A pro wrestling heel namedropping a rival sports team or athlete in a city. It’s as natural a combination as peanut butter and jelly. On Monday, Paul Heyman, one of the greatest heels the history of the business, went down that road — and got the exact reaction he was looking for.
Monday Night RAW celebrated its 30th anniversary on Monday with RAW is XXX. The show was in Philadelphia, a city Heyman is quite familiar with from his days owning the Philadelphia-based ECW. Heyman was in the ring with The Bloodline, the stable he manages. The Bloodline is led by Roman Reigns, the Undisputed WWE Universal Champion. Reigns is also a fan of the San Francisco 49ers.
Heyman was hyping the championship match between Reigns and Kevin Owens at Saturday’s Royal Rumble. As fate would have it, the Philadelphia Eagles are less than a week away from hosting the 49ers in the NFC Championship Game. That left a wide open door for Heyman to get easy heat in the City of Brotherly Love. He did not miss the opportunity. Heyman boasted that the Eagles would “get conquered by Brock Purdy of the 49ers,” followed by Reigns holding up the No. 1 sign.
Predictably, this was met with a chorus of boos.
It was a natural move for Heyman. He even got to emphasize Purdy’s first name, something he did for years while serving as Brock Lesnar’s “advocate” in WWE.
[WWE on Twitter]