Bruce Prichard’s days working full-time behind the scenes in WWE are repocoming to an end. He isn’t expected to completely disappear from the company, but a major change is apparently coming after WrestleMania 43.
According to PWInsider, Bruce Prichard is expected to retire from his position as WWE’s Executive Director of Creative Writing & Talent following WrestleMania season next year. The 63-year-old is still expected to remain connected to WWE as a consultant, but he would no longer keep his current responsibilities or live in Stamford. One source specifically pointed to WrestleMania as the end of Prichard’s full-time run, although another cautioned that the timeline could always move around a little.
Fightful Select has since provided more details on what’s behind the change, and Prichard’s health appears to be a major factor. According to sources familiar with the situation, Prichard is expected to remain with WWE after stepping down from his current position, but he’ll be working from home much more frequently.
Prichard needs a very serious surgery that is expected to take him off the road. Fightful added that he is already feeling rough physically, making the move away from WWE’s regular travel schedule even more understandable. That lines up with the recent revelation that Prichard is preparing to undergo neck surgery.
Conrad Thompson previously revealed that Prichard only recently learned how badly his neck had been damaged from an angle all the way back in 1991. That was when The Ultimate Warrior attacked Prichard’s Brother Love character to write him off WWF television.
More than three decades later, the damage from that angle is apparently still causing problems serious enough to require surgery. Prichard stepping away from his full-time position would also be a pretty significant backstage change for WWE. He returned to the company full-time in 2019 and eventually became one of the most influential people in the creative structure, first working closely with Vince McMahon and later with Paul “Triple H” Levesque.
Prichard has also been trusted to run television tapings whenever Levesque isn’t there. PWInsider reports that WWE’s RAW, SmackDown and NXT writing teams currently fall underneath Prichard in the company hierarchy.
There’s no word yet on who WWE might put in his position once he steps away, and with WrestleMania still months away, the company has plenty of time to figure that out. For Prichard, though, this doesn’t sound like a complete goodbye to WWE. Instead, it looks like his role is being reshaped around a much lighter workload as he deals with a serious physical issue and prepares to leave the road after years of being one of WWE’s most important behind-the-scenes figures.
Who do you think WWE should turn to once Bruce Prichard steps away from his full-time creative position after WrestleMania 43? Let us know what you think in the comments.
