According to report by Sports Illustrated on Thursday, there are huge changes coming to WWE. More specifically, two big names have been given two extremely big jobs in the company and it could change the overall look and feel of WWE's two flagship shows.

On Thursday, it was reported that Eric Bischoff and Paul Heyman were named Executive Directors at WWE. According to the report, Bischoff will run Monday Night Raw and Heyman will take over the running of SmackDown Live. Both will report directly to WWE Chairman and CEO Vince McMahon.

The report also notes that WWE confirmed the news with Sports Illustrated, and an official announcement was coming. That announcement came about 30 minutes after the story broke.

WWE.com wrote:

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. The creation of these roles further establishes WWE’s ability to continuously reinvent its global brand while providing two distinct creative processes for its flagship shows.

WWE bragged about the vast experience of both men in making their decisions.

That WWE is going to be moving to FOX and NBC Universal in October probably played a role in all of this and reports are already that Bischoff will work directly with executives from FOX, which will air SmackDown Live beginning in the Fall.

Expect different looks and feels to both shows.

What This Means

The two positions are full-time executive roles and this is not a storyline. In fact, speculation is that these two will not be announced on camera as the new execs behind each show.

WWE has struggled with ratings for a few months and hiring Bischoff and Heyman in these roles is a wakeup call to everyone. Heyman had huge success turning ECW (a promotion with little money) into a wrestling promotion that took the industry by storm. Bischoff was the first person to really threaten WWE's existence when he ran WCW.

What has to be extremely exciting for WWE fans is that Heyman overseeing the creative development of Raw is going to make for a dramatic shift.

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