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Paul Heyman has been one of the biggest names in WWE for several years. While Heyman is not a Superstar, he is regarded as one of the greatest managers and wrestling minds of all time. The man behind Brock Lesnar has helped several Superstars reach megastar status with his services in WWE.
In June 2019, it was announced that Heyman would be given the position of Executive Director of WWE RAW. Under his leadership, Heyman managed to create some top stars for the RAW brand, and some of them are still enjoying a lot of success.
Drew McIntyre is one of the men who got a major push after Heyman took control. He ended up defeating Lesnar to become the WWE Champion at WrestleMania. Murphy, Ricochet, and Humberto Carrillo were some other Superstars who received a notable push under Heyman's direction.
But Heyman was removed from his role as the Executive Director of RAW this past June. H made the following comments about his removal:
"Apparently on that day on that given time and given moment, Vince didn’t wake up that morning thanking whatever deity he subscribes to that Paul Heyman was in charge of Raw. We left with a smile, a handshake, and a hug. Absolutely no harsh feelings and actually better feelings about each other because of the way that it ended because it’s ended miserably before."
Several RAW Superstars lost their push almost immediately following Heyman’s removal. Here's a look at five of these WWE Superstars whose booking suffered when Heyman lost his role.
#5 Apollo Crews became the WWE United States Champion under Paul Heyman
Apollo Crews moved to WWE RAW in April 2020 after he was on the SmackDown brand for a few months. Paul Heyman quickly decided to give Crews the chance he deserved and allowed him to defeat Andrade for the WWE United States Championship in May.
This victory gave Crews his first title in WWE, and it was evident that Heyman had a lot to do with the decision. Crews had been a lower-card Superstar before he moved to the red brand.
Crews spoke with Alex McCarthy of talkSport about Heyman’s influence on his standing on RAW:
“ Paul Heyman is fantastic to work for. He’s been very hands-on with me and he’s helped me a lot, especially a lot in areas like my promos. And that’s one thing I feel like I can always improve on. I can improve on all areas of my game and make sure I work on becoming the complete superstar. And I won’t stop until that happens.”
Crews then had a lengthy rivalry with The Hurt Business. He ultimately lost the title to Bobby Lashley soon after Heyman moved on from his role. But Crews managed to leave a mark with the title reign and gained the attention of the WWE Universe.
Unfortunately, Crews has not received many major opportunities following his move back to SmackDown in October. While Heyman was very hands-on with Crews' success, it seems like the former champion lost his push after Heyman was removed from his Executive Director role.
#4 Liv Morgan has lost her singles push since Paul Heyman left WWE RAW
A loss to Charlotte Flair in 2019 caused Liv Morgan to go back to the drawing board and rediscover herself. She was away from television for a long time, and fans speculated when the WWE Superstar would return. Morgan was brought back on RAW by Heyman as part of a storyline with Lana, Bobby Lashley, and Rusev late last year.
She then got a lot of attention from the WWE Universe. With Heyman at the hel of RAW, she defeated some prominent Superstars such as Lana, Ruby Riott, and Natalya.
Ryan Satin recently interviewed Liv Morgan for FOX Sports. She spoke about various topics, including her experience of working with Heyman while performing on RAW:
"It was great because I had someone that was in charge completely in my corner and wanted to see me succeed and was finding opportunities for me to show what I can do and show what range I had. So, coming into work every week, I didn't know what to expect. But, I knew that it was for my greater good, you know? It was very cool. He's one of the best ever. To have him to talk to and to go to for advice, or just see something more clearly than I was understanding, it was great."
But after Heyman departed from RAW, Morgan’s push as a singles Superstar came to an end. While she has been reunited with her former teammate, she hasn’t been able to grab the same level of attention as she did under Heyman’s direction.
#3 WWE Superstar Humberto Carrillo faded into obscurity after Paul Heyman was removed from his role
Humberto Carrillo has emerged as one of the finest cruiserweight wrestlers in WWE today. Carrillo was performing on WWE 205 Live and NXT when Paul Heyman joined as the Executive Director of RAW. Just a few months later, he was brought to the red brand in October 2019.
Carrillo impressed the WWE Universe with two great matches against Seth Rollins and AJ Styles. It was evident that the creative team wanted to push Carrillo. The same month, he won a Battle Royal at WWE Crown Jewel 2019, and he unsuccessfully challenged Styles for the United States Championship.
To add further evidence of the link between Carrillo and Heyman, David Meltzer reported that Heyman was big on three Superstars, namely Murphy, Ricochet, and Carrillo.
“Cedric’s problem is that you can only push so many guys at once and he was the guy until he wasn’t the guy and now he’s really not the guy. Now it’s like Buddy Murphy who wasn’t even on the show, Ricochet, and Humberto Carrillo are the guys on the ascent unless they get screwed up like Cedric did when someone decided he shouldn’t be on the ascent and then blame me weeks later.”
Carrillo enjoyed performing against some top Superstars, and he feuded with Andrade, Angel Garza, and Rollins before Heyman was removed from his role on RAW. Immediately, fans saw Carrillo’s push come to a halt, and the Superstar has mostly been competing on WWE Main Event ever since.
#2 Ricochet nearly reached WWE main event status under Paul Heyman
Ricochet arrived on the main roster after a successful run with the NXT North American Championship in WWE NXT. The high-flying Superstar has the edge that can help WWE appeal to a different demographic, and Paul Heyman seemed to see that in him.
Ricochet received a major push after Paul Heyman took over the role of Executive Director of RAW in June 2019. The same month, at WWE Stomping Grounds, "The One and Only" defeated Samoa Joe to become the United States Champion.
As the champion, Ricochet defeated major stars like AJ Styles and Andrade. Dave Meltzer reported that Heyman was high on Ricochet, and he believed that the Superstar could help grow WWE as “he’s a guy who can appeal to teenagers.”
Ricochet remained a prominent part of RAW programming, and he even went on to challenge WWE Champion Brock Lesnar at WWE Super Showdown 2020.
Following Heyman’s removal from his Executive Director role, we’ve seen Ricochet gradually fall down the RAW ranks. He’s competing in the mid-card against lower-ranked Superstars, but his status on the red brand has notably decreased. To be fair, he's recently been feuding with RETRIBUTION on WWE RAW.
Ricochet was on his way to main event status around the beginning of the year. But he seems to have lost a lot of steam since the departure of Heyman from his role.
#1 Aleister Black could have won the 2020 WWE Royal Rumble under Paul Heyman
The 2020 Royal Rumble could have gone a very different way if reports are to be believed. While Drew McIntyre went on to win the WWE Royal Rumble this year, there were reports that Paul Heyman wanted to see Aleister Black win the match.
Black arrived on the main roster after a successful stint with WWE NXT. He joined the main roster as part of a tag team with Ricochet in February 2019. While Black did not compete in many matches during his initial days on the main roster, he got his push when Heyman joined as the Executive Director of RAW.
Starting June 2019, Black went on a lengthy undefeated streak against Superstars such as Murphy, Erick Rowan, and Luke Gallows.
Heyman even brought Black into the high-profile rivalry between Rey Mysterio and Seth Rollins before he was removed from his role as the Executive Director.
We then saw Black lose matches against Rollins and Kevin Owens before he was pulled from WWE television. "The Dutch Destroyer" competed in his last match on RAW against Owens before he disappeared from television in mid-October.
Black is one of the most notable WWE Superstars who lost his push after Heyman’s exit as the Executive Director of RAW.
