Paul Heyman is considered by many to be a genius behind the scenes. Especially during his stints in ECW and WWE. On camera, he has been behind the creation of the most important characters of Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns, but he has also made important efforts that have improved the lives of other talents.

In an interview with Newsweek, Heyman recalled how the “SmackDown Six” saved SmackDown in the final stage of the Attitude Era in 2002. These wrestlers helped establish SmackDown as a brand that offered a product more focused on technical and high-performance wrestling. This was in contrast to Raw, which focused more on entertainment and bigger stories. According to Heyman, the group could recreate itself today with other talents.

In fact, he named a few talents who could be a part of it. “Every member of The Bloodline. Every member of Solo’s bloodline, obviously, because there’s a lot of money to be made there,” said Heyman to Newsweek. He went on to state more names, “Seth Rollins, CM Punk, Bron Breakker, Rhea Ripley, Liv Morgan, Dominik Mysterio, Austin Theory.” He further added that there is a plethora of talent in the WWE and surely he can have more people contributing in.

Heyman said, “I mean, give me Pat McAfee on as a commentator to just keep the energy level at nuclear. Look at Logan Paul. I mean, you can certainly build a promotion around Logan Paul. LA Knight. I mean, there’s just so much talent out there. Dominik Mysterio. My God, the wealth of talent that — Charlotte Flair, who is right on the cusp of just being labeled a legend, and still has so much more to accomplish. I could probably put together four or five rosters of SmackDown sixes with today’s crew”

Well, it surely looks like the legendary manager of ECW surely has a lot of respect for the current WWE talents. However, all this couldn’t have been possible without the contribution of the SmackDown Six, the ones who helped save SmackDown. But who were the part of this esteemed group and what specifically did they do?

More about the original SmackDown Six

The term “SmackDown Six” refers to a group of six wrestlers who were instrumental in WWE’s SmackDown brand during 2002 and early 2003. This group is widely recognized for having produced some of the most exciting and technically impressive matches of the time, elevating the quality of the show and helping to establish SmackDown as a distinctive brand within WWE.

In 2002, WWE implemented the brand division, separating the roster into two main shows: Raw and SmackDown. As part of this division, each brand had its own cast of fighters and exclusive championships. In this context, Paul Heyman, who was the creative head of SmackDown at the time, decided to build the brand around a select group of high-level wrestlers. The ones who became known as the SmackDown Six. Those six wrestlers were: Kurt Angle, Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, Chavo Guerrero, Edge, and Rey Mysterio. So what do you think about Heyman’s relevations? Let us know in the comments.