WWE has named Eric Bischoff and Paul Heyman as Executive Directors.
Bischoff is set to become the new Executive Director of WWE SmackDown while Heyman is set to become the new Executive Director of WWE RAW. Both will report directly to WWE Chairman Vince McMahon.
The new roles are full-time executive roles. According to Sports Illustrated, there are no current plans for these roles to be introduced as part of a TV storyline.
Bischoff will also work directly with Fox executives as the blue brand plans to premiere on Fox Friday nights in October, SI reported.
The major move will allow WWE to establish “two distinct creative processes for its flagship shows.”
PWInsider also reports that WWE has been talking to Heyman about the new role as far back as February of this year. The deal with Bischoff came together within the past few weeks.
WWE reportedly made an offer to Heyman to come on full-time as a top member of the creative team around the same time Bruce Prichard was hired as Senior Vice President a few months ago. We’ve noted how Heyman has been working on various storylines and with certain talents for months now, including Brock Lesnar and Ronda Rousey.
Bischoff has been working on pre-production of Netflix’s planned biography on WWE Hall of Famer Hulk Hogan, and had a number of personal appearances booked. He likely came to terms with WWE over the last week as he started quietly canceling some of personal appearances.
While Bischoff and Heyman are still reporting to Vince, they are essentially running RAW and SmackDown now. It will be interesting to see how Triple H and others factor in to this latest creative shake-up.
Below is the full press release:
WWE® NAMES PAUL HEYMAN AND ERIC BISCHOFF EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS
Stamford, Conn., June 27, 2019 – WWE (NYSE: WWE) today announced that it has named Paul Heyman as Executive Director of Monday Night Raw and Eric Bischoff as Executive Director of SmackDown Live, newly created positions reporting directly to WWE Chairman & CEO Vince McMahon.
In their executive roles, Heyman and Bischoff will oversee the creative development of WWE’s flagship programming and ensure integration across all platforms and lines of business. The creation of these roles further establishes WWE’s ability to continuously reinvent its global brand while providing two distinct creative processes for its flagship shows.
With more than 30 years of experience in the sports entertainment industry, Heyman served as President of ECW from 1993-2001, securing pay-per-view distribution for the company as well as a national cable television deal with TNN. After his time with ECW, Heyman joined WWE’s Creative team and is widely credited with helping launch the careers of many current and former WWE Superstars.
Bischoff is a former WCW President and New York Times bestselling author. During his WCW career, Bischoff oversaw the signing of some of the biggest names in sports entertainment and helped create and develop the NWO storyline. He was also instrumental in securing a television deal for WCW Monday Nitro on TNT and WCW Thunder on TBS. After WCW, Bischoff co-founded Bischoff-Hervey Entertainment, a production company that launched TV reality shows and mobile games.
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