Paul Heyman Says Vince McMahon Told Him to ‘Take Stephanie Out of Her Game’ During WWE Creative Power Struggle

Paul Heyman and Stephanie McMahon opened up about their chaotic early working relationship on What’s Your Story?, revealing how Vince McMahon deliberately pitted them against each other when Heyman joined WWE’s creative team in 2001.

Heyman explained that coming into WWE from running ECW made for a tough adjustment. He was used to calling every shot — and Vince knew exactly how to weaponize that.

“We were pitted against each other… Oh, of course, of course, of course we were, we were absolutely… Well, you know, first of all, I just had spent seven and a half years of my life being God of my own universe.”

He said moving to WWE meant giving up total control and submitting to a structure where his voice was one of many.

“…Now I come aboard and I’m working for other people, yeah, and there’s an approval process where, number one, I was the approval process, and now I’m one of many pitching.”

But Vince didn’t want Heyman to go quietly. In fact, he gave him specific marching orders designed to challenge Stephanie — and create chaos.

“So when I came aboard, I was told my daughter runs the writing team. Take her out of her game. I want you to be the disrupter in the room. I want you to be the contrarian opinion. Do not make that easier. There’s no nepotism here. She earns that right to manage you, or she doesn’t get to do it at the same time.”

At the same time, Stephanie was told to rein in the wildcard — or fail trying.

“So I’m walking in to be the disrupter… And she’s told, god damn it, Stephanie, you’ve got to manage that. Heyman guy. He’s out of control. He thinks this is his company, and it’s not. Rein him in… you can’t let Heyman take you out of your game. You have to show that you can manage someone like him. This is true. This is all true.”

Stephanie admitted it was a daunting challenge, especially as a young executive trying to control a room of veteran personalities.

“Oh my god. Can you imagine I’m like, this 23-year-old kid or whatever, and I’ve got to manage you like you. Michael Hayes, like all of these personalities, like Dusty at one point. I mean, come on.”

She also called out one of Heyman’s most annoying tactics — pushing debates past the breaking point, only to fire off one last shot as he left the room.

“He would have pushed and pushed and pushed and pushed and pushed so hard… And then he’d go one more volley. As I’m literally walking out her door, I close the door… I literally stick my head back in and go one more volley.”

Despite the drama Vince engineered, Stephanie said the two never lost respect for one another.

“We were always friends… because as annoying as he could be, he had great ideas.”

Looks like sometimes chaos is part of the plan — especially when your last name is McMahon.