Dave LaGreca and co-host WWE Hall of Famer Bully Ray discussed this week’s WWE SmackDown on the latest episode of Busted Open Radio, and Bully commented on Executive Director Eric Bischoff’s possibly being responsible for Kevin Owens’ big anti-Shane McMahon promo that opened the show.
Bully also said he’s not sure if he recognized Executive Director Paul Heyman’s “fingerprints” on this week’s RAW. Their exchange went like this:
Bully: I can definitely tell you two weeks ago I definitely saw Paul Heyman’s fingerprints all over Monday Night RAW. This week I did not. With SmackDown [this week] I’m not necessarily sure I saw Eric’s fingerprints. Could you see Eric’s creativeness anywhere glaring on SmackDown at all?
LaGreca: Glaring is a strong term but I will say this. When it comes to Paul Heyman it’s more of the edginess that people are probably thinking about when they think of Heyman’s influence. When I think of Eric Bischoff and something that he gave to WCW was the realism. He wanted it to seem real. He wanted you to doubt, ‘Hey is this storyline or is this actually happening?’
Bully: So based on that then we can say that the Kevin Owens promo probably came from Bischoff?
LaGreca: Yes!
Bully: OK, fair enough.
LaGreca: So I think you’re starting to see the elements come into play. And that’s what I have to say strongly when it comes to the influence of Heyman and Eric Bischoff on these shows is elements. We’ve talked about it. You know more about it, Bully, than anyone else. Its still gonna have to filter through Vince McMahon. Vince McMahon is still that guy that’s in charge. Just because he’s hired Heyman & Bischoff doesn’t mean he’s walking out the door. So, you’re gonna see elements of influence from those two. But at the end of the day, I’m sure, the final decision is still going to be made by Vince McMahon.
As we’ve noted, it’s believed that Bischoff won’t take control of the blue brand creative process until after Sunday’s WWE Extreme Rules pay-per-view, but we’re not sure yet if he’s already doing some of the booking. It has been confirmed that Heyman has already started giving more input into the red brand creative process.
