A recent report from Sean Ross Sapp and Fightful.com noted that last night’s episode of WWE Raw had Vince McMahon’s influence.
Before the show went on the air, Fightful Select reported that McMahon had made “drastic changes” to it. Nothing has been cut from the show, according to the site, but elements – such as the opening segment – had been altered.
Last night’s opening, which took place a few moments before this writing, saw current WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins attacked by his Money in the Bank opponent, Finn Balor, before Rollins could defend his title in an open challenge.
Meanwhile, in the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer reported that the original plans called for Rollins to host the challenge in the opening segment.
During Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer of F4WOnline.com discussed the situation:
“That was the plan [open challenge]. The open challenge was supposed to happen till the last minute. Vince changed the first 30 minutes of the show…I heard, was totally changed.”
Meltzer added, “Vince really wanted this whole Seth Rollins angle with Finn Balor. I think he just wanted something big, something bigger for Seth Rollins and Finn Balor, because I think it’s just to heat up Finn Balor. To be fair, I know people who are there who told me, ‘Look, as far as the 30 minutes that Vince put in, it was better than the 30 minutes that was taken out’. So whatever that means. They worked really hard at building Seth Rollins-Finn Balor.”
