Paul Heyman Told an Incredible Story About Rick Rude, and People Who Say Wrestling's Fake

Paul Heyman and Roman Reigns joined Michelle Beadle’s inaugural Grantland podcast. Towards the end, Beadle solicited their response about when haters condescendingly degrade the pro wrestling genre by saying it isn’t real. Reigns, who played Division 1 football and had a cup of coffee in the NFL, said that his body hurts every day when he wakes up, and that the myriad of injuries he’s sustained in wrestling (including a torn meniscus and crushed nerve) surpass anything that happened to him in football. Then it was Heyman’s turn:

That’s all they have. It’s not just a soundbite. It’s their whole argument. And? What else? GFY. Come on. It’s funny because I come from an era where people would get in bar fights over that. We were meeting the governor of some state, and I was managing Rick Rude, who was a salty guy raised by old timers in the business. The governor’s staff and his wife are standing there, and the governor says, “I’m such a big fan of what you do.”

And Rick Rude’s like, “Thank you very much.”

And the governor says, “I know, I feel like I’ve gotta ask you this … Is it real?”

And Rick Rude just looks at him and goes, “Well, it’s kind of like a woman’s orgasm. Only the person doing it knows for sure.”

Heyman’s a maestro.