We noted before how Seth Rollins wasn’t cleared to compete on this week’s episode of Raw. His status caused a lot of changes in the original script of the show and it was not finalized even after the episode had gone on air.
Though it appears that Rollins’ status wasn’t the only factor that affected the episode and the decision to call up 4 NXT Stars was also a reason for the same.
Per Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer, Triple H, who oversees NXT, initially didn’t know about the call ups. Vince McMahon apparently decided to bring in who he thought were four of the best guys in the NXT roster.
When the Game did find out, he worked to rearrange some things to better showcase the call-ups like changing the originally planned Ricochet vs. Finn Balor match into the tag team bout against Lio Rush and Bobby Lashley.
Though Seth Rollins’ status was still a major factor and the whole script had to be rewritten because the whole episode was built around the former WWE Champion.
Another example of how his injury affected the show was the match between The Raw Women’s Champion Ronda Rousey and Ruby Riott.
The Bout was originally expected to feature Alexa Bliss in Riott’s spot, but the need to have a longer match made the Officials change their mind as they weren’t confident about a lengthy match between Bliss and Rousey.
Though in the end, it appears that the changes worked out in WWE’s favor as they saw an increase in the viewership and the numbers were better than the company has seen in this year so far.
