Creative Musical Chairs, Additions and Replacements at
the WWE
WWE is undergoing a huge behind-the-scenes shakeup, with
Ed Koskey replacing Ryan Ward as SmackDown lead writer. He will now report to
executive director Eric Bischoff. Jonathan Baeckstrom, the former lead writer of
205 Live, will replace Koskey on Raw and report to executive director Paul
Heyman. The changes have been in the works for weeks due to the mishandling of
the Roman Reigns/Daniel Bryan/Erick Rowan. The angle has recovered with a major
push given to Rowan but the set up was poorly handled. Ward will be taking a
“short-term leave of absence” and if he returns he will join the “home team,” a
group of the company’s non-traveling group of writers. Ward had just gotten the
position back as head writer of SmackDown earlier this year when “Road Dogg”
Brian James stepped down from the gig after having issues with Vince McMahon. A
lot of this came from questions concerning Bischoff’s leadership of SmackDown
especially after Bischoff’s hiring of Stevie Long, a former Sons of Anarchy
writer who was found asleep in the writer’s room by producer Michael P.S. Hayes
on his first day on the road with WWE. Unlike Heyman Bischoff began his tenure
playing catch-up since he hadn’t been following the product closely and had to
move his family while trying to get comfortable. But the Rowan storyline has
moved well past the initial plan of Bryan being behind the Reigns attacks all
along and got Luke Harper back on TV.
See Also...
XFL
REACHES DEAL WITH FOX & DISNEY
WWE NEWS-052519 XFL Season Will be Split Between the Two Largest
Sports Broadcasting Outlets
WWE is undergoing a huge behind-the-scenes shakeup, with
Ed Koskey replacing Ryan Ward as SmackDown lead writer. He will now report to
executive director Eric Bischoff. Jonathan Baeckstrom, the former lead writer of
205 Live, will replace Koskey on Raw and report to executive director Paul
Heyman. The changes have been in the works for weeks due to the mishandling of
the Roman Reigns/Daniel Bryan/Erick Rowan. The angle has recovered with a major
push given to Rowan but the set up was poorly handled. Ward will be taking a
“short-term leave of absence” and if he returns he will join the “home team,” a
group of the company’s non-traveling group of writers. Ward had just gotten the
position back as head writer of SmackDown earlier this year when “Road Dogg”
Brian James stepped down from the gig after having issues with Vince McMahon. A
lot of this came from questions concerning Bischoff’s leadership of SmackDown
especially after Bischoff’s hiring of Stevie Long, a former Sons of Anarchy
writer who was found asleep in the writer’s room by producer Michael P.S. Hayes
on his first day on the road with WWE. Unlike Heyman Bischoff began his tenure
playing catch-up since he hadn’t been following the product closely and had to
move his family while trying to get comfortable. But the Rowan storyline has
moved well past the initial plan of Bryan being behind the Reigns attacks all
along and got Luke Harper back on TV.
