10 Ways Paul Heyman Has Changed WWE Raw

10. Fresh Opportunities

One of the big hopes coming out of Paul Heyman's appointment as Raw Executive Director was that Heyman would give some fresh faces the ball to run with.

If you remember, the Raw brand that Heyman took over in June of last year was being dominated at the time by a painful rivalry between WWE Universal Champion Seth Rollins and Baron Corbin. Added to that, Raw Women's Champion Becky Lynch was in a similarly nauseating feud with Lacey Evans.

Since Heyman took over Raw, the landscape of the red brand has almost completely changed.

Not only have new faces like Humberto Carrillo and The Street Profits been given opportunities, but performers like Drew McIntyre, Andrade, Aleister Black, Buddy Murphy, The Kabuki Warriors, AoP, Liv Morgan, Ricochet, and Kevin Owens have all been either boosted up the card or seen their characters changed up slightly.

In particular, it looks as if Raw is finally happy to push ahead with Owens as a genuine top babyface right now. After several stop-starts as a face, KO's time to shine as the ass-kicking, unrelenting prizefighter is upon us - with Owens the perfect foil to go up against Seth Rollins' new villainous stable.

Authored by Andrew Pollard

Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks/Saints, Jamie Hayter, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.

Posted On: 8th Feb 2020

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