Credit: WWE.com
Literally anything you can do, some people are going to love it, some will hate it. Others will be meh. Vince McMahon is so desperate to stem the tide of the hemorrhagic ratings and attendance numbers... He gave Eric Bischoff and Paul Heyman executive positions over SmackDown and Raw, respectively. I feel excited about it, I am disappointed, and I am meh.
I got on YouTube earlier and I saw a video saying WWE hired Bischoff and Heyman to run the shows and I was stunned. I quickly clicked on the video, mouth agape. I remember my verbal response being "WHAAAAAAAAT!?! WOOOOOOORRRRRRD!?!" as I listened to the story. I think it's a touch ironic that Vince bought both men's wrestling promotions for pennies on the dollar, after he had already poached most of the talent that was worth anything... and now he's hiring them to try to save his flailing corporation. An argument can be made that these men have a history of a FEW great ideas, but more of a history of failure. Bischoff created the nWo and saw WCW become profitable for the first time under Turner. They had like a good 2 year run before the wheels fell off. Heyman made hardcore wrestling mainstream. He is the reason WWE has a Extreme Rules PPV and most of their themed PPVs have a hardcore theme. To be honest, Heyman gives me scammer vibes and I would never trust him. However, I have long wondered why he was in WWE but not used in a creative capacity.
I see a lot of people on social media complaining that wrestling cycles through the same old white men to mastermind their creative. To that I say... Bro, we are literally suffering through an era where WWE has been hiring Hollywood writers who don't even know wrestling. Jon Moxley recently said on a podcast these writers aren't as horrible as we think, the real problem is Vince not listening to their great ideas. Think about that. If you were stupid enough to hire people who don't even have much of a background in your industry, how much weight would you put on their ideas? Every wrestling fan knows who Heyman and Bischoff are and on SOME level, respect them. I'm going to go on a limb and say I expect Vince to listen to them.
I've seen people say that they think nothing will change until Vince dies. Figuratively speaking, Vince IS dying. He sees those paltry ratings numbers and attendance figures. He knows what he is doing isn't working. He's desperate to not fail and I see that. I respect it. I won't really believe he is truly repentant until I watch a promo clip on YouTube and it isn't a worked shoot, but I can also tell they aren't reciting lines. I think the scripted promos are one of the main things sucking the life out of the WWE product. I have some grasp on the wrestling minds of these men and believe, with their influence, storylines will have more compelling stakes and consistency. More accurately, I hope.
I think the thing every WWE fan fears is that no matter who they hire in whatever capacity, Vince is still in charge and he is woefully out of touch. Maybe we will look back on this day in wrestling history and it changes nothing. My sincere hope is, things do get better. I have always loved wrestling. I want to WANT to watch Raw and SmackDown every week like I used to. I will always love wrestling. But right now I do not watch it. I'm hoping those old white men can bring back the excitement of that era we all overrate!