Latest on Paul Heyman’s Removal From Raw Creative, USA Network Supported His Vision, Heyman’s Future

New details are online regarding the removal of Paul Heyman from Raw’s Executive Director position, and thus the show’s creative direction. Heyman was removed from the role last week as WWE announced that they were consolidating the creative direction of Raw and Smackdown under Bruce Prichard, and said that Heyman would “concentrate on his role” as an on-air performer.

The WON maintains that Heyman’s departure from creative was, as previously noted, not due to any backstage blow-up between him and someone else but rather a philosophical change around how to book the show. As had been noted, Heyman was rebuilding Raw around creating new stars he saw as having potential including Humberto Carrillo, Andrade, Buddy Murphy, Aleister Black, and Zelina Vega. The site notes that USA Network was on board with Heyman’s changes in direction as they were convinced that new blood was needed due to a largely aging roster in the main event. Executives at USA Network didn’t find out about the change to Prichard until shortly before everyone else did and were not happy about it.

Of course, the show’s ultimate creative direction was from Vince McMahon and that will remain the same. Prichard is a guy who can present shows and ideas that he knows McMahon will like, while Heyman was trying to build his own crew and trying to keep the casualties minimized when McMahon would lose interest in newer talent. It was believed by many in the company that Heyman’s days were numbered as far back as a few weeks ago, as McMahon didn’t see what Heyman saw in some characters while the ratings patterns were not backing up his efforts.

As of now it is not clear what Heyman’s removal will mean for talent that has been given a new spotlight. Most of the talent that Heyman was pushing are said to be nervous, as it will quickly be obvious who McMahon is behind and who isn’t. Shayna Baszler had been taken off TV by McMahon weeks ago and the fate of the rest of the talent remains to be seen. Raw had a different feel this week, and it ended up having a good number. Black, Carrillo and Baszler were not on the show, though Baszler had been off for a while and all of their absence from one show doesn’t mean much.

Heyman is still under a talent contract, though it is uncertain how or if he will be factored in before Brock Lesnar returns. Heyman was also behind Ronda Rousey’s development before he was in charge of Raw, but she is obviously not around as of now and isn’t planned for the immediate future.