Eric Bischoff Vs Paul Heyman Vs AEW - The New Wrestling War

Paul Heyman's new place, on the surface at least, feels as though it's a formalised promotion from his pre-existing role. A valuable presence at television for talent, his wisdom and insight has been visible through off-hand conversations on Network specials rather than credits on storylines or official announcements such as this one. There felt something iffy about the news leaking 24 hours after his appointment that he was a driving force in the existing Aleister Black angle. Black's promos have been derided for a lack of coherence, logic and credibility, but it speaks to the moving wheels of the wrestling gossip circuit that he was credited with (blamed for) those so soon after taking a role.

Has he raced up a fairly protect pyramid in this process?

Received wisdom has positioned Vince McMahon, Kevin Dunn and Paul Levesque at the top table, with Senior Vice President Of Creative Dave Kapoor below them, with various writing teams reporting to him. PWInsider yesterday reported that Heyman and Eric Bischoff occupy spots comparable "to Paul Levesque's in NXT, in that they will be in charge, but it's still Vince's company."

Outside of the individual personalities at play, this reflects a hierarchical shift at very least, even if the two new faces run into the same old problems. Unlike Heyman, Bischoff hasn't ever had creative stroke with Vince McMahon, beyond when he was pantsing him for 83 weeks as part of his opposition. By all accounts, the pair shared a prosperous staff/boss relationship together during the 2002-2005 Raw General Manager run, but this is of course an entirely different proposition.

What should be familiar to Bischoff will be the bond he's expected to build with Fox ahead of SmackDown's move in October. That task in particular, more than any storyline offering or character construct, could suddenly make him one of the organisation's most important figureheads.

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