Report: Here's How Involved Paul Heyman Was With WWE Raw's Production This Week
WWE announced on Thursday via press release that Paul heyman had been promoted to work as the [...]
WWE announced on Thursday via press release that Paul heyman had been promoted to work as the executive director of Monday Night Raw, creating a creative direction for the weekly show while reporting directly under Vince McMahon. The question of how soon Heyman, who had already been contributing to the creative team for a handful of wrestlers, would step into his new role quickly popped up, with several reports stating that his integration into the creative team would occur slowly over time rather than immediately.
Fast forward to Monday night and many fans believed the opposite was true. Between the Braun Strowman/Bobby Lashley LED spot at the beginning of the show, Corey Graves loudly yelling "Holy S—!" on the air and the Mike and Maria Kanellis angle, many fans speculated that Heyman was already bringing a dose of edgier content to the brand.
By Tuesday morning a handful of reports popped up regarding Heyman's involvement in the show. According to Wrestling Observer's Dave Meltzer, this week's Raw was effectively Heyman's first night in his new role.
"I would call this his first show," Meltzer said on Wrestling Observer Radio. "His fingerprints were all over this show. I would say that most of the stuff went through him. They had the production meeting, the people were talking about the show were still Vince [McMahon] and Ed Koskey and not Paul, but there was a lot of Paul stuff in this show."
Pro Wrestling Torch's Wade Keller backed up Meltzer's report, stating that Heyman was side-by-side with McMahon in the Gorilla position working on the show's production. He referred to the episode as the first installment of the "Heyman Era" of Raw.
With Heyman being hired to the new position for Raw, WWE simultaneously announced that former WCW executive producer Eric Bischoff was returning to the company to work the same position for the SmackDown Live brand.
"In their executive roles, Heyman and Bischoff will oversee the creative development of WWE's flagship programming and ensure integration across all platforms and lines of business," WWE explained in their press release. "The creation of these roles further establishes WWE's ability to continuously reinvent its global brand while providing two distinct creative processes for its flagship shows."
Raw closed out this week with a United States Championship match between Styles and Ricochet. After seemingly winning the title only to see the match get restarted, Styles turned on the champ after losing the match and reformed The Club with Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson.
