Head WWE Creative Fired In Major Shake-Up
Could Hell in a Cell be to blame?
According to F4WOnline.com, there was a shakeup in WWE's creative team this past Friday as Tom Casiello, managing lead writer for Raw and Smackdown, was released from the company. Casiello was first hired by the company in 2006 and wrote for programs such as NXT Redemption and WWE Main Event before leaving in 2012 and returning in 2015.
Casiello was reportedly responsible for championing the women's division on both shows, leading to the increased focus on women's competition across the board. In fact, that ultimately may have cost him - according to discussion on Wrestling Observer Radio, Casiello's dismissal could have come from his insistence that Sasha Banks and Charlotte Flair headline the Hell in a Cell PPV in October. Vince McMahon was reportedly cool on the idea leading up to the show, and some saw it as a mistake after the fact.
Casiello, a former soap opera writer, took to Twitter to announce that there was no drama behind his departure - according to him, his position was simply "eliminated" - and that he holds no ill will toward anybody in WWE.