PWTorch editor Wade Keller hosted The Bruce Mitchell Audio Show this week just after the news broke that Paul Heyman and Eric Bischoff will be appointed as Executive Directors of both RAW and SmackDown (subscription required). In addition to Keller getting perspective from his sources during the episode as to how this major move could be detrimental to Heyman in the long-term, Mitchell gives his take on as to what this all could indicate for Vince McMahon and the creative future for Triple H. Quotes from episode are below:
Wade Keller on how this could be bad for Paul Heyman and not lasting long on RAW:
“Somebody who’s been behind the scenes of WWE a lot just said that this could be bad for Paul Heyman in the sense that when he’s picking his spots to contribute strategically he survives, but now this has escalated and this is kind of where Paul can crack. So it could lead to Paul not lasting long and then being more disengaged and perhaps burning some bridges that he worked years to build where he’s less welcome and contributes less and it’s sort of like he just shows up with Brock and does his thing and is less involved and we could be two months away from that. So that’s a risk too that this actually is for Paul not a good thing long term. Now if this is something he’s really been itching for which I’ve heard he’s been making his case for more involvement too, then this is a move he wanted to make and he felt it was the right time to do it. I’m sure Paul has assessed the lay of the land and if he pushed for this, then strategically I think he believes this is good for him long-term.”
Bruce Mitchell on the prospects of these initial moves opening some doors for wrestling fans getting what they want:
“I’m excited in the sense of that there’s a lot at play, and there could be a lot more play and to me it could end up with fans getting the kind wrestling that they want to see and that they enjoy.”
WADE KELLER: “And it could turn out that this is like the Wild Card Rule, like the NXT call-ups earlier this year. It’s just the latest thing for Vince to stave off outside pressure from the networks or whomever to make it look like he’s taking action on ratings that are too low so Vince can go, ‘I made some really smart, bold moves and you can tell that this is just a TV ratings trend. It’s not us. We’re taking it seriously, we’re taking action. I’m bringing smart people in, we’re bringing new talent in with a new talent initiative, we are spreading our top stars onto both shows. It’s not making a difference. It’s not us. It’s out of our hands. We are being proactive and you can see it so stop blaming us, this is something that is just happening and we can’t stop it. The viewership going down.'”
MITCHELL: “What I think it is is that Vince McMahon is facing pressure to move on and that he’s doing everything that he can to stay. The fact that he’s doing everything that he can to stay and that fact that he’s having to do things to stay tells me that there’s pressure on him to move. If that possibility works that Vince McMahon goes, ‘Look I did all this and it’s just how it is,’ then that’s scary in that it is the end of network television professional wrestling because they’ll something else in that does better, that does a better job of what it is that they want from pro wrestling (the networks will)…”
“This is change in the business. This isn’t the last change. This isn’t the ‘they solved the problem by bringing in the right people.’ This is ‘the 74-year old man with all kinds of power and it looks like he’s having to face up to face up to things are going to have to change overall or he’s going to lose his power, whether he has all that money or not’ and it’s going to effect his other business, the XFL, where he wants people to be confident in his promotional abilities to be able to pull that off.”
Mitchell on being impressed with Triple H’s potential ability to hold onto his NXT creative cards and lie in wait for his major opportunity with the main WWE product:
“Somewhere along the line it’s going to be Triple H having it the way he wants it instead of Triple H with Vince McMahon putting his hand on his shoulder, or Triple H with Vince McMahon putting his hand on his shoulder and Paul Heyman available and Eric Bischoff. It’s gonna be the Triple H show and probably that’s where WWE needs to go one way or the other and I don’t know what the answer is as far as he goes, but I am impressed with him not making moves as part of this, like kind of staying out of it. I’m impressed with him that NXT has got a direction and it’s staying with that direction. He doesn’t seem to be panicking or going ‘I need to show Vince something. I’m just going to do what I do and then when I’m ready I’m going to take the whole thing over and take it,’ and I don’t know if that’s the case, but I hope that is the case. And then one person can succeed or fail – this is Vince McMahon and three other people making something complicated even that much more complicated.”
(Transcription credit should go to @DominicDeAngelo of WrestleZone)
Report: FOX Had No Idea About WWE Creative Shake-Up, Would’ve Preferred Heyman Over Bischoff
