On a recent edition of his “The Kurt Angle Show” podcast, WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle discussed WWE removing Paul Heyman as the Head of SmackDown creative in late 2004, the impact of that move, and more.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On the news: “I heard the day that he got let go, and I was really a little upset, a little surprised. Paul was really creative, and he did an incredible job with writing for SmackDown. I mean, he did storylines that were pretty cool. But the cool thing about it was he made SmackDown a wrestling show. We had so many good athletes on that show, and we weren’t the storyline show. SmackDown was more of a wrestling show, but the stuff that Paul Heyman added to it made it really intriguing. And it was just sad to see Paul go.”
On whether he was worried about who would replace Heyman: “No, I knew they would find a good replacement, and they did. There was a kid named Dave Lagana, and yeah, he got the opportunity. I believe Brian Gewirtz was still the head writer for Raw. Dave Lagana started writing for SmackDown. He was the lead writer, and he did a pretty good job. So he wasn’t Paul Heyman by any means, but he did a good job.”
On whether he experienced issues between Vince McMahon and Heyman: “I was going to the meetings, I think I told you that a couple of months ago. Every once in a while, Vince would have to yell at him because Heyman would get all excited. And Vince was like, ‘Shut the hell up, Paul.’ So yeah, it was one of those things. Vince always treated him like a redheaded stepchild. He just had this way about him that he just felt Paul was annoying, and Paul was just being him. Yeah, he was really creative. So Vince liked a lot of stuff he said. And some stuff he didn’t like.”
On the duo of Heyman and Brian Gewirtz: “Can’t get a better duo. Those guys are like a home run. Listen, Paul was more of a serious kind of program. But Brian was more comedy. Yeah, that’s about the only difference between the two. Brian was more of a comedy writer, and Paul was more of a serious program writer. He did a fantastic job. Yes, he did. He did a fantastic job.”
On the working relationship of Stephanie McMahon and Heyman at the time:
“They always got along. Yeah, from what I saw, I honestly think they got along extremely well.”On whether it was a weird change of leadership heading into a pay-per-view event: “Yeah, it was a little unique. But Dave Lagana was there for a while, so se had already been there. We were familiar with him. So it wasn’t that bad to the extent that it was like, “Guys, we’re we don’t know what to do. We’re lost.’ Dave Lagana picked up the pieces and kept going.”