5 Recent examples of Paul Heyman's positive influence on RAW

One of the more surprising - albeit necessary - announcements made by the WWE was that both Paul Heyman and Eric Bischoff would be given control over both RAW and SmackDown respectively.

WWE announced the change only last month as they continued to try and fix their problems with low ratings. Something drastic needed to be done behind the scenes in WWE, so they hired both Heyman and Bischoff to new positions.

Although they do not have absolute power over their respective shows, they have a great deal of creative control. Vince McMahon will still have the final say, but the two former leaders of both ECW and WCW also know a thing or two about running a wrestling show for TV.

Heyman took over before Extreme Rules and immediately helped to alter the show's structure. Instead of roll-ups as wins, pointless matches, and promo parades, Heyman opened up the first episode of RAW under his guidance with a memorable segment between Bobby Lashley and Braun Strowman. Here are five such instances of Heyman's positive influence on RAW thus far.

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#5 Different stars are used/introduced

The Street Profits were the newest team from NXT to appear on the main roster.

For the better part of the year, the main faces we've seen on RAW have been Becky Lynch, Seth Rollins, Brock Lesnar (at times), Baron Corbin and Drew McIntyre. More recently, Roman Reigns, the New Day and Shane McMahon also took TV time away from the RAW roster.

One thing that Heyman immediately did was bring the Street Profits to RAW. While they were still technically on the NXT roster as its Tag Team Champions, it wasn't the first time that was done. The same thing happened in the Superstar Shakeup with the Viking Raiders.

While they haven't competed in a match, they've acted as hype men for the show while also bringing a different type of energy to the show. Along with the Profits, Mike and Maria Kanellis got a storyline on the show. Even though they haven't been pushed to the moon, it's shown a reluctance to give other stars time on TV.

#4 Brock Lesnar's beat-down of Seth Rollins on most recent RAW

"The Beast" reminded everyone why he's the Universal Champion again.

If you're like me, you not only dreaded Brock Lesnar winning Money in the Bank but also the reality that he was going to be Universal Champion sooner than later. We were going to get the same storyline we've had from him leading up to WrestleMania both this year and last year.

The feud played out exactly as we've expected as Lesnar has appeared a few times since winning the belt and Rollins has used the same "Lesnar doesn't care" lines. If WWE was going to force us to sit through the same feud and rehash the same tropes as before, something had to change.

Well, if you witnessed this week's RAW, things certainly took a turn for the better. While Lesnar usually attacks and F5's his opponents a few times before a defense, this time, his attack was one of the most brutal he's ever dished out.

He relentlessly attacked "the Beastslayer" with a chair in the ring and outside of it. Lesnar also dished out several F5s. That's good because it doesn't appear to be the most effective finishing move.

But once Rollins was placed on a stretcher and put in an ambulance, the attack didn't stop. Lesnar forced the ambulance driver to stop and proceeded to finish the attack on Rollins. He beat him some more and capped things off with an F5 onto the stretcher. If you didn't care about the rematch before, you might care a little more now.

#3 Different storylines

Although it's strange, the Mike/Maria storyline on RAW is something totally different than what WWE usually does.

In the month or so that Heyman has helmed RAW, we've seen The Club reformed, Ricochet pushed, the 24/7 title nonsense, the continuation of the Nikki Cross/Alexa Bliss pairing and the curious case of the Kanellis couple.

Kanellis has been primarily a player on 205 Live but started appearing on RAW as soon as Heyman took control. He's apparently a huge fan of Maria's work and wanted to give them a storyline on the red brand.

Although it's a strange story of a wife emasculating her husband at every turn on screen, it's something that we haven't really seen in WWE before. Where it's going is anyone's guess but it's at least a different storyline.

It even led to Maria winning the 24/7 title. While we will still get the usual "X has pinned the X champion!" stories, we have to at least credit Heyman for thinking outside of the WWE box.

#2 The drag-out brawl to end latest RAW

This week's RAW ended a lot differently than it normally does.

The types of brawls that usually happen in WWE are either to enhance a rivalry or to set up the final match in a feud between two stars. It usually involves officials and members of the roster tearing the two stars apart from each other.

What happened on the most recent RAW was sort of the same concept but with a few twists. Instead of it being between two stars, like Reigns and Samoa Joe, it also involved The Usos, The OC, Drew McIntyre, and Cedric Alexander.

Instead of a one-on-one brawl, it incorporated several stars, and for one in particular in Alexander, it gave him some much-deserved spotlight. When was the last time someone - other than Shane McMahon on PPV - jump off of a structure like Alexander did? Those types of stunts were few and far between in the PG Era of WWE but a safe stunt like this upped the importance of the brawl.

Not to mention that the brawl ended the show instead of an in-ring segment that was most definitely going to lead to a fight between Joe and Reigns. By altering how the show has traditionally started and ended, Heyman has provided an air of unpredictability and excitement that has previously been lacking on WWE programming.

#1 The Braun Strowman/Bobby Lashley fight

For once, RAW didn't start with an endless promo parade but instead an exciting segment.

Heyman didn't rest on his laurels to make an impact on his first night in charge of RAW. In the opening segment his first show, a Falls Count Anywhere match between Lashley and Strowman led to one of the most shocking and different segments that has occurred on RAW or SmackDown this year.

Because both men are so strong and hard to injure, the idea was to have Strowman put Lashley through the LED board of the stage. It set off several fireworks and stopped things right in their tracks. The cameras kept the focus on the carnage backstage and the segment took up about the first 20-30 minutes of the show.

Instead of the usual parade of stars cutting promos that led to matches, Heyman booked a monster to drive a star through the stage. It was completely different thinking than WWE has used all year and it changed up our expectations to a degree.

Heyman was known for edgier content and matches while in ECW so bringing a brief taste of that to RAW was a huge sign that things were changing. What else will he change going forward?