Don’t expect the Paul Heyman Era to begin on Raw this week

If you’re expecting last week’s news of Paul Heyman and Eric Bischoff being appointed executive directors for Raw and SmackDown (respectively) to be reflected in this week’s TV, don’t.

I know we all want WWE to adapt to AEW as fast as possible, and to get its course corrected, but everything we’ve heard points to delays. While Meltzer has described their work will begin “imminently,” and The American Airlines Center is advertising The Bisch and Paul E., there’s enough reason to believe otherwise:

• Brad Shepherd says “July or early August.”
• Pro Wrestling Sheet says the ads with the new Exec. Directors were not supposed to be.
• Meltzer says Bischoff is not scheduled for SmackDown this week.

So, with all of that in hand, I hope the Cageside audience will go into Raw and SmackDown with its expectations set to “low.” Everyone else, including those in attendance at Dallas and San Antonio, though, might be expecting more.

Hopefully, this doesn’t set these Extreme Rules setup shows up to flop. At the end of the day, though, I don’t know why you’d release this information to the press unless the changes were happening immediately.

Pro wrestling, as David Shoemaker often says, is about expectations. When we keep looking for WWE to adjust under pressure, and they don’t, it’s clear that some new leadership is necessary.

But since all things still run through Vince McMahon, the best we can hope for, I think, is that Heyman and Bischoff run a tight ship and keep us on our toes and avoid more confusing moments like this.