10 Things That Happened Last Time Paul Heyman Worked WWE Creative

8. Michael Cole & Tazz Improved As Announcers

Prior to 2002 and the arrival of Paul Heyman as SmackDown head writer, Michael Cole was a bit of a joke amongst fans. He lagged so far behind premier announcer Jim Ross it wasn't even funny, and his partnership with Tazz was the definite 'B' team compared to JR's chemistry with Jerry Lawler on Raw.

Heyman knew this, and he worked hard to change it.

Both Cole and Tazz have told in interviews how Heyman would sit with them during post-production commentary sessions in the studio and work his balls off to make them better as a unit. To Paul, it was important for every aspect of SmackDown to be better than Raw, and that included the announcing. He wouldn't rest until they were a credit to the show.

That toil paid off. Just a few months after Heyman had joined SmackDown, Cole and Tazz were infinitely better than they had been before. Listen to the announcing on those Brock Lesnar vs. The Undertaker matches at Unforgiven and No Mercy '02 for proof.