Thank you for your support on Patreon Nathan “4 You” Ford.
The wrestling world was completely shaken by the news last week that Paul Heyman and
Eric Bischoff were returning to positions of power within WWE, both becoming Executive
Directors of weekly TV shows. Paul Heyman will be the Executive Director of Raw, while
Eric Bischoff will have the same role on SmackDown.
While they’re both known for their contributions to wrestling industry during the 1990s, it’s
2019 and the landscape of wrestling as a whole has changed. Will the pair of them have what
it takes to pull the sinking ship of WWE out of the water, or will they add a few extra
holes into the side of the ship?
I’m SoCalVal for WrestleTalk, and let’s take a look at how Paul Heyman and Eric Bischoff
will save WWE.
Before we start though, make sure to press the thumbs up, subscribe and bell icon to
enable notifications, and leave us a comment answering the question of the day, which today
is “What one thing would you change to save WWE’s product?”
Now without further ado, let’s get into it.
With these two at the wheel we can expect that WWE Shows Will Become “Edgier”
And no not THAT edge...but he would make a fabulous commissioner? Maybe a cameo? Ya never
know these days!
But ladies and gentleman! Let’s start with the legend, the greatest promo man of all
time and my personal favorite: Paul Heyman. He is of course most well known for his time
in ECW, where he pioneered a more hardcore, edgier style of professional wrestling.
While there’s no way ECW is coming back, or anything even close to it, there’s already
been some teases on Raw that the weekly shows may become a little bit more edgy.
In the opening segment of Raw this past week, Braun Strowman and Bobby Lashley crashed through
the LED board with explosions and pyro galore. That in and of itself is a change up that
felt a bit harsher compared to the usual weekly show, but then to add on to it, Corey Graves
on commentary let out a “holy s***”, which has since been bleeped out of
the broadcast.
Raw is broadcast on a slight delay of a couple of minutes, which means they had time to bleep
that out in advance if they wanted to, but they left it in. While some argue this was
a slip of the tongue, it seems more likely that this was a planned line, possibly from
Heyman’s influence. Cheeky! I like it!
The TV-14 product isn’t coming back, but the LED crash was a very, very good PG spot
that felt more hardcore.
In this new HEYMAN era, We should also expect that There Will Be More Factions
You know what’s great? Factions. You know what Eric Bischoff’s greatest creation was?
A faction. Well, after the elimination chamber which was more of a nightmare inducing creation.
But I digress! Let’s put two and two together here, and there might be a bit more emphasis
placed upon factions in the coming months.
Bischoff of course helped the nWo skyrocket to success in the 90s, and then ran it into
the ground but let’s not talk about that part, we’re being positive today.
There were a ton of factions in ECW as well, so Heyman is no slouch when it comes to booking
groups as well. This combined experience may very well lead to some more factions in WWE,
which we’ve already seen from this past week of TV when The Club re-debuted, turning
heel on Ricochet in the process.
We can also predict that Overlooked/New Talent Will Be Pushed. Finally!
Something that wrestling fans have been calling for for what seems like an eternity is for
various wrestlers to get the spotlight they deserve, and some of that may very well be
on the way if the past is anything to go by.
CM Punk was the star that Paul Heyman always saw. He was the reason that Heyman originally
left WWE, over creative frustrations surrounding Punk’s booking, or lack thereof. Wouldn’t
you know it, CM Punk turned out to be a massive star, one of the biggest WWE have had in a
long time. This eye for talent that Heyman has could be crucial in securing the spotlight
for other wrestlers.
We’ve already seen The Street Profits on Raw this past week, and Dave Meltzer of the
Wrestling Observer recently reported that Paul Heyman and Aleister Black have been working
together, so perhaps Black is the next breakout star just waiting to burst forth.
Also here are wrestletalk we’re expecting More Car Crash TV.
So this may seem like a bad thing on the surface, car crash TV is not something that people
have been calling for, but let’s look at the positive side of this.
Bischoff’s greatest success, and downfalls but let’s not get into that, came from having
wild, wacky shows where you have no idea what’s about to happen, because realistically, anything
could happen.
It might be a small silver lining, but at the very least, if crazy, wild stuff happens,
it will make for an exciting show as opposed to a bland, boring show that gets repeated
week after week after week.
And here’s something else to look forward to: Intergender Wrestling Will Be officially
Introduced.
While it may not have been the most tasteful thing in the world, ECW used to have intergender
wrestling, for better or worse. As the world has evolved from the 90s to 2019, so has intergender
wrestling. If you go outside WWE, intergender wrestling is everywhere, and it’s really,
really good. Just look at Impact, Lucha Underground or Chris Brookes facing literally anyone on
the UK scene, there’s tons of intergender wrestling.
WWE may evolve too to include some aspects of this. It’s not likely we’ll get full
blown intergender feuds, but there’s already been teases of intergender matchups sprinkled
throughout the company in recent times. Hell, Nia Jax entered the Men’s Royal Rumble this
year and got a superkick, a 619 and an RKO for her troubles.
Just this past week on Raw, Becky Lynch tapped out Mike Kanellis so the seeds are there,
but we very well might see that expanded upon in the near future.
We can also expect to see a total revamp of Branding in WWE.
As previously mentioned, this past Monday’s opening segment of Raw saw Braun Strowman
and Bobby Lashley go crashing through the LED screen on the stage. While this could
have just been a cool spot by itself, there might have been an ulterior motive for it.
The ever-reliable WrestleVotes on Twitter has reported that WWE were already planning
a revamped look of Raw, including a newly designed stage, and this segment may have
been a way of speeding up the introduction of it.
Ushering in a new design for the weekly shows is an easy way to make them feel fresh and
new, and it’s a change that Heyman and Bischoff most likely would have wanted themselves anyway.
Considering there were already leaks of a potential rebrand for SmackDown with their
move to Fox later this year, we may very well be seeing some fresher-looking shows. Which
leads me into my next prediction …
Raw and SmackDown Will Feel totally Separate ...
One of the biggest complaints fans have had since WrestleMania 35 is that both Raw and
SmackDown felt like the same show. With the Superstar Shake-Up, the introduction of Wildcards,
Shane McMahon appearing wherever and whenever he wants, and with SmackDown showing more
and more Raw replays, the shows felt like the same program shown over two nights.
With a potential rebrand incoming for both shows, and with two distinct personalities
helming each show, we may finally get an actual brand split, with two people competing to
run the better show, in kayfabe and in real life, with Heyman and Bischoff each vying
for their show to be the A show.
So “the one night of the year when Raw and SmackDown go head to head in direct competition”
might actually mean something! Survivor Series might actually be a meaningful show! We can
dream, right?
In all seriousness though, having two distinct shows will definitely improve the product,
and will make fans tune in to both shows to make sure they don’t miss all the craziness
from each show.
I think it’s also safe to say that there will be More Focus on Promos
Paul Heyman cuts a really good promo. Nay!!!...the BEST promos. Ever. This isn’t news to anyone,
but what it means for the future of WWE might be newsworthy.
Heyman has already been known to help top stars with their promo work, most notably
Ronda Rousey, (thank GOD, cuz she’s dull as paint...and she could use some mascara)
...AAAND with him reportedly working with Aleister Black in recent times, that might
be a defining factor as to why Black’s promo work has rocketed upwards in quality.
Now imagine Heyman translating all that guidance and talent to an entire roster. Imagine Heyman
focussing on less scripted promos, giving each character their own lines to say instead
of every character feeling the same because they all say the same thing time after time.
That is the future we could be heading towards.
For an eternity, scripted promos have been the most-talked about problem with the current
WWE product, I mean hell, it was almost the entire point of Jon Moxley’s rant against
the company in his now-infamous episode of Talk Is Jericho. We could be getting rid of
that, and I, for one, am here for it.
What else can we expect? More Cultural Relevance Saying Vince McMahon is out of touch with
current day affairs is essentially white noise at this point, it’s been said so many times.
Whether it be making references to things fifty years out of date, relying on stars
of the past, or still utilising tactics that worked in the 80s, Vince McMahon has refused
to evolve with the times.
Now we have two figures who were at the pinnacle of in-touch with their fans when they were
running their respective promotions of ECW and WCW. Granted, we’re yet to see if they
can hang in the current day, but at the very least, they’re not Vince McMahon who actively
refuses to change, at least they might be willing to learn and grow as promoters.
While Vince might rely on cheap heat and foreign heels, Heyman and Bischoff should know that
those things just don’t work anymore. If all goes well, we might be seeing more focus
on a product that’s grounded in realism and fitting for a TV show in 2019.
Thanks for watching everyone and a VERY special thank you to our Pledgehammers on Patreon,
some of whom you can see scrolling below me right now. Make sure to press the thumbs up,
subscribe and bell icon to enable notifications, and leave us a comment answering the question
of the day. Press the videos to my right to be taken to more WrestleTalk and ScreenStalker
content as well. For WrestleTalk, I’m SoCalVal sending kisses from #Valifornia.