Backstage Update on False E-Mail Alerts Advertising Paul Heyman and Eric Bischoff for WWE TV

Identical e-mail alerts went out this week that appeared to be advertising Paul Heyman on Raw and Eric Bischoff on Smackdown Live for next week’s shows. There was an alert that said, “See what Paul Heyman has in store for store for Monday Night RAW!” There was a similar one for Bischoff on Smackdown Live. Then, a report from Bryan Alvarez on Wrestling Observer Live stated that as of this week, there was no plan for Heyman and Bischoff to appear on TV next week. Dave Meltzer addressed the issue with the e-mail alerts on today’s edition of the Wrestling Observer Radio.

According to Meltzer, the e-mail blasts sent out by WWE were an internal “screwup.” He stated this came out of a situation where people in WWE started going to Vince McMahon telling him he was doing way too much and that “nobody could do as much” as McMahon was doing in the company. McMahon was reportedly advised to trust in other people to run their individual divisions and not micromanage everything about WWE.

Vince McMahon apparently agreed with this. However, it seems to have resulted in these e-mail blasts getting sent out. Meltzer continued that whoever was in charge of the e-mail blasts “does not report to Vince.” Meltzer added, “Let me put it this way. Somebody screwed up in making them. Somebody screwed up in okaying it, and it was sent out. And Vince didn’t know. And nobody who needed to know knew [about the e-mail alerts], and then it was out there.”

Meltzer went on to say that while there wasn’t panic within WWE when the false alerts went out, “It was not a happy time,” adding, “It wasn’t supposed to happen.”

Additionally, the plan just hours before the Observer Radio show was recorded was that Eric Bischoff is not slated to be on Smackdown Live on Tuesday, noting that Heyman might already be scheduled for Raw to have an interview or hype segment regarding Brock Lesnar. It was speculated that Vince McMahon might talk to Heyman and Bischoff and tell them to appear on TV because WWE did advertise it.

WWE previously announced that Paul Heyman and Eric Bischoff have been respectively named as the Executive Directors of Monday Night Raw and Smackdown Live. Per WWE’s announcement, “In their executive roles, Heyman and Bischoff will oversee the creative development of WWE’s flagship programming and ensure integration across all platforms and lines of business.”