Bruce Prichard to Lead WWE Raw, SmackDown Creative; Paul Heyman Focusing In-Ring

Paul Heyman is out as Monday Night Raw's lead writer.

WWE announced Thursday that Bruce Pritchard, who has been leading SmackDown's writing team, will take over the reins of Raw as part of a consolidated writing team. Heyman will shift to concentrating on his in-ring role as the advocate for Brock Lesnar.

Whether this is a wise choice remains to be seen.

Pritchard took over SmackDown in October, and it has been WWE's worst qualitative product by a long shot ever since. SmackDown has focused on broader storylines and concepts under Pritchard, whereas Heyman has pushed several underutilized talents to the forefront on Raw.

WWE, like all live event sports, has struggled with how to present itself to an audience during the coronavirus pandemic. Much of wrestling is about a call-and-response between fans, and it's hard to imagine any real leaps in quality being taken until fans are able to return.