Sports
What’s Happened to the Four WWE Superstars Paul Heyman Initially Wanted
Since betraying CM Punk and Roman Reigns in the main event of WrestleMania Night One in April 2025, legendary WWE manager Paul Heyman has masterminded the rise of villainous power stable The Vision.
The Hall of Famer started the new group by pairing Seth Rollins, who he had just helped defeat Reigns and Punk at ‘Mania, with rising star Bron Breakker, and from then came a wave of speculation over who he could add next.
Fast-forward to 2026, while Heyman and Breakker remain with the faction, the original leader, Rollins, was dropped in October, with Bronson Reed, Logan Paul, and Austin Theory being added to the group over the last nine months.
But things could have been a lot different. As GiveMeSport reported just after WrestleMania 41, Heyman had been asked in 2024 who he would build WWE around in a similar fashion to the ‘SmackDown Six’ of 2002, which included Edge, Rey Mysterio, Kurt Angle, Chris Benoit, Chavo Guerrero, and Eddie Guerrero.
The Oracle’s first two choices were Breakker and Rollins, The Vision’s founding members, and so it is likely he was also eying up the next four names he gave to one day be part of his new faction. GiveMeSport takes a look at what has happened to those four Superstars since The Vision’s founding in April 2025.
Rhea Ripley
Last year was a tough one for Rhea Ripley — the Aussie Superstar has been part of several high-profile matches but failed to achieve the same level of dominance of the previous two years.
At WrestleMania 41, she failed to regain the Women’s World Championship against Iyo Sky and Bianca Belair, and has been fighting to do so ever since.
In May, Ripley defeated Kairi Sane and Zoey Stark in a Triple Threat match to qualify for the women’s Money in the Bank ladder match, but lost that match to Naomi. Then, at the Evolution PLE a month later, she had the chance to take the title back from Sky, but Naomi cashed in her Money in the Bank briefcase to rob her of the win.
At SummerSlam, she was involved in another three-way match for the title, challenging new champion Naomi along with Sky, but this ended in another defeat after a controversial roll-up pin on Ripley made sure Naomi was still champion.
Since then, Ripley and Sky have formed a tag team known as RHIYO, a mash-up of their names, and have been successful. Just recently on Raw, the duo brought the 56-day title reign of The Kabuki Warriors to an end to become the new Women’s Tag Team champions.
Liv Morgan
Similarly to Ripley, Liv Morgan has had a rollercoaster of a year. Morgan began the year as World Champion, and despite losing her title to Ripley at the Netflix on Raw premiere, she then had a Tag Team Championship title run with Raquel Rodriguez, after winning the belts in February against Belair and Naomi.
The pair lost the title to Lyra Valkryia and the returning Becky Lynch on Night Two of WrestleMania 41, but regained them the following night on Raw, later retaining the belts on NXT against Gigi Dolin and Tatum Paxley.
In June, however, Morgan suffered a shoulder injury against Sane, which led to Roxanne Perez joining Morgan’s faction The Judgment Day and replacing her as Tag Team Champion alongside Rodriguez.
A five-month absence for Morgan ensued, but she returned to WWE action in November to help Dominik Mysterio win the Intercontinental Championship against John Cena in usual, mischievous fashion at Survivor Series. Her first televised match since her return took place on the 6th of January episode of Raw, defeating Valkryia in a singles match.
Dominik Mysterio
The last few months have been huge for Dirty Dom, another Judgment Day member. At WrestleMania 41, Mysterio won the Intercontinental Championship in a Fatal 4-Way match against Breakker, Finn Balor, and Penta, and held the title for a remarkable 204 days before defeat to Cena on Raw, although he regained it in a rematch at the aforementioned Survivor Series.
In that time, Mysterio pulled off several thrilling defences of his title, notably against The Mexican Destroyer Penta at Backlash, and then in a fitting tribute to the late Eddie Guerrero against AJ Styles at SummerSlam.
Mysterio also made history by winning the AAA Mega Championship against El Hijo del Vikingo at Worlds Collide: Las Vegas in September. Not only was it Mysterio’s first world title, he also became the first ever wrestler to hold championships in WWE and AAA simultaneously.
Such an impressive year meant Dirty Dom was named Men’s Wrestler of the Year by ESPN in January, although he is yet to make an in-ring appearance this year due to a shoulder injury sustained in an AAA match in December.
Austin Theory
As well as Rollins and Breakker, Austin Theory was indeed a name Heyman wanted WWE to build around, and has since been added to The Vision.
After months off television, Theory returned as a masked assailant in December to help The Vision secure victory in the Survivor Series: WarGames main event against Punk, Reigns, Cody Rhodes, and The Usos.
Adopting a darker persona, and Rollins’ Curb Stomp finisher, which he used on Punk at WarGames, Theory was unveiled as the masked man, and after proving his worth to Heyman and The Vision by pinning Rey Mysterio in a tag team match with Reed by his side, he was officially inducted into The Vision on the 29th of December episode of Raw.
