5 WWE Superstars Vince McMahon gave up on during Paul Heyman's time as RAW Executive Director
In June 2019, WWE announced that Paul Heyman would oversee the creative process on RAW and report directly to Vince McMahon, while Eric Bischoff would work in the same role on SmackDown.
One year on, Bischoff has been gone from WWE for eight months and Heyman has now returned to his position as an on-screen performer, with Bruce Prichard leading the creative writing process on both RAW and SmackDown.
Various reports over the last year have named Superstars who Heyman and Bischoff wanted to push on their respective brands, but even the most casual of WWE viewers will know that Vince McMahon always has the final say when it comes to major storyline developments.
This was summed up by Sportskeeda’s Tom Colohue in his report on Heyman’s removal from his Executive Director role, which included details of Vince McMahon’s handling of the creative process in recent weeks.
"I have been told that due to no longer focusing so much time on the XFL, Vince McMahon has taken a much more hands-on approach that he has done previously. Many sources have reported over the last nine months that Vince McMahon has been spending less and less time at RAW and especially SmackDown.
"His heightened activity during the COVID-19 pandemic has apparently put extra pressure on creative roles and have resulted in a number of disagreements. The source added that they did not know that this was coming but they were not surprised to see it happen."
In this article, let’s take a look back at the last 12 months of WWE RAW rumors to count down five Superstars who Vince McMahon reportedly gave up on during Heyman’s time as Executive Director.
#5 Cedric Alexander
Cedric Alexander was one of the first WWE Superstars who received a push on RAW after Paul Heyman began his role as the brand’s Executive Director, but it did not take long for him to return to his previous position on the card.
It looked as though the former Cruiserweight Champion could even win the United States Championship from AJ Styles following a brief alliance with Roman Reigns and some statement-making wins over Drew McIntyre, Sami Zayn and Cesaro.
However, it was reported in September 2019 by the Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer that Vince McMahon booked Alexander to lose in quick fashion against Styles at Clash of Champions because he no longer wanted Heyman to keep on pushing him.
Speaking to talkSPORT’s Alex McCarthy, Alexander responded to the report by insisting that he did not feel like Vince McMahon had tried to “bury” him.
"Of course [it annoyed me]. When you hear things like that, it doesn’t help my brand, you know what I mean? Regardless of how you feel about it, whether you think AJ buried me or not – it was fine. I knew what it was! It was great matches, I got to show a lot of my personality and my in-ring style."