Update on WWE creative structure following shakeup
WWE’s creative team has undergone a mild shakeup.
Our own Dave Meltzer addressed the structure of the team in this week’s edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, noting that Ryan Ward has received “a little push” while SmackDown co-head writers John Swikata and Brian “Road Dogg” James have received a “little push down.”
Meltzer wrote:
“This is the current breakdown of creative. Paul Levesque drives the show. Bruce Prichard and Ed Koskey weigh in on creative but they also handle the company-wide distribution of information. Ryan Ward is in charge of handling all the creative pitches to Levesque. Jonathan Baeckstrom and Alexandra Williams are the co-lead writers for Raw. John Swikata and Brian James (Road Dogg) are the co-lead writers of Smackdown. Ward has been picking up a lot of the slack on Smackdown. William Regal and Michael Hayes are also involved.”
“Nothing has really changed in the last few months on this except there were issues with Smackdown creative that have been said to now be improved, but it was said to be a minimal shakeup, basically a little push up for Ward and a little push down for Swikata and James.”
Meltzer also noted in the article that one WWE source mentioned it’s a shame that Michael Hayes came off so poorly in the WWE Unreal series, because when he’s on his game Hayes makes meaningful contributions.
The creative change comes as WWE SmackDown recently moved back to three hours beginning with the January 2 episode. In 2025, SmackDown ran as a three hour show from January to July. It reverted back to two hours from July until recently. On a recent episode of The Bryan and Vinny Show, our own Bryan Alvarez noted that he’d been told the show would likely following a similar format in 2026, with it reverting back to two hours this summer.
Ian Carey is a writer from Toronto, Ontario, Canada, whose work has been featured in NOW Magazine, The Huffington Post, and more. A lifelong wrestling aficionado born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, he has covered the industry for a decade and a half. He joined the f4wonline.com team in 2019.