WWE News: Paul Heyman Reveals Why Vince McMahon Fired Him From ‘Raw’ Creative Team Earlier This Year
As documented by WrestlingNews.co, Paul Heyman was interviewed by ESPN’s Ariel Helwani. During the conversation, he was asked why Vince McMahon fired him from his Monday Night Raw executive director position earlier this year. According to Heyman, the reason wasn’t dramatic or rooted in conflict.
Heyman said that he and McMahon made an agreement to part ways as soon as the WWE chairman no longer felt thankful for his contributions to the red brand’s creative team. He noted how they’d clashed over creative decisions in the past, and they didn’t want their relationship to break down again.
The former executive director then went on to discuss how the conversation went, and how McMahon felt about his efforts overall.
“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. And proof positive of that is on the quarterly earnings call, when asked about Paul Heyman, Vince McMahon didn’t say ‘we needed a new vision, eh we needed someone else, eh he ran his course, eh he was great but we had to go with this other person.’ Vince McMahon’s only comment was ‘I thought he did a great job creatively.'”
As The Inquisitr previously noted, it was believed that Heyman was let go due to a “philosophical change” behind the scenes. The article stated that there weren’t any reports of conflict between them at the time, and Heyman’s recent comments have confirmed this.
The Inquisitr report also pointed out that Heyman’s dismissal came during a period of low ratings for the company’s weekly programming. He was reportedly keen to push up and coming talent, but the declining viewership resulted in McMahon turning to established names in an effort to end the flunk.
The chairman reportedly wasn’t a fan of some of the superstars who received a push during Heyman’s tenure. Some of them were NXT stars who have since returned to the black-and-gold brand. Others — such as Andrade and Apollo Crews — subsequently fell down the card after receiving title reigns under Heyman.
Heyman also told Helwani how he jumped at the chance to work as Roman Reigns’ manager as soon as the role was offered to him. He has been supporting the Universal Champion on Friday Night SmackDown in recent weeks, proving that he’s still regarded as a valuable member of the promotion.
