10 Greatest Paul Heyman Creations

While he had been a creative influence in WWE for over a year at the time, Paul Heyman became head writer of SmackDown in July 2002.

As a result of his time as head of SmackDown, WWE saw several talents rise to newfound levels of stardom, including Edge, Rey Mysterio, Kurt Angle, and Chris Benoit. Even Big Show saw a career resurgence under the Heyman regime.

Bruce Prichard has since gone on record as saying the narrative of Heyman as the mastermind behind the success was a myth and that the creative team, as a whole, all contributed to the brand at the time. However, the (admittedly WWE-produced) DVD on Heyman conflicts this report and alludes to a greater influence by 'The Mad Scientist' himself.

Regardless of which account is true, the success of SmackDown with Heyman at the head of the table cannot be denied. His insistence on pushing younger stars and new faces made the brand seem wholly different to Raw and the ratings spike confirmed that was a good thing. The new direction even led SmackDown to beat Raw in the ratings on a number of occasions and Heyman's influence helped facilitate the internal competition that Vince wanted.