It'll be a while before we know for sure what the complete impact will be from the hiring of Paul Heyman and Eric Bischoff as the new Executive Directors of Raw and Smackdown, respectively, but the early returns on social media were positive.
According to the following data collected by ListenFirst, an advanced social media analytics firm, there were noticeable spikes in interest and engagement around posts related to the hirings, and both Raw and Smackdown-related content showed increased levels of interest across almost every platform and subject.
Take a look at some of the information provided by ListenFirst:
- In the week since Paul Heyman was named the new Executive Director of RAW and Eric Bischoff was named the new Executive Director of SmackDown, there were 40,465 Tweets using Heyman's @HeymanHustle Twitter handle and 34,309 Tweets using @EBischoff, the Twitter handle of Eric Bischoff. Compared to the previous week, that's an increase of 294% in the volume of Tweets around @HeymanHustle and an increase of 2,876% in the volume of Tweets mentioning @EBischoff, looking at June 27 - July 3 compared to June 20-26, 2019.
- The top-performing Tweet around the Twitter handle @EBischoff during the week of June 26 - July 3, 2019, was Bischoff's own Tweet thanking everyone for their support around the announcement, that received 1,317 Retweets and 13,806 Likes. The top-performing around the Twitter handle @HeymanHustle wasn't Heyman himself but rather wrestler Zack Ryder asking, "I was in ECW (the @wwe version) and now I’m on #Raw with @HeymanHustle in charge......can I just pretend that I was in the original ECW?" That Tweet received 168 Retweets and 3,313 Likes.
- In the week since Heyman was named the new Executive Director of RAW, the Conversation Volume around WWE Raw was 205,797 an increase of 23% from the Conversation Volume from the previous week, looking at June 27 - July 3 compared to June 20-26, 2019. Conversation Volume measures consumer mentions of a brand through explicit references to the brand's owned digital presences and official hashtags in user-generated content on Twitter.
- During the week of June 27 - July 3, 2019, WWE Raw had a Fan Growth score of 2,862 which was an increase of 8% compared to the previous week of June 20-26. Fan Growth score measures the total growth of a brand's digital audience, meaning new Facebook page Likes, new Instagram followers, new Tumblr followers, new Twitter Followers, and new YouTube channel subscribers.
Most of these numbers are quite impressive, but as Tracy David, Chief Marketing Officer at ListenFirst states, the data should be absorbed with some caution.
"Exemplified by the 23% increase of conversation around Raw and 10% increase of conversation around SmackDown on Twitter in the week around the Heyman and Bischoff announcements, there is no question that their promotions got the attention of wrestling fans," said David in a statement provided to me. "However, as the new storylines they're developing will take a few weeks to reveal themselves, the ultimate fan reaction to the new WWE direction is yet to be determined."
There are rumors Bischoff won't assume complete control of the product until after the Extreme Rules pay-per-view on July 14.
Wrestling fans love new things, but we also know that ultimately Heyman and Bischoff still report to Vince McMahon. So while Raw got off to a fast start with the Braun Strowman and Bobby Lashley spot that trended on social media and went viral on YouTube, it could be a matter of time before the product falls back into its old rut.
There are signs that the switch in direction will be a long-standing one. There was a lot of transition on Raw, especially with new faces and a different attitude of sorts. Not all of it was good, but it was at the very least different. If WWE wants to continue to engage its audience as it did this week, and grow/restore the level of interest in the product on a whole, it would be wise to allow Heyman to hustle, and Bischoff to sink his teeth into Smackdown's creative direction.
