinking the Kool Aid: Invoked the trope in-character as the explanation for ECW's popularity; also used to refer to Heyman and the rest of the ECW wrestlers' cultlike mentality and loyalty.
- Full-Name Basis
- Hot-Blooded
- Keep Circulating the Tapes: Even when he performed in WWE, Heyman still remained loyal to ECW, and kept promoting it.
- Large Ham: Probably one of the only people capable of upstaging Vince McMahon.
- Manipulative Bastard
- Nice Hat: Once he started going bald.
- Politically-Incorrect Villain: In his run as a heel manager, Heyman was very much disparaging of Hispanic wrestlers like Eddie Guerrero and Rey Mysterio.
- Power Stable: The Dangerous Alliance in WCW.
- Running the Asylum: While he mainly embodied this in ECW, he also put this into practice as GM.
- Sand in My Eyes: "I want you all to know I'm not crying. My eyes are red because I was in the back smoking a joint with Van Dam!"
- Say My Name: One of ECW's Crowning Moments of Awesome is the crowd chanting "THANK YOU PAUL" for five minutes straight during One Night Stand '05.
- Screw the Rules, I Make Them
- Smug Snake
- Tempting Fate: "...and there's not a man alive who's gonna stand in my way!" Um, Heyman? Bad words to say when you've got someone like The Undertaker around.
- Worked Shoot: Heyman's signature style of promo, not to mention multiple Crowning Moments of Awesome for him. Pick a Heyman shoot promo. Any Heyman shoot promo.
- You Have to Have Jews: One of the very few Jews in a high profile position in the wrestling business.