In a shocking bombshell, WWE has announced that the writing teams on WWE Raw and WWE Smackdown will be merging, removing Paul Heyman from his position to take more of a role as an on-air personality. Both Raw and Smackdown have been two of the weekly shows of World Wrestling Entertainment, developing story lines for the biggest wreslters within the company in between the big Pay-Per-View events that have arrived on the Network for years. While this will obviously have big ramifications for the future of the company, it seems like a smart decision to shake things up considering the recent ratings report.
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While the WWE has been receiving praise for some of the offbeat tactics that they’ve used in this year’s big events with the likes of the Boneyard Match and the Firefly Funhouse making good use of their inability to have an audience, it seems as if the weekly shows in Smackdown and Raw have been lagging when it comes to overall performance. While we don’t have all the details when it comes to why the WWE decided to go down this route, it’s clear that there had to be some big decisions made when it comes to rejuvenating the brands.
WWE released this statement via their Official Twitter Account, sending shockwaves throughout the world of wrestling as they confirmed that Paul Heyman would no longer be in charge of writing and the two writing teams for Raw and Smackdown would be merged moving into the future:
In an effort to streamline our creative writing process for television, we have consolidated both teams from Raw and SmackDown into one group, led by Bruce Prichard. Paul Heyman will concentrate on his role as an in-ring performer. https://t.co/KOahV2sO5q
— WWE (@WWE) June 11, 2020
The coronavirus pandemic has caused the entertainment industry to re-think a lot of their methods and tactics used to connect with audiences in 2020, and World Wrestling Entertainment has been no different when it comes to performing to stadiums that don’t have an audience. While this has certainly created some surreal moments, it has also, according to many fans, created some of the best moments in the recent history of the company. Whether or not this new shake up will cause serious changes to the writing moving forward is yet to be seen, but we’ll be sure to keep you updated!
What do you think of this bombshell that the writing teams behind Raw and Smackdown will be merged? Feel free to let us know in the comments or hit me up directly on Twitter @EVComedy to talk all things comics, anime, and the WWE!