Every Attorney Needs to Study Paul Heyman
About a year or two ago I got asked who my biggest influences were when I spoke in court. I usually tend to give two answers: Jake "The Snake" Roberts and Paul Heyman.
I think the latter is someone who every attorney needs to watch tape of carefully to learn the art of getting your point across to an audience. Wrestling promos are funny like that; they basically mirror talking to a trier of fact or a jury in the sense that one is attempting to "sell" a point to someone. Right now, if you want to see the best in the game, just watch clips of Paul Heyman.
In fact, I want you to see the clip below as proof. It's pretty current, and I'll give you the backstory you need.
On Sunday, Roman Reigns (the dark haired gentleman in this interview) won a match called the "Royal Rumble," which grants him a shot at the current WWE Champion (former UFC Heavyweight champ Brock Lesnar) at Wrestlemania in April. This decision by WWE was resoundingly booed for a number of reasons; the biggest being Reigns had done nothing of substance to gain fan approval and yet was being shoved down everyone's throats just as Guardians of the Galaxy cast member Dave Bautista was at last year's Rumble. Furthermore, Reigns didn't look like a credible threat to Lesnar. Yes, he's physically imposing, but Lesnar trumps Reigns in the appearance factor by a mile and carries with him the distinction of beating nearly every top star the WWE has to offer in recent memory. Finally, this has been a planned outcome since around November of last year with Daniel Bryan (another wrestler I've mentioned on this blog) being out and WWE needing new good guys--giving everyone the excuse of saying "Why bother watching Wrestlemania? Reigns is going to win."
Monday's Raw broadcast was a taped production from WWE studios due to the weather conditions in Hartford, Connecticut, and featured a Roman Reigns/Brock Lesnar sit down interview. Paul Heyman works his magic in this clip, and it's amazing on selling a point. Watch it here.
Seriously, go ahead and watch it--if for no other reason than to see Paul Heyman (the balding guy) make his case.
That's beautiful advocacy in about five to seven minutes. In that brief time Heyman made fans care about the main event; Reigns is a guy who has wrestling in his blood, accomplished an incredible ring feat only a select few can claim, and is now main eventing Wrestlemania--and cannot disappoint his family, which consists of the closest thing pro wrestling has to royalty by losing. HIs captivating method of delivery holds your attention. He comes across as completely non-threatening, but his words convey a very real danger about Brock Lesnar. Heyman is the essence of everything someone involved in litigation should study for the purpose of selling your points.
We can all learn a little from Paul Heyman's ability to sell. You can tell his dad (a former attorney) is somewhere smiling.
Happy Wednesday, everyone.