Backstage News Regarding WWE Production Changes
There have been some noticeable changes when it comes to some WWE segments following the departure of a key executive.
The year 2024 started with WWE moving on without Kevin Dunn, who was the company’s Executive Producer & Chief, Global Television Distribution.
Dunn had a lot of power in WWE when the company was being run by Vince for most of the last 40 years because Vince trusted him and the vision that Dunn had for WWE programming. Following Endeavor’s acquisition of WWE in September, Dunn apparently felt like he was losing power and offered his resignation at the end of 2023.
It was announced last week that WWE had hired former veteran ESPN employee Lee Fitting as WWE Head of Media & Production, which is similar to what Dunn did in WWE. There are reportedly some people within WWE who are unhappy about the hiring since the company didn’t promote somebody who already worked there.
On the January 1st edition of Raw, there was a scene in a club where Chelsea Green & Piper Niven challenged Katana Chance & Kayden Carter. Meanwhile, the January 12th edition of Smackdown featured a segment in a coffee shop where Tyler Bate talked with his friend Butch about their careers.
According to Fightful Select, things that Dunn didn’t want to do in WWE are happening more often now. Those two segments mentioned above are among the segments that Dunn typically didn’t want to see on WWE television.
The Fightful report noted that when WWE’s Chief Content Officer Paul “Triple H” Levesque was running NXT, they oftentimes did segments outside of the building where the show was taking place. Fightful noted that Triple H allowed Jeremy Borash to build a team that would put these segments together. Triple H, who is now running the WWE main roster creatively, enjoyed doing those kinds of segments and with Dunn no longer in WWE, the door is now open to do those kinds of “on location” promos more often.
A source told Fightful that the segment in the coffee shop may have looked different under Dunn, who likely would have cut away to several different things. However, with Dunn out of the picture, the characters were allowed to breathe in the segment. Fightful added that both segments were largely positively received by people within WWE.
WWE Raw Will Feature World Title Match
The January 15th edition of WWE Monday Night Raw takes place in Little Rock, Arkansas. The company has announced that Cody Rhodes will kick off the show. Other than that, here’s what is advertised for Raw.
* Seth “Freakin” Rollins defends World Heavyweight Title against Jinder Mahal
* The Miz & R-Truth battle Finn Bálor & Damian Priest
* “Dirty” Dominik Mysterio & JD McDonagh look to make a statement against #DIY
* Intercontinental Champion GUNTHER returns to Raw
Even though CM Punk is on the Raw roster, Punk is not advertised for this episode. Punk is expected to be back on Raw for the January 22nd edition of Raw in New Orleans.