Backstage News On Vince McMahon Involvement During WWE Raw
As reported earlier, Vince McMahon was not in attendance at last night's "WWE Raw" taping in Seattle, Washington. Despite McMahon's absence, there were suggestions that WWE's Executive Chairman could influence the show remotely, as was reportedly the case during last week's "WWE SmackDown."
In an update from PWInsider, McMahon "went over the original plans" for Monday's "Raw" but did not order "any massive changes" or rewrites.
The report added that while there were some "major rewrites" to the show, they were not brought about by McMahon, who was back in his home in Stamford, Connecticut. Instead, the changes were brought about due to travel issues faced by WWE talents and personnel in getting to the location of this week's red brand show. As such, Triple H and his WWE creative team were forced to rewrite the show on the fly due to logistical challenges.
Shortly after news broke of the WWE-UFC merger, McMahon told CNBC that he had no intention of getting "in the weeds" with regard to WWE's creative operations and that he'd only make suggestions when it comes to "higher level" decisions. So far, McMahon has evidently stayed true to his word, with multiple reports suggesting that he has let Chief Content Officer Triple H call the shots from Gorilla Position, with the exception of the first "Raw" after WrestleMania 39.
It's also worth pointing out that some of the reported scrapped plans from last week's "Raw" were enacted on last night's show. Case in point, a three-way match to crown a new #1 contender for Bianca Belair's "Raw" Women's Championship, a match that was won by IYO SKY. According to earlier reports, the likes of SKY, Piper Niven and Mia "Michin" Yim were to be involved in a series of three-way bouts on last week's show, until those plans were scrapped by McMahon. As such, it's safe to assume that Triple H was the go-to person at "Raw" last night.