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Paul Heyman is one of the very few people backstage who can influence Vince McMahon when it comes to big decisions.
One of the surprising moves on RAW recently was to get Dio Maddin as a commentator alongside Jerry Lawler and Vic Joseph, however, the former professional footballer's short stint ended before he could even get a hang of the new role.
As revealed by Dave Meltzer in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Paul Heyman picked Dio Maddin to debut on RAW as a commentator on the season premiere episode of the Red Brand in September.
Maddin would be taken off TV on November 4th after he got attacked by Brock Lesnar. Maddin, who was known as Marcellus Black on the independent circuit, has not returned to RAW ever since the assault.
He was replaced by Samoa Joe in the commentary team and the Samoan Submission Machine's work has garnered widespread acclaim. While it was initially speculated that Maddin was selling Brock Lesnar's attack, his sustained absence began to raise doubts on his status.
The official reason as revealed by the WWE stated that Maddin will not be returning to do commentary on RAW as he wishes to pursue an in-ring return. Maddin even put out a tweet recently in which he vowed to return and retire The Beast Incarnate.
As we had reported earlier, Bryan Alvarez said in the Wrestling Observer Live that Vince McMahon and Kevin Dunn were reportedly unhappy with Maddin's commentary.
WWE wrote Maddin off TV with the aim of re-training him, however, the 28-year-old Superstar instead made the decision to become an active in-ring competitor again.
Maddin has been with the WWE since 2016 and has mostly wrestled at NXT house shows in the past couple of years.
Regarding Samoa Joe's status, the company sees a lot of value in him as a talent and his current role as a commentator is just a temporary one until his hand injury heals up.
