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As reported earlier, Paul Heyman was removed as the RAW Executive Director, with Bruce Prichard taking up the position and becoming the ED of both RAW and SmackDown.
While there has been a lot of speculation as to why Paul Heyman was removed, one of the main reasons to have come up is the lack of ratings on RAW because of Paul Heyman trying to push new stars instead of relying on old ones.
Dave Meltzer of WON explained that while SmackDown centred around bigger stars, Heyman wanted to turn RAW into the place to establish future stars. He wanted to build a new crew that was loyal to him.
While many fans lauded Paul Heyman's efforts, it did not result in higher views. Interestingly, the first RAW episode after Paul Heyman's ouster this week did much better numbers.
The first non-Heyman show saw a big increase in viewers, the best number since the day after WrestleMania. The big gains were those over 50, and teenage girls, an audience that was larger in numbers but also skewed much older than usual.
Changes made to creative after Paul Heyman's ouster
One of the biggest difference between Heyman's version of RAW and this week's RAW was more angles and promos and less wrestling - which seems to have worked.
It was a very different show. Far more angles and talking. Far less wrestling. The keys to the show were bringing back Big Show, perhaps to do something with the giant Ninja (Jordan Omogbehin, who is a legit 7-foot-3 Nigerian born former college basketball prospect who never panned out); spent an entire show teasing Christian returning against Randy Orton, which did keep the older audience from tuning out, but also couldn’t deliver what was promised since Christian wasn’t medically cleared and the match consisted of one move and went one minute, plus multiple segments with Ric Flair, who is one of the biggest and most consistent television ratings draws of the last 40 years.
He also stated that WWE essentially gave the message that older Superstars are better than younger ones by having the show revolve around retired and part-time Superstars. Meltzer did mention that some of the younger 'Heyman' stars such as Apollo Crews and Angel Garza still had focus on them throughout the show.
