WWE personality Paul Heyman spoke with ESPN to promote the WWE 13 video game. The following are highlights of the interview. It can be read in full at ESPN.go.com/blog/playbook/tech/post/_/id/2623/paul-heyman-talks-wwe-13-cm-punk.

Heyman on how much of the Attitude Era was inspired by ECW: "Everything! It’s funny, because when you interview writers from that era, they will blatantly tell you that they’d watch ECW television, get ideas, sit on those ideas for a couple of months, then pitch them to Vince and say 'Hey, I got this great idea for The Undertaker and The Big Show where they go through a ring,' failing to mention that they saw Taz and Bam Bam Bigelow do it in Asbury Park. Vince McMahon became a billionaire based on Attitude, and Attitude was spawned by the ECW experience. If I could give you one sound bite, one headline, it’s this: Vince McMahon might not proclaim himself to be a Paul Heyman guy, but he sure should."

Heyman on a potential showdown match between C.M. Punk and Brock Lesnar: "I don’t know. I don’t know the dynamic of that match because they are two such different styles of professional wrestling. Brock is an explosive MMA-style fighter who brings with him the element of UFC into the ring with him now. And while Punk has trained in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, he is more the equivalent of the modern 60-minute man.

"Punk is the updated version of what Ric Flair and Ricky Steamboat and Jack Brisco and Terry Funk and the NWA champions of old used to bring to the table in that you can put anybody in the ring with CM Punk at any time and you can say, 'Main event for me tonight,' and he will turn to you and tell you that the people are going to go home happy because he’s going to give them their money’s worth. So there’s a very big and different dynamic between Brock Lesnar and CM Punk, almost like we’re talking about two different genres within the same category of professional wrestling/sports entertainment."

Heyman on returning to WWE: "I never thought I’d go back, no way, and neither did Brock. I just got a text from Brock (pulls out phone and shows a text from Brock Lesnar). Check this out, it’s a picture of Brock and I in WWE and the text says: 'Look at us, here’s a picture of us in WWE ten years ago. Who would’ve ever thought we’d be back.' We constantly say it to each other, like, 'Can you believe we’re doing this?' Who would’ve predicted this a year ago? No way. It’s one of those wild, crazy curves that life throws at you, but to do it, and to be having so much fun doing it, it’s something neither one of us could’ve envisioned."

Powell's POV: Heyman also spoke about Lesnar's future with WWE, writing scripts for the WWE 13 video game, Punk vs. The Rock, and more. Thanks to Dot Net reader Basel for passing along the interview.

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