5 WWE Superstars who could be the face of Paul Heyman's Monday Night Raw

One of the most significant behind-the-scenes WWE developments of the last decade was announced on Thursday when it was revealed that Paul Heyman and Eric Bischoff have been named as Executive Directors for the company’s flagship shows.

Heyman, 53, will oversee the creative direction of Monday Night Raw, while Bischoff, 64, will oversee the creative direction of SmackDown Live, and both men will report directly to WWE chairman Vince McMahon.

Although Bischoff, a former on-screen General Manager, has never held a real-life creative role with WWE, Heyman is very familiar with working alongside McMahon and the rest of WWE’s decision-makers.

The former ECW owner played a major part in the success of SmackDown in the early 00s, while he famously had disagreements with McMahon about the direction of ECW when WWE decided to reboot the brand in 2006.

In recent years, Heyman has given his opinion on several WWE Superstars in media interviews. At the time, he was merely speaking as Brock Lesnar’s advocate who had no say in WWE’s major storylines. Now, in hindsight, those comments could give a strong indication about who we could see in prominent roles on Raw.

With that in mind, let’s take a look at five Superstars who could be the face of Raw under Heyman’s creative leadership.

Disclaimer: As the brand split essentially ended with the introduction of the 'Wild Card Rule', current brand statuses are not taken into account in this article.

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#5 Brock Lesnar

Needless to say, Paul Heyman and Brock Lesnar have a very good relationship. Heyman has been an on-screen advocate for “The Beast” during both of his spells with WWE, while he is even the Godfather of two of Lesnar’s children.

Given that the former Universal champion works a limited schedule, he is unlikely to be a traditional face of Raw in the way that John Cena and Roman Reigns have been in the past, but it is inevitable that he will be involved in more major storylines throughout the rest of 2019 if he cashes in his Money In The Bank contract on Seth Rollins.

Superstars including Reigns and Jon Moxley (fka Dean Ambrose) have recalled in media interviews how Lesnar and Heyman have been able to convince Vince McMahon to change storyline plans at the last minute, so expect to see the former UFC fighter in a prominent position with Heyman in charge.

#4 Seth Rollins

In WWE’s storylines, Paul Heyman has spent the last few weeks trash-talking Seth Rollins in an attempt to make the Universal champion paranoid ahead of a potential Brock Lesnar Money In The Bank cash-in.

In reality, Heyman gave his honest opinion about Rollins in a 2015 interview with CBS Sports when he predicted that the former Shield member will become a multi-time champion in WWE over the next few years.

"I think Seth Rollins is a perennial champion for the next decade. I think in the same way that John Cena and Randy Orton are multi, multi-time champions from 2005 on, I think that is now Seth Rollins' position. I think Seth Rollins is in the title picture for the next decade. He has established himself as a main-event performer."

Four years on from those comments, Rollins is a three-time world champion (two-time World Heavyweight Championship holder and one-time Universal Championship holder), while he has also won the Intercontinental Championship, United States Championship, Tag Team Championship, Money In The Bank and Royal Rumble.

#3 Baron Corbin

Ever since he transitioned from a “Lone Wolf” to a villainous authority figure in the summer of 2018, Baron Corbin has cemented his status as one of the top bad guys in WWE.

Unlike the other main heels on the roster right now, notably Daniel Bryan and Kevin Owens, the WWE Universe legitimately despises Corbin’s character and audiences never want to see him win matches.

Where does Paul Heyman come into this, exactly? Well, Corbin previously mentioned in an interview with The Gorilla Position that he has 24/7 access to the new Raw Executive Director and they often talk on the phone.

"Paul Heyman is continuing to help me grow as a performer with the microphone. He's one of the best. It's a really cool experience.

"We talk on the phone. I'm establishing that relationship with him where I can call him and go, 'Hey man, this is my promo, this is how I feel about it, what do you think?' I have access to him pretty much 24/7."

#2 Charlotte Flair

The most decorated champion in the history of WWE’s women’s division, Charlotte Flair has already established herself as one of the most important female Superstars of all time.

“The Queen” recently achieved her long-term goal of main-eventing WrestleMania when she participated in a Raw and SmackDown Women’s Championship Triple Threat match against Ronda Rousey and Becky Lynch at WrestleMania 35 in April.

WWE has used Flair sporadically on television since then, presumably because they sensed that fans had grown tired of seeing her receive opportunities ahead of other women, but it is inevitable that she will rise to the top of the women’s division again soon.

Although Flair is officially a SmackDown Live Superstar, Paul Heyman would no doubt love to have her as a member of the Raw roster. After all, he boldly predicted back in 2017 that she would be involved in the first women’s WrestleMania main event – something that came true just two years later.

#1 AJ Styles

Brock Lesnar defeated AJ Styles in a Champion vs. Champion match at the Survivor Series pay-per-view in November 2017.

Following the match, Paul Heyman cut an intense promo on WWE.com, in which he told viewers that they should not watch WWE if they do not like Styles. He went on to claim that the two-time WWE champion is an updated version of everything that Shawn Michaels, Bret Hart and Ric Flair were to their generations.

“He’s evolved their styles to truly be the single most phenomenal in-ring performer I have ever had the honor, and pleasure, of watching up-close. I’ve been doing this my entire life, no one in the ring has ever compared to what I witnessed tonight, when I had the best seat in the house.”

It was later revealed during Styles' ‘WWE 365’ documentary on the WWE Network that, per Heyman's request, Styles was stood mere feet away while Lesnar’s advocate cut the promo.

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