10 Ways Paul Heyman Has Changed WWE Raw
7. Rivalries With Story Arcs
For the longest time, it felt that the majority of WWE 'rivalries' were simply driven by an endless array of matches.
What we mean by that, is that any semblance of a real storyline was devoid from these rivalries. Case in point, how many more Dolph Ziggler vs. The Miz matches could we ever really need? And yet despite those two having locked up more times than we could count, can you ever remember if there was a standard, evolving storyline of any note present in that rivalry?
Bar the main event scene - and even including the main event scene, at points - so much of WWE programming for the past decade or more has been Wrestler A vs. Wrestler B for no particular reason and with no particular importance placed on the result.
Over the past several months, however, it seems as if more and more Raw rivalries are being given a purpose - such as Buddy Murhpy and Aleister Black's brutal war of attrition to see who was the toughest S.O.B. of the two, finally doing something with the Authors of Pain, Andrade's want to be the top Latino star putting him on a collision course with Rey Mysterio and Humberto Carrillo, Mojo Rawley at least trying a different approach to the 24/7 Title, and, as painful as it has been, the whole Rusev/Liv/Lana/Lashley stuff.
All of this is without even touching on the top-tier rivalries such as Becky Lynch vs. Asuka, Drew McIntyre's ascension to challenge Brock Lesnar, the formation of Seth Rollins' new faction, and Randy Orton vs. Edge.