7 Ways WWE Monday Night RAW has improved with Paul Heyman in charge
Ladies and Gentlemen, his name is Paul Heyman, and he is the on-screen advocate for the Beast Incarnate, Brock Lesnar.
But, behind the scenes, he is the new creative director of Monday Night Raw. This is not Paul Heyman's first foray into being put in charge of a Pro Wrestling show. Far from it. In the past, Paul Heyman was the promoter of Extreme Championship Wrestling.
While the ECW brand was known for its hardcore matches, chair shots, and crazy characters such as New Jack and the Sandman, it was also known for being a showcase for some of the best technical wrestlers on the planet. Eddie Guerrero, Dean Malenko, Al Snow, and many others cut their teeth in the ECW promotion before going on to WCW and/or WWE.
Before that, Paul Heyman was known as Paul E. Dangerously, a manager who worked for WCW during the early days of the company. He managed men like Rick Rude and Steve Austin in his Dangerous Alliance stable.
Unfortunately, a variety of factors conspired against ECW, and Heyman was forced to sell the company to Vince McMahon. He did this primarily so that his employees could continue to be paid. Heyman became an employee of Vince McMahon but mostly worked on screen either as an announcer or as kayfabe General Manager of shows like SmackDown.
Now, WWE has turned to Heyman's creative genius once again to help bolster Raw's ratings. And it seems to be working. As the show went on, the ratings actually went up. The most logical explanation for this is that wrestling fans were contacting each other and saying 'you have to check out Raw.'
Here are seven ways that Paul Heyman has improved Monday Night Raw.
#1 The show opened up with an action-packed Falls Count Anywhere match
One of the main criticisms of RAW in recent months has been that the show often opens with an interview segment of some kind. While these can be entertaining, it goes against the standard practice of pro wrestling shows.
Fans pay their money to see bodies bouncing off the mat, or in the case of the July first edition of Raw, bodies bounced off of darn near everything.
Bobby Lashley and Braun Strowman continued their feud as they engaged in a brutal, brief, but electrifying (literally) Falls Count Anywhere match.
The match may have ended in a no contest when the two behemoths destroyed the stage, but the fans were absolutely delighted with the carnage.