Before he was “The Next Big Thing” Brock Lesnar was just Paul Heyman’s pet project. According to a new interview with “Tetragrammaton” and legendary music producer Rick Rubin, Heyman says that Lesnar almost didn’t have his famous moniker.

“I think he’s ‘The Next Big Thing’ and I think we are screwing this up,” Heyman says he told Vince McMahon. Vince heard Heyman’s criticisms and put him in charge of producing Lesnar. Heyman booked Lesnar against Funaki and Spike Dudley, saying he knew they’d make him “look like what he needed to look like.”

This plan went so well that McMahon told Heyman that initial plans to have Heyman manage Chris Benoit were scrapped in favor of Heyman managing Lesnar. 

“And I just said, ‘Bingo, ok, money!'” Heyman exclaimed, though despite Vince’s belief in the new talent, Heyman says that McMahon hated the “Next Big Thing” moniker.

 “‘That’s terrible,'” Heyman said in his Vince McMahon impression. “‘Why would you call him that?'” 

McMahon said people were “gonna vomit all over” the new name. Luckily for Heyman and Lesnar, there were “Next Big Thing” signs in the crowd the next week. 

“It had caught on,” Heyman explained, “and people in production meetings were saying ‘next big thing, next big thing, Brock Lesnar’s the next big thing.’ JR’s written on his notes ‘Brock Lesnar’s the next big thing’ and Vince started to realize ‘maybe this is catchier than I thought it was.'”

Vince reportedly gave Heyman one more opportunity to get the name over, and the rest is history.