Stephanie McMahon oversaw the creative direction of RAW in 2004, while Paul Heyman served in the same role on SmackDown. Jim Ross, a WWE commentator at the time, recently addressed the disagreement the two once had backstage.
In late 2004, Stephanie McMahon hosted a conference call with other members of the RAW creative team. It was later revealed that Heyman answered and heard part of the call even though he wasn’t invited. As a result, the WWE Hall of Famer lost his job as SmackDown’s creative figure.
Speaking with Grilling JR host Conrad Thompson, Ross explained the logic behind Heyman entering the call without permission:
“Well, in her opinion, Conrad, Paul betrayed Stephanie’s trust. I disagree with you [that Heyman hearing the meeting didn’t matter]. You’d think the head writer of a show taping the next day would be informed of what was going on. This is how it is. Stephanie plans a cage match on RAW. Well, that would give Heyman a chance to make a decision. Should I duplicate another cage match or do something else? Well, the logical answer is probably to do something else.” [29:53 – 30:36]
Heyman went on to work on WWE’s revived ECW brand in 2006 before leaving the company. After a six-year absence, he returned in 2012 as an on-screen personality.
Jim Ross defends Paul Heyman after his feud with Stephanie McMahon
When I think about it, Jim Ross he doesn’t see a problem with a member of the creative team listening to the plans of another WWE show.
The legendary announcer believes that Stephanie McMahon’s ego played a role in this Paul Heyman removed from his position on SmackDown:
“He should have listened anyway, but he wasn’t welcome,” Ross continued. “They wanted to split up, they had a competition and all that shit. It’s weird. It shouldn’t look weird, Conrad. It’s fucking weird! It’s egos and politics and all that dog* *t. Heyman was lucky he didn’t got fired.” [30:42 – 31:07]
In the same episode, Ross gave his honest reaction to Corey Graves’ recent outburst after being demoted to NXT.
What did you think of Paul Heyman and Stephanie McMahon’s problems in 2004? Hit the discuss button and let us know.
Please credit Grilling to JR and give H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use JR’s quotes from this article.
Edited by Danny Hart
