MAJOR WWE Shake-Up Announced; Paul Heyman And Eric Bischoff To Run RAW And SmackDown Respectively
Holy Sh*t.
In a dramatic and quite incredible development, Sports Illustrated's Justin Barrasso has exclusively revealed that Paul Heyman and Eric Bischoff have been installed as full-time Executive Directors, overseeing RAW and SmackDown Live respectively. Both will report to Vince McMahon, who has not relinquished full control.
Details are scarce at present - but Barrasso editorialises that "Heyman overseeing the creative development of Raw is scintillating news for wrestling fans," from which we can infer that these roles are more significant than their merely joining the Creative Writing team. Bischoff will also liaise with Fox executives to shape the direction of the show on its new network in October.
Author's note:
CONS:
Vince McMahon doesn't play well with others; that isn't default cynicism, but a fact evidenced by the very man he has just hired. Vince and Heyman clashed constantly over the direction of SmackDown in the early 2000s, during which time Heyman was Head Writer. Time decays genius at an accelerated rate in this game. Even the best bookers - which Heyman certainly was - don't last forever. That maxim applies to Bischoff to what, in his later career, was a risible extent. Vince retains full editorial control in this scenario.
Bruce Prichard also returned to WWE this year, and has made no appreciable difference to the quality of the product (subjectively) or its popularity (objectively).
PROS:
It's exciting. Different. A much-needed shift from an over-stuffed writing staff that knew next to nothing before being hired (and, in most cases, seem not to have learned much after the fact). This is an injection of a wrestling mentality into an atrophied sports entertainment world, and is long overdue.
How this materialises is, at the very least, going to make for appointment viewing on shows most were willing to skip about half an hour ago.