Hart Murmurs 145 by Bruce Hart
Greetings. I was intrigued with the announcement this week that the WWE had appointed Paul Heyman and Eric Bishoff as the Executive Directors of RAW and SmackDown. As we know, most people in these positions in WWE may not have the control that they think they do.
As such, there’s justifiable skepticism about Bischoff or Heyman being taken seriously.
In their defense however, both of them have legitimately booked and worked for successful promotions in the past, including ECW, WCW and Verne Gagne’s highly regarded AWA promotion and are more than capable of doing the job, legit .
In order for Paul and Eric to maximize their potential, I think the WWE needs to give both of them legitimate creative autonomy on RAW and SmackDown. While the matches, finishes and whatnot on either RAW or SmackDown would still be a “work”, they should be given creative autonomy, including orchestrating outcomes, coming up with storylines and whatever else, without having others interfering or second guessing what they’re doing, including Vinnie Mac.
For all intents and purposes, it would be about like New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft giving Bill Belichek the liberty to make whatever on-field decisions he chooses, without being subjected to second-guessing.
To that end, right from the get go, I would start with a legit talent draft, with Paul and Eric being allowed to take turns picking wrestlers – male, female and tag teams, for their show – kind of along the lines of when NFL teams are drafting players. That could and should be intriguing and would also make for a great television show, as well.
Once the rosters are chosen (solidified), I would then divide up the title belts, with, say, the RAW brand having the Universal title, the United States title, a tag title, a women’s belt and, perhaps, a cruiser or light weight belt, and SmackDown having the World heavyweight title, the Intercontinental title, tag straps, a women’s title and a cruiserweight title.
From there, I would have RAW and SmackDown operate in much the same way that major league baseball used to operate – with the National and American leagues, competing amongst themselves. The only time RAW and SmackDown wrestlers would compete against each other would be at WrestleMania – which should be construed as the WWE’s equivalent to the World Series. As a possible exception to that, since it traditionally serves as a means of setting the table for WrestleMania, they might have both RAW and SmackDown athletes competing at the Royal Rumble pay per view, in January, but that would be it.
During the rest of the year, I would have the WWE’s other pay per views, such as Survivor Series alternating as either RAW or SmackDown shows, with Paul and Eric endeavoring to garner better buy rates and whatnot on each show. For all intents and purposes, even though the matches on either RAW or SmackDown would still be a work, the competition between the two brands would be a shoot, just the same as, say, Dallas and Dynasty, competing for television ratings back in the day.
If the WWE were to have a shoot competition such as this between Paul and Eric, I have no doubt that it would bring out the best in both of them, and would also revive lagging ratings and enable the WWE to get a lot more mileage out of their talent – all of which would be “what’s best for business”.
All things considered, I can’t see the McMahons letting go of the reins as such, but we’ll see what transpires
On that note, I’ll call this a wrap but will look forward to catching up with you next time for more candid commentary on the wrestling scene.