We have never seen Paul Heyman like this in WWE

The Post’s Joseph Staszewski covers the world of professional wrestling in his weekly column, “Post Match Angle.”

This is a Paul Heyman we’ve never seen before, and it says a lot about the Bloodline story.

Throughout his Hall of Fame career, Heyman has always exuded a sense of control and confidence in every situation he found himself in. There was always an almost smug confidence with the superstars he managed, from CM Punk to Brock Lesnar to Roman Reigns.

Heyman knew what was going to happen before it actually happened, and he was so confident in that he gave us spoilers instead of predictions.

Ever since Roman Reigns lost the WWE Universal Championship to Cody Rhodes at WrestleMania 40, it has become clear that Heyman is no longer in control and no longer has a handle on the situation, which has led to the ongoing downfall of Heyman.

Solo Sicour has taken the helm of Bloodline in Reigns’ absence, and like a violent Sonny Corleone, he is making the decisions about who to bring in and who to attack without the input or direction of Heyman, all under the pretense of being in contact with Reigns, who Heyman clearly is not in contact with.

Heyman cleverly tried to bring Cico back under his wing, but was rebuffed, leading the new leader to ask who “we” was, which would have to mean “The Final Boss” Rock, because none of it sounds like Reigns.

Heyman has made it pretty much clear that Reigns was not at the heart of Bloodline’s decision-making, stating multiple times that he and the Tribal Leaders decided not to bring in the dangerous Toma Tonga and Tonga Loa, and on this week’s SmackDown he referenced background checks to allude to a criminal element to the new members.

“They’re not even human beings,” Heyman said in the ring, “They’re bloodthirsty, sadistic thugs.”

Heyman has already distanced himself from the group, setting things up for him and Reigns to return as babyfaces in the future.

After Heyman pleaded with Kevin Owens to step away from Bloodline because Sicor didn’t respect him as much as Reigns did, what we saw in the ring was Wiseman expressing his despair, fear and frustration with his current situation.

All the certainty and complacency has been stripped away, and in its place we see someone feeling anxious and helpless, waiting for the true king in Reigns to return and take center stage again.

Heyman’s past experiences with Owens mean he has no faith that Owens is acting in his own best interest, and he believes Heyman is still pulling the strings and is just trying to instill fear in Owens. Owens, who has been between heel and babyface multiple times in his career, doesn’t believe he’ll be redeemed, despite Heyman’s insistence that he will.

“Maybe I’m not trying to help you, I’m trying to save you,” Heyman said.

Heyman is furious that everyone is ignoring him and asking what good is it? The currency of the wise is wisdom, and now he must be feeling bankrupt, and he lets us know it with uncharacteristic rage.

“After all these years, can a man not redeem himself?” Heyman said. “How many times has a man redeemed himself? But not me. Let’s not expect Paul Heyman to ever redeem himself. Not Paul Heyman! Not Paul Heyman! He’ll never redeem himself.”

“Why can’t you understand what you’re up against with these scoundrels? Can’t you understand what I’m trying to do for you right now? I’m a hall of fame sage. But no! Let’s not listen to a hall of fame sage. Let’s just sit here and think I have a vision of the future. solo I’m going to take over the entire bloodline. Why won’t anyone listen to me?”

Paul, we are listening to you. We hear you. Thank you so much for taking us on another journey that may be your path to salvation.

Oh Henry

AJ Styles’ “retirement” angle with Rhodes at the end of SmackDown was a blatant rip-off of the famous Mark Henry angle with John Cena in June 2013, and The American Nightmare’s storyline is half lazy and half invented, feeling similar to Cena’s storylines around that time with his losses and wins at WrestleMania, his feud with Brock Lencer and now this one.

Styles wore a powder blue suit, as opposed to Henry’s pink suit. They both berated the champion, attacked them after the champion raised his hand, and both talked about going back to their families. You could tell from afar that Styles wasn’t real, and he was faking it well. Henry praised the segment, but at the very least, we might see another five-star match.

10 counts

Ospreay wins the gauntlet match to face Swerve Strickland for the AEW World Championship at The Forbidden Door, which could lead to two things: Strickland’s reign is cut too short, or, more likely, Ospreay ends up losing without the Tiger Driver 91. Ospreay gets stuck in a rut and loses the International Championship, but bounces back by winning the Owen Hart Tournament and defeating Strickland with the Tiger Driver at Wembley Stadium to win the title.

Mercedes Monet has already raised the bar for women’s matches in AEW, but it was a shame they were so eager to use the mystery attacker angle to orchestrate an unannounced match against Sky Blue on Dynamite, which turned out to be a very good match.

Last week’s kiss between Dominik Mysterio and Liv Morgan raised the question of whether WWE might lean more towards sensual romance, and that’s exactly what happened. Wearing bright red lipstick and carrying a high book, Morgan repeatedly seductively caressed Mysterio, who seemed a little interested.