Monday Night Raw underwent a number of last-minute changes this week, proving that Vince McMahon is back from his medical leave and is tinkering with WWE’s TV product remotely again. When the show opened with Jey Uso and Kevin Owens cutting a promo, it immediately contradicted the show’s lineup that Sean Ross Sapp posted to Fightful Select shortly before the show began (which had a Cody Rhodes promo as the opener). Dave Meltzer then addressed McMahon’s return on the latest Wrestling Observer Radio.
“Vince McMahon is back,” Meltzer said. “He made multiple changes to the show tonight. There were also multiple changes made by [Paul] Levesque at the last minute. So the show was — a lot of stuff wasn’t advertised on the show, like most of it. And the reason is because they were changing all day long. But Vince is back, Vince made significant changes to the show,” Meltzer said.
Videos by ComicBook.com
What Changed on This Week’s WWE Raw?
Sapp then posted an update on the situation to Fightful Select. He echoed Meltzer’s note about Triple H also being responsible for the changes, which kept getting made up until the start of the show. Those changes included Rhodes’ promo getting moved, Viking Raiders vs. Cedric Alexander & Shelton Benjamin getting scrapped, Natalya vs. Zoey Stark getting removed from the Main Event taping. The timing of certain matches and various backstage segments were also adjusted.
“We asked a WWE talent about Vince McMahon’s general involvement over the weekend, and were told that McMahon was calling in changes as recently as Smackdown regarding minor details that were in the script. We’re working to find out how long he’s been contributing again, as he was out of action for a while following major spinal surgery,” Sapp wrote.
Raw ended with Rhea Ripley successfully retaining her Women’s World Championship against Raquel Rodriguez thanks to the surprise return of Nia Jax. “The Irresistible Force” reportedly re-signed with WWE over a month ago after initially getting released in November 2021.
WWE Superstar Spectacle 2023 Results
- Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn vs. Indus Sher (No Contest)
- Drew McIntyre, Kevin Owens & Sami Zaun def. Indus Sher (Jinder Mahal, Veer & Sanga)
- Natalya def. Zoey Stark
- WWE Intercontinental Championship: Gunther def. Shanky
- Bron Breakker def. Odyssey Jones
- Women’s World Championship: Rhea Ripley def. Natalya
- John Cena & Seth Rollins def. Imperium (Ludwig Kaiser & Giovanni Vinci)
