Paul Heyman recently spoke about the potential of a new ‘SmackDown Six’ with the current WWE roster. The original ‘SmackDown Six’ was an iconic group of wrestlers consisting of Edge, Rey Mysterio, Eddie Guerrero, Chavo Guerrero, Chris Benoit, and Kurt Angle in the early 2000s. Engaging with Jeremy Hanna of Newsweek, Heyman explored the depth of today’s WWE roster and entertained the idea of a modern ‘SmackDown Six’.
In the original interview, here were a few key points highlighted:
Heyman proposed the idea of forming a ‘SmackDown Six’ with current talents including every member of The Bloodline, Solo, Seth Rollins, CM Punk, Bron Breakker, Rhea Ripley, Liv Morgan, Dominik Mysterio, and Austin Theory.
Regarding NXT, he said that a third of the NXT roster is ready for promotion. However, he stressed that it’s important for the timing to be right and the packaging and marketing properly organised, asking rhetorically, why rush it?
He also talked about the abundant talent that he would use to build a promotion. He listed Pat McAfee as a commentator and Logan Paul as a potential promotional build. He also mentioned Dominik Mysterio, LA Knight, and Charlotte Flair as outstanding talents. He is confident that he could put together multiple rosters of SmackDown sixes with the talent available.
Speaking about the concept of the SmackDown Six, Heyman stated that the brilliance of the original group was that they were not seen as main eventers initially. The idea was to promote those who weren’t in the main event spotlight to that level. He said the same concept could be applicable today with talents who aren’t yet in that spotlight.
He ended by emphasising that the concept behind forming a modern SmackDown Six would be to identify talents who aren’t yet main eventers but have great potential to be, and who can outperform expectations.
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