Kofi Kingston Talks Rumored WWE Backstage Changes Under Paul Heyman and Eric Bischoff

Ever since Paul Heyman and Eric Bischoff were officially hired as the new executive directors of [...]

By Connor Casey

Ever since Paul Heyman and Eric Bischoff were officially hired as the new executive directors of Raw and SmackDown, reports and rumors have run rampant regarding how the two might change their respective show's creative process. Some of the reports include Heyman being "side-by-side" with Vince McMahon in Gorilla position during Raw last week, Heyman's "fingerprints" being all over certain Raw segments (including the now-infamous Mike and Maria Kanellis segment) and the WWE's plans to focus more on the 18-34 demographic with Raw.

WWE Champion Kofi Kingston shed some light on those on some of those reports when he spoke with Talk Sports' Alex McCarthy on Monday.

"He says there has been no meeting with talent to discuss the Paul Heyman/Eric Bischoff or change in direction from PG TV appointments," McCarthy tweeted. "Talent only know what we've all read online."

Part of the speculation that WWE was moving away from the television product came when Kingston flipped off Samoa Joe during a promo on SmackDown. Kingston told McCarthy that the stunt was a "collaborative effort" between he and McMahon.

Since the hirings, fans have combed over Heyman and Bischoff's previous comments in interviews to see if they can get any indication over how the two will operate their respective brands. A resurfaced interview with Inside the Ropes showed Bischoff taking a hard stance on the brand split, something that was all but killed by the Wild Card Rule.

"I think after going through my own experience and having been apart of the WWE's experience, the advice that I have would be to be as disciplined as you can possibly be at keeping the brands distinct," Bischoff said. "If you don't make them feel completely different, it won't work. And part of that is creating stakes, part of that is it's got to feel real, it's got to believable or nobody is going to buy into it.

"But don't let the talent start transitioning back and forth because you dilute the concept, they won't feel like two brands. They'll just feel like two different shows, which is what they already feel like. Because WWE does such a great job of producing such a phenomenal show, it's almost too perfect. There's no grit. It needs to feel a little gritty, at least one of them. They don't both have to feel gritty but one of them has to feel a little edgy, a little dangerous, like something is going to happen that you wouldn't expect on one show because it's a little less sophisticated. That's the magic."

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