Heyman on Roman Reigns Creative; Logan Paul Shades Seth Rollins; Gunther Wants Lesnar

Bleacher Report catches you up on the latest news from the WWE Universe.

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Heyman Explains Reigns' Creative Process

The angle focused on Roman Reigns and The Bloodline has been one of the best stories in all of pro wrestling in many years, and Paul Heyman revealed this week that it has been a collaborative effort.

Appearing on the SI Media podcast with Jimmy Traina (h/t WrestlingInc's Sai Mohan), Heyman gave some insight into how the storyline direction of Reigns and The Bloodline is determined:

"You hear the old expression that it takes a team? Well, it certainly has with us. A lot of people have worked really hard to make this work. It all kinda filters through Roman Reigns' feel, and there are several people who come to me to present things to Roman. Thereafter, Roman and I will talk about it, and come back with something that fits into their narrative, or we would hope that we can perhaps enhance it or put it in our own words. Or, we'd come back with, 'That doesn't work. What about this?' And then start a different process of bouncing ideas off of them."

Heyman went on to praise several others who have helped with cultivating ideas and putting them into action, including Bloodline members The Usos and longtime WWE creative force Michael Hayes:

"There are times when we're sitting in a room and it's myself, Roman and The Usos, and one of The Usos will say, 'You know what would be really good with Sami?' And we'd go, 'Oh my god, why aren't we doing that already?' You will find things [ideas] coming from The Usos that will shock you. They are great.

"There's also Michael Hayes, who has an incredible understanding of telling a story within a body of a match. Then there's the SmackDown writing team, led by Ryan Callahan, who is an unsung hero in what we've put together. A lot of the writers from Ryan's team would sit with us in the locker room, on Roman's bus, or get into a conference call; we just sit and throw around ideas. We would ask questions such as, 'What resonates with you?' or 'Will the kids be able to relate to this?'"

Reigns and Heyman joined forces over 900 days ago, and ever since then, Reigns has been the best version of himself by far.

The creation of The Bloodline only served to enhance his character and run as undisputed WWE universal champion, and it has helped set the stage for a pair of massive matches at WrestleMania 39.

Reigns will defend his titles in the main event of Night 2 against Cody Rhodes, and while it has yet to be announced, The Usos will almost certainly defend the undisputed WWE Tag Team Championships against Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens in a match that could headline Night 1.

Heyman, Reigns and everyone else involved have somehow managed to keep a singular story interesting for nearly three years, which is something very few people have accomplished over the course of wrestling history.

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Logan Paul Didn't Know About Rollins Before Joining WWE

Logan Paul is set to face Seth Rollins at WrestleMania 39, but the social media megastar divulged this week that it wasn't until recently that he became aware of Rollins' existence.

Speaking on his Impaulsive podcast (h/t Subhojeet Mukherjee of ThirstyForNews.com), Paul said the following about The Visionary:

"I didn't know who he was until I got into wrestling. Apparently, he's pretty big in the wrestling world.

"I know who he is now. He's very good at what he does. Very good at what he does. He's probably top three in the business right now. For that reason, it'd be an honor to take him out at WrestleMania. I'm really happy with this matchup."

Paul has admitted that he wasn't necessarily privy to the world of pro wrestling before getting involved with it, so it isn't a huge surprise that he didn't know who Rollins was.

While Rollins is one of the top stars in wrestling today, he isn't a household name among those who don't follow the product, unlike Superstars such as Brock Lesnar, John Cena and Ronda Rousey.

Paul made his in-ring debut last year at WrestleMania 38, teaming with The Miz against Rey and Dominik Mysterio. He impressed in that match and has continued to open eyes since then in singles matches against The Miz and Reigns, as well as an appearance in the 2023 men's Royal Rumble match.

In addition to eliminating Rollins from the Rumble, Paul cost him the United States Championship at Elimination Chamber, and they have been at each other's throats ever since.

Rollins has done an excellent job enhancing the worked narrative that he doesn't want an outsider like Paul in WWE, while Paul has played up to the notion that he's a natural who has gotten to Rollins' level in a short amount of time.

Paul still has his detractors among wrestling fans, but the build toward his match with Rollins has been strong, and if he can turn in another strong performance on the WrestleMania stage, it will be tough to deny Paul's status as a rising star in the wrestling world.

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Gunther Names Lesnar as Dream Opponent

Gunther vs. Brock Lesnar is one of the biggest potential dream matches WWE fans want to see, and The Ring General is right there with them.

During an appearance on Cheap Heat (h/t WrestlingInc's Ben F. Silverio), Gunther discussed his desire to step inside the ring with The Beast Incarnate:

"Brock is the one that has to happen at some point. I think I made him my personal biggest obstacle. The [Royal Rumble] was literally the first time I met him. [It was] brief, but that moment that we had in the Rumble was great because that was all I needed out of it. It was basically like a real-life confirmation that the audience is up for that. They want to see it."

As mentioned by Gunther, he and Lesnar had a quick showdown within the 2023 men's Royal Rumble match, and it was clear that the fans were behind the idea of them having a singles match at some point.

For now, both Superstars are focused on other opponents at WrestleMania 39, meaning a match between them would have to take place afterward.

Lesnar is set to clash with the 7'3" Nigerian Giant Omos on the Grandest Stage of Them All, while Gunther will defend his Intercontinental Championship against the winner of a Fatal 5-Way between Drew McIntyre, Sheamus, LA Knight, Karrion Kross and Kofi Kingston.

WWE likely has designs on making Gunther the longest-reigning IC champ of all time, and he is less than 200 days away from surpassing Honky Tonk Man's record of 454 days.

Potentially having Gunther defend the title against Lesnar en route to the record would add another layer of intrigue and credibility to the Austrian Superstar's title run.

It is unclear how much longer Lesnar intends to continue wrestling, but there is little doubt that WWE would be wise to book the 45-year-old veteran against Gunther before his time in the business is over.

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