WWE Executive Chairman Vince McMahon once again exercised his creative control by making multiple changes during RAW last night.
On the latest edition of Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer reported that McMahon made more changes than usual to the latest edition of Monday Night RAW.
The WWE Chairman altered some matchups and finishes for last night’s show. The changes also reportedly involved shuffling talents, pulling certain wrestlers from the show, and replacing them with others.
While McMahon has been changing things every week since WrestleMania 39, last night’s RAW saw more changes than usual.
Bryan Alvarez further reported that around the time CM Punk visited RAW (5:30 pm EST), talents apparently had “nothing” with regard to the lineup, suggesting that the episode was still being re-written late into the afternoon. Another source said McMahon’s direct influence during RAW was significant.
The Piper Niven vs. Candice LeRae match was nixed from the show, as was their backstage segment that was also set to feature Trish Stratus.
While both sequences were still on the RAW card as of 7:00 PM EST, by showtime McMahon had replaced them with The Street Profits vs. Cedric Alexander & Shelton Benjamin bout.
McMahon was also apparently responsible for cutting short the match between Mustafa Ali and Chad Gable.
Other matches also suffered from time cuts, with the winners and losers being altered. The lead-in elements to close out RAW were modified as well.
Certain female Superstars voiced their displeasure at the disproportionate frequency of sequences cut from the women’s division.
For instance, a planned backstage segment featuring Adam Pearce and additional female talent was changed as well.
While the remainder of the matches were previously scheduled, even those planned bouts underwent changes. Due to all of this, the final card for RAW was posted extremely late internally.
