It might take some time to see dramatic changes on Monday Night Raw but it looks like Paul Heyman is making some progress as the Executive Director of the brand.
As noted in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, last week’s show is where Heyman had the most influence to date. Of course, Vince McMahon has the final say on everything but last week is when Heyman was able to get more of his ideas on the show.
Heyman was able to get wrestling back during the commercial breaks to avoid the constant weird breaks with run-ins, 2-out-of-3 falls and other contrived scenarios that they were scripting so they could go to a break.
Dave Meltzer noted that Vince McMahon made a few minor tweaks to last week’s Raw but it was mostly Heyman’s show. That would explain the great brawl that ended the show. The Mike and Maria Kanellis storyline also appears to have Heyman’s fingerprints on it and Heyman has been a big fan and friend of Maria for many years.
The angle with Lesnar destroying Seth Rollins and Rollins coughing up blood also had Heyman’s fingerprints on it. It’s ironic that there was blood in the segment just a few days after Vince McMahon described AEW as the “blood and guts” promotion.
On the flip side, things were much different on SmackDown Live with changes be made by McMahon as the show was on the air. Click here for backstage news on the chaos at SmackDown Live on Tuesday night.
