Paul Heyman Doesn’t Think Pairing With Curtis Axel Was Meant To Work Out, Says Axel Was Needed To Feed To CM Punk

The pairing with Curtis Axel was discussed by Paul Heyman.

During the year of 2013, a pairing between Paul Heyman and Curtis Axel was formed on WWE television. Axel was positioned as a ‘Paul Heyman Guy.’ Axel captured the Intercontinental Championship during that time.

While speaking to Chris Van Vliet, Heyman was asked why it did not work out long-term, and he stated that it was not supposed to. He stated that Axel filled the need to line people up for CM Punk.

Heyman expressed that it was the same situation as how things panned out with Claudio Castagnoli, f.k.a. Cesaro. He added that if there was a long-term plan for Axel, he was not clued in on it.

“Because I don’t think it was meant to work out. I don’t think there was ever an overall grand scheme to move Curtis Axel all the way up the ladder. Curtis Axel filled the need for there to be people around me to feed to CM Punk at the time; it’s the same thing that happened with Cesaro… Cesaro was placed in that position the day after Brock Lesnar conquered The Streak, so that when Brock took his hiatus, I had an excuse to be on television to say my client Brock Lesnar conquered The Undertaker’s undefeated streak at WrestleMania and you needed an excuse to have me out there on television and if you put me on commentary, I can’t say it for two or three hours. I have to say it with impact once a week. Just drill that into your head. Reinforcement, repetition, repetition, repetition, repetition, repetition. So Cesaro became the excuse to see me say the line. Curtis Axel was cast as a Paul Heyman guy, generic Paul Heyman guy. You may as well have put a mask on him and call him the Mad Russian, Mr. X, The Assassin, The Punk Destroyer, so that we could feed the babyface CM Punk and that’s a shame for Curtis Axel because he had a lot more to offer but he delivered in those matches with Punk and that was the assignment, and once that assignment was over, there was no plan to propel him further and he didn’t have the cache to go in and pitch for something that would continue the momentum coming out of that program.” Heyman was asked if there was a long-term plan for Axel, and he replied, “I don’t believe so. If there was, I was never clued in on it. When I was told I was getting Curtis Axel, my question was, ‘What are we doing with this?’ And Vince’s answer was, ‘Going all the way to the top.’ I don’t think Vince (McMahon) really felt that about him and I don’t think — I mean, I could tell by the third week I was with Cesaro, oh, I understand what we’re doing here. I get it. I see how this is going to play out, that as soon as Brock is back, this is going to get discarded.”

Axel, real name Joe Hennig, was in the headlines in May because he was arrested for DWI.