If you got the feeling the July 1 episode of Monday Night Raw felt a little different, then you may have been right.
Only a few days following the announcement that WWE had named him Executive Director of Raw, Paul Heyman’s signature was all over this past Monday night’s show.
In this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter (subscription required and encouraged) Dave Meltzer gives some insight into how Raw was run from a creative perspective this week.
“Vince McMahon and Ed Koskey were the ones running the production meeting, although it was clear the Strowman/Lashley segment, the Mike & Maria Kanellis segment were clearly Heyman ideas, which has been confirmed.
Heyman and Bischoff will never have full control, because creative is one division Vince will never give up on. It’s will always be Vince’s company, but both will have enough input to either sink or swim.”
WWE reportedly tried for months to lure Heyman back onto the creative team on a full-time basis. While it was only one week in, both the Braun Strowman and Bobby Lashley match as well as Maria & Mike Kanellis’ appearance looked like they got rubber stamped by Heyman himself.
Did it only take one three hour episode of WWE television for Paul Heyman to get the product back on track?