Paul Heyman and Eric Bischoff Are Now the Executive Directors of Raw and SmackDown

WWE announced that Paul Heyman has been named the “Executive Director” of Raw and Eric Bischoff has been named the Executive Director of SmackDown Live.

According to WWE, the “Executive Director” roles are “newly created positions reporting directly to WWE Chairman & CEO Vince McMahon.”

WWE’s explanation of the roles is as follows:

In their executive roles, Heyman and Bischoff will oversee the creative development of WWE’s flagship programming and ensure integration across all platforms and lines of business. The creation of these roles further establishes WWE’s ability to continuously reinvent its global brand while providing two distinct creative processes for its flagship shows.

According to Sports Illustrated, they are legitimate full time executive positions and there are “no plans at the current time for this to be introduced as part of a TV storyline.”

One WWE source described the roles to PWInsider as similar to Triple H’s role in NXT. Heyman and Bischoff will be overseeing all aspects of their respective brands, but ultimately will still answer to Vince McMahon.

WWE had been trying to sign Paul Heyman in a top role since as far back as February, according to PWInsider. He has been involved in WWE’s creative process for a while, but didn’t have an official title. He’s expected to keep his on-screen role as Brock Lesnar’s “advocate.”

The deal with Bischoff came together in the last several weeks, PWInsider says. He’ll be working directly with FOX executives when SmackDown moves to FOX in October.

After running ECW from 1993-2001, Paul Heyman was hired by WWE, where he was in various behind the scenes and on-screen roles, including head writer of SmackDown from July 2002 to February 2003. Most recently, he has worked on character development and promos for WWE wrestlers, namely Brock Lesnar and Ronda Rousey.

Eric Bischoff essentially ran WCW from 1994-1999, overseeing the company during a period when it became the #1 wrestling company in the US, with WCW Nitro regularly beating Raw in the ratings. Bischoff was the “general manager” of Raw from 2002-2005, though it was just an on-screen role. He last appeared on WWE TV on the 25th Anniversary Raw show on January 22, 2018.