10 Ways Paul Heyman Has Changed WWE Raw

5. Forward Planning

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WWE.com

Vince McMahon is infamous for changing things on the fly, tearing up TV scripts as shows are about to go on air, for being an unpredictable maniac to work for, and for these days not particularly giving much thought to the long-term future of the WWE product.

Now while Vince is always going to have the ultimate say in what goes on with storylines and matches, it appears as if Paul Heyman is at least doing his utmost to ensure that some sort of forward planning is put in place for the Raw brand.

Since taking on the role of Raw Executive Director, Heyman has talked up how his approach is to first work out the endgame of a rivalry or story arc before then working out how to get to that conclusion.

Of course, there can be changes in direction along the way - such as the changing crowd response to Seth Rollins instigating a heel turn for the former Shield brother - but hopefully Heyman's wish of forward planning is something that can largely be adhered to.

For months there have been rumblings of Heyman pushing hard for Drew McIntyre to receive a major push going into WrestleMania 36, and so we'd like to imagine that Drew's recent Royal Rumble win was part of a prior plan that Heyman had in place.

The same can be said about Ricochet's upcoming match against Brock Lesnar - with something being teased between the pair as far back as last November. Then there's the new importance afforded to Buddy Murphy, with Heyman long since said to have had big plans for WWE's Best Kept Secret.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.