WWE Hires New Head Writer - Big Changes To Creative Team

More changes made to the WWE creative team, as Ridiculousness writer Mike Heller joins.

by Andrew Pollard
WWE Office Space
WWE

As WWE continues its quest to inject fresh life into an oft-stale product, there have been some further changes to the company’s creative team.

First reported by Ringside News, WWE has brought in Mike Heller to serve as a lead writer alongside Ed Koskey and Ryan Callahan. Heller is likely best known for his time serving as a producer on MTV’s Ridiculousness up until 2016, and he’s more recently worked on MTV’s relaunched Singled Out.

Elsewhere, Andrea Listenberger has once more departed WWE.

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Listenberger – who was heavily involved in the Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville storyline leading up to SummerSlam 2020 – was previously released by the company in April of last year as part of the pandemic-driven budget cuts. She starting back with the company as a writer/producer that June, and it looks like that tenure came to an end earlier this month.

It’s not yet known whether Andre Listenberger quit or was released, but it is clear that WWE is still trying to freshen up its writing team. The thing is, you can bring in the most talented wrestling or entertainment oriented minds available, but at the end of the day it all comes down to the person who has the final say on what content makes it to TV – and that person is still Vincent Kennedy McMahon.

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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 day job, 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. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.