Before owning ECW, he was a manager under the ring name Paul E. Dangerously in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and other promotions.

In WWE, Heyman has served as manager for a record seven world champions (The Undertaker, Big Show, Kurt Angle, Brock Lesnar, CM Punk, Rob Van Dam, and Roman Reigns).

[9] His father was a prominent personal injury attorney and World War II veteran, while his mother was a Holocaust survivor[10] who suffered through experiences in Auschwitz, Bergen-Belsen, and the Łódź Ghetto.

[14] While still a teenager, he fast-talked his way backstage at a World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) event at Madison Square Garden as a photojournalist.

[15] At the urging of Bigelow, Heyman made his managerial debut on January 2, 1987, initially appearing on the Northeast independent circuit before moving to a more high-profile stint with Championship Wrestling from Florida in February 1987.

[15][16] After CWF was absorbed by Jim Crockett Promotions, Bigelow brought him to Memphis and the Continental Wrestling Association (CWA) to manage Tommy Rich and Austin Idol in a heated feud with Jerry Lawler, a war which later carried over to the American Wrestling Association (AWA), with the Midnight Express (Dennis Condrey and Randy Rose) taking over for Idol and the face-turned Rich.

Heyman joined with Eddie Gilbert and his wife and valet Missy Hyatt and together they feuded with Lawler before moving on to the Alabama-based Continental Wrestling Federation.

Heyman was also the head booker for Windy City Wrestling in Chicago and started developing a reputation as being an innovative television writer and producer.

He settled into the role of an announcer, joining Jim Ross to call the matches on WTBS' World Championship Wrestling and other programming.

[33] Heyman became a commentator for the WWF on Raw Is War, replacing Jerry Lawler who had quit due to a dispute when his wife The Kat was fired in February 2001.

In July, while retaining his commentator role, Heyman recreated ECW as a stable, which then immediately merged with Shane McMahon's WCW to form the Alliance during the Invasion angle.

Heyman was "fired" following the 2001 Survivor Series when the Alliance lost a winner takes all match that marked the end of the invasion angle.

[36] After McMahon defeated his daughter Stephanie in October 2003 at the No Mercy pay-per-view, the storyline was that she was forced to resign from her position as general manager (GM) of SmackDown!.

[37] On July 10, 2005, it was reported that Heyman took over the positions of head booker and writer in Ohio Valley Wrestling, a developmental territory maintained by WWE.

His Raw draft pick was former ECW wrestler (and Money in the Bank contract holder) Rob Van Dam, and his SmackDown!

[42] Behind the scenes, Heyman had no interest at first in returning to WWE, as he still felt he held bad blood with a lot of the staff, but reconsidered after Lesnar requested his presence after a lackluster promo with John Laurinaitis.

[47] Later, CM Punk earned the right to fight The Undertaker at WrestleMania 29 after winning a Fatal Four Way match at Old School Raw.

[48] On the April 15 episode of Raw, Heyman announced Lesnar had challenged Triple H to a steel cage match at Extreme Rules.

On the June 17 episode of Raw, Punk challenged Alberto Del Rio, mentioning that he did not want Heyman managing him anymore.

[57] At the Royal Rumble, Heyman was at ringside when Lesnar retained his WWE World Heavyweight Championship against Cena and Seth Rollins.

[61] At Summerslam, Lesnar defeated Roman Reigns, Samoa Joe, and Braun Strowman in a Fatal Four-Way to retain the Universal Championship.

On the July 30 episode of Raw, Angle threatened Heyman's employment due to Lesnar's refusal to leave the backstage area and appear in the ring.

However, at Hell in a Cell, Heyman appeared as Lesnar interfered with the main event match between Roman Reigns and Braun Strowman.

The next day, Heyman appeared on Raw, setting up a triple threat match at Crown Jewel between Brock Lesnar, Braun Strowman, and Roman Reigns for the Universal Championship.

[citation needed] At WrestleMania 35, Heyman came out just after the opening segment, demanding that Seth Rollins fights his client to start off the main card.

[66] Heyman continued to represent Lesnar up to WrestleMania 36, when Drew McIntyre defeated him for the WWE Championship in quick fashion, at a fan-less event, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Lesnar then opted not to sign a new contract, thus leaving his professional wrestling career in uncertainty due to him becoming a "free agent".

On the November 22 episode of SmackDown, Heyman returned and announced CM Punk as the fifth member for the Original Bloodline's team for Survivor Series: WarGames.

The firm broke new ground with its initial campaign with Electronic Arts, THQ video games, 2K Sports, the Hard Rock Hotel, and Casino Las Vegas.

After a family emergency forced the original actor to pull out, he was chosen by I Am Legend executive producer Michael Tadross to play "Gino" in the film adaptation of the long-running Off-Broadway show Tony n' Tina's Wedding.