With the news breaking earlier today that Paul Heyman & Eric Bischoff are now “Executive Directors” or WWE Raw & Smackdown respectively, here are a few suggestions for both legendary bookers.
I’ll spare the “Eliminate The Wild Card” suggestion because that’s common sense at this point.
These two legendary wrestling frontmen have been in charge of major wrestling companies in the past. In case you didn’t know, Paul Heyman took over the helm of ECW in late 1993 as the head booker & quickly took over the company.
ECW was revolutionary.
Similarly, Eric Bischoff served as President of WCW & flipped the wrestling world on it’s head with the debut of the nWo. And we can’t forget about the Cruiserweight Division & the proceeding storylines that brought a fresh feel to the wrestling business.
WCW was revolutionary.
What can these two men do to make their respective brands revolutionary again?
SUGGESTION #1
DON’T DEFEAT YOUR CHAMPIONS in NON-CHAMPIONSHIP MATCHES for #1 CONTENDERS
AJ Styles defeated New United States Champion Ricochet in a non-championship match one night after he won the belt from Samoa Joe.
In UFC, does a fighter have to beat the champion to earn a shot at the belt? Does this happen in any sport? (Side Note: I hate the word TITLE. It’s a belt.)
Allowing your champions to continually suffer defeat in non-championship matches to top contenders showcases your champions as losers. It’s that simple. Both of these men have booked champions super strong in the past; including by not limited to the way Paul Heyman booked Taz, Rob Van Dam & The Dudley Boyz.
Instead, build up viable contenders to work their way through the ranks. This is something that AEW has said they’re going to do by keeping track of records. Make these championship matches REALLY matter & build the brands around them.
SUGGESTION #2
FORCE PRODUCTION CHANGES!
RAW has ultimately looked the same for nearly 2 decades.
One of my biggest critiques of WWE Television over the past 15 years is the lack of production evolution. Both of these men produced wrestling in a highly different manner in ECW & WCW. Will they be allowed the freedom to produce differently here?
For some reason, I doubt it.
WWE has done a great job in streamlining their production so it looks awesome & is easy to navigate through. Simply put: the shows have looked the same since around 2000; with massive upgrades in overall production value. Backstage interviews still looks the same. Ringside still looks the same. Coming in and out of commercials still looks the same, and on and on.
Try something different. Paul Heyman is amazing at taking wrestlers outside of the arena to film intense promo vignettes to further build storylines. Eric Bischoff has the same strength; figuring out a different way to produce vignettes in a unique manner.
This is a key ingredient in allowing both shows to stand out as different from each other. They shouldn’t look, smell or taste the same.
SUGGESTION #3
SCHEDULE FREE AGENCY, TRADE WINDOWS & CONTRACT NEGOTIATIONS
FOX wants WWE to feel more like a sport? Add the business of sports to WWE.
Create free agency windows & contracts for wrestlers. Make them public knowledge with “journalists” within WWE regularly reporting on that business side. You don’t have to use “shoot” numbers…make them similar to reported contracts for major athletes. Scale them with consideration to placement on the card.
Bring wrestlers inside the “Executive Directors” office for REAL conversations about the direction of their careers. Pull back the curtain. Even if the conversation isn’t fully a “shoot”, make it feel like one.
Have an open trading window with a deadline that you can stick to EVERY SINGLE YEAR. Commit to it. Train the audience for excitement where wrestlers can be traded across ALL BRANDS. Imagine working out a crazy deal to move Brock Lesnar from one brand to another? WWE has done sporadic trades in the past, but when have they ever committed to it?
While there is no one way to fix the issues currently plaguing WWE, these three suggestions could help switch things up a little bit.
And in NO WAY am I qualified to give suggestions to these legendary booking minds, but I truly believe they have their hands full.
What do you think? Let me know on Twitter @JayAlletto.