Bruce Prichard To Lead Combined WWE Creative Team, Paul Heyman Now Solely On-Screen Character

WWE released a brief statement on Thursday evening, announcing that SmackDown showrunner Bruce Prichard will now lead a combined Raw and SmackDown creative team, while Raw Executive Director Paul Heyman is back to being simply an on-screen character.

The statement reads, "In an effort to streamline our creative writing process for television, we have consolidated both teams from Raw and SmackDown into one group, led by Bruce Prichard. Paul Heyman will concentrate on his role as an in-ring performer."

Heyman had ascended to the position of Raw Executive Director in June of 2019, at the same time that Eric Bischoff was named to the same position over on SmackDown. Bischoff lasted not even four months in the position before he was replaced by Prichard.

The Executive Director positions were created at that time close to a year ago, with the company writing that Heyman and Bischoff would, "...oversee the creative development of WWE’s flagship programming and ensure integration across all platforms and lines of business."

Heyman's on-screen position is as the "advocate" of Brock Lesnar, who has not been seen on WWE programming since WrestleMania 36.