Heyman and Bischoff fill new WWE executive creative roles under Vince McMahon
The WWE announced Thursday that Paul Heyman and Eric Bischoff will serve in new executive creative roles and will report directly to WWE chairman and CEO Vince McMahon.
Heyman will serve as “executive director” of Monday Night Raw, while Bischoff will fill the same role for SmackDown Live. According to a press release sent out by WWE Thursday morning, Heyman and Bischoff will “oversee the creative development of WWE’s flagship programming and ensure integration across all platforms and lines of business.”
Further details about their roles and the overall creative structure of WWE are unclear. Heyman, Bischoff and McMahon were unavailable for comment at time of publishing.
Bischoff and Heyman were both key figures in the professional wrestling industry during a time of tremendous growth now known as the “Monday Night Wars” in the mid-to-late ’90s.
Bischoff, 64, served as an executive producer, vice president and, ultimately, president of WCW as the company expanded and competed head-to-head with WWE (which was then known as WWF). Under Bischoff, who was with WCW from 1991 to 1999 with a brief return in 2000, WCW entered prime-time TV on TBS and TNT with WCW Monday Nitro and Thunder. The company reached the peak of its popularity with the trio of Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash and Scott Hall — the nWo — and other performers including Goldberg and Sting. Bischoff also appeared as an on-screen character with WWE from 2002 to 2005 and sporadically thereafter.
Heyman, 53, served as the president of Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) from 1993 until its demise in 2001. ECW pushed the limits of what pro wrestling could look like with “hardcore” matches that included a wide variety of weapons and high-flying stunts. The company offered a platform that helped foster the growth of performers like Steve Austin, Rey Mysterio and Chris Jericho in its early years. Later, ECW elevated home-grown talent including Rob Van Dam, The Dudley Boyz and Raven, among many others, who later excelled in the WWE.
After joining WWE in 2001, Heyman served in a variety of roles. In addition to several years spent as part of the creative team during a prior stretch, Heyman also featured as part of the broadcast commentary team in his early years with the company. He also spent time as an on-screen talent as both a manager and the general manager of SmackDown. Since 2012, Heyman has appeared on WWE TV as the on-screen representative of several wrestlers — most notably Brock Lesnar and CM Punk.