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• Updated Jun 23, 2026 at 8:31pm

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LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - APRIL 19: CM Punk (L) and Paul Heyman look on during Punk's Triple Threat match against Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins during WrestleMania 41 at Allegiant Stadium on April 19, 2025 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

WWE legend Paul Heyman is known for sharing his unfiltered opinion for decades now, but he’s rarely commented on AEW since the inception of the promotion. Heyman has been under WWE contract for the entirety of AEW’s run from Tony Khan’s launch in 2019 to today. Only one or two interviews have seen Heyman speaking on AEW, but he went more in depth for a recent interview.

Heyman shared the following thoughts about whether AEW had improved the wrestling industry, via an interview with Chris Van Vilet:

 “I certainly hope so. I mean, it sure changed the compensation packages for a lot of talent because there was a wolf across the river named Tony Khan that had a billion dollar checkbook that he could afford to pay a lot more money for talent than talent was making back in 2017, 2018, 2019.

So, it certainly changed the compensation for talent. And they’re on a viable network. They have a style that’s different than WWE’s. They present an alternative, if not a competitive brand.”

Heyman implying that he does view AEW as a viable alternative and a competitive brand are about the most positive things we’ve heard from a big WWE name. Wrestlers often love having options, but names from the business side in WWE rarely praise AEW. Heyman discussed the industry improving for talent and providing a top promotion outside of WWE.

Paul Heyman Influenced Tony Khan’s Wrestling Love

One of the most interesting things about this quote is that AEW President Tony Khan fell in love with wrestling thanks to Heyman. An infamous story saw a young Tony begging his father Shad Khan to take him to an ECW show to further cultivate his fandom.

ECW and what that smaller company represented in the 1990s spoke to Khan to continue falling deeper in love with the industry. Heyman was the boss behind the scenes running ECW and taking chances to compete against top promotions WWE and WCW.

Khan has previously named Heyman as one of his top wrestling inspirations, but the two rarely speak about each other today. The big names in the offices of WWE and AEW tend to avoid saying anything too positive or negative about the other side.

Paul Heyman Feels ECW Pride In AEW

Heyman essentially had the dream of doing what Khan is doing right now and vice versa for Paul in the 1990s. However, the confidence of Heyman saw him wanting some credit for ECW.

Another interesting quote from the same interview featured Heyman comparing AEW to ECW even more:

“I look at AEW, and I realize the influence that ECW had on that product. For example, like [Jon] Moxley is a total ECW Sandman, New Jack style performer. You look at the AEW style, it’s Rob Van Dam versus Jerry Lynn from 1999. AEW is RVD, and if you were a fan of what RVD and Jerry Lynn were doing in 1999, a lot of what AEW presents today is derived and is influenced by what RVD and Jerry Lynn were doing back then.”

Heyman is right that the back-and-forth showdown between Rob Van Dam and Jerry Lynn inspired a future generation. In fairness, AEW has also taken inspiration from other promotions like WCW, NJPW, and CMLL when crafting their identity in different ways.