Talent Morale Sinking Backstage In WWE, Reaction To Vince McMahon, RAW Changes

There were some big changes made to both WrestleMania 39 and Monday night’s episode of RAW.

Fightful Select is reporting that talent morale took a huge blow backstage Monday night on RAW. Many talents were frustrated after noticing how firmly Vince McMahon was back in control of WWE creative, especially considering that Triple H and Nick Khan held a meeting immediately before RAW promising that nothing would be changing.

Vince McMahon rewriting RAW before the show went live and even while it was airing, as well as being in gorilla position all night and having his own office at the venue struck fear in the heart of the locker room.

Some talent didn’t even necessarily consider that the creative decisions were poor, just that the whole matter was handled dishonestly after what Triple H had informed talent at the meeting, and that McMahon has a dirty history of firing so many wrestlers on the current roster.

Female talent grew increasingly demoralized and frustrated after WWE scrapped the mini-tournament to determine the #1 contender to the RAW Women’s Title. Many resented Vince McMahon’s return to creative considering how smoothly the past several months have been under Triple H.

Omos vs. Elias was a last-minute addition, as Omos wasn’t even planning on wrestling and was in catering and scrambled to get his ring gear ready.

The Cody Rhodes – Brock Lesnar tag team angle was finalized on Monday morning.

The report suggests that talent morale hit its lowest point since before WrestleMania 38 when it reached near all-time lows. Some talent opined that WrestleMania weekend was a passage for Vince McMahon to get himself back in control, with Friday’s SmackDown after WrestleMania already being eyed as a crucial event to determine how involved McMahon was at RAW and whether his involvement was a one-off scenario or the new normal.

At least two top WWE Superstars cited that they might request their releases if things continue like Monday. Many wrestlers are already looking into their options if Vince McMahon does indeed continue to be heavily involved with respect to the creative and overall WWE product.

Source: eWrestlingNews

‘Worst Raw’ Trends As Wrestling Fans Fume The Night After WWE WrestleMania 39

Last night’s post-WrestleMania 39 “WWE Raw” trended like it does every year, except this time, for all the wrong reasons. The sentiment of “worst Raw” spread around quickly on Twitter, with thousands of WWE fans voicing their displeasure about the show. In the past, the “Raw” following WWE’s biggest show of the year was filled with surprise returns, debuts from new wrestlers, the start of new stories or new chapters in existing ones, and even sometimes, a WrestleMania-caliber main event. Instead, WWE fans were treated to just one return, that being Matt Riddle, who WWE reportedly suspended in December after a second drug test failure. Riddle’s return was also arguably marred by the sexual assault allegations against him.

Not only did fans not witness any debuts, but the marquee main event tag team match they were promised repeatedly for over two hours proved to be a bait and switch tactic, as Brock Lesnar viciously attacked Cody Rhodes prior to the match starting. Lesnar continued beating Rhodes down for nearly ten minutes, leaving both fans watching at home and in the arena stunned.

Add to the mix reports of Vince McMahon being fully in charge of WWE creative last night, and the morale among both WWE talent and fans following the most financially successful WrestleMania in company history has quickly plummeted. This comes less than a day after McMahon himself said that he wouldn’t be getting back into the weeds like he used to, with reports now suggesting he was changing creative last night as talent walked out from the Gorilla Position. Many of the tweets surrounding the trend of “worst Raw” featured photos of McMahon from the CNBC interview, mocking him and calling him out due to his seeming dishonesty.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Vince McMahon Reportedly ‘Firmly Back In Charge’ Of Creative During WWE Raw

Vince McMahon told CNBC over the weekend that he’d no longer be “in the weeds” as it pertains to WWE creative, and that he’d only get involved with “higher level” decisions. However, that wasn’t the case during last night’s “WWE Raw,” the fallout episode from WrestleMania 39 and the first television taping since Endeavor’s acquisition of WWE.

According to PWInsider, McMahon was “personally and heavily involved” with Monday’s show, and ordered “a number of late rewrites” for the show about 15-20 minutes before “Raw” went live on the air. Furthermore, the changes were described as not a “feeling” that talents and staff had come to expect under the regime of Paul “Triple H” Levesque.

The report added that changes to the “Raw” script were made even after the show went on air and that they “came directly from McMahon,” who had his own office, just as he did before his “retirement” last July. 

It was further noted that although last night’s show began with Levesque on the headsets, McMahan became “more and more involved” as the point person running the show as the night progressed. For most of the night, McMahon was in Gorilla position, “directly overseeing the proceedings,” PWInsider added. This was not the case during WrestleMania 39, where he was on the headset only producing a few segments, but not involved with all decision-making. 

Among talents PWInsider spoke with, there was a “negative shift in morale” as they realized that operations had reverted to “exactly where they were” before Levesque took over as WWE’s creative team. One source said the “place felt nuked” and the feeling was that McMahon would likely be “overseeing everything again” going forward, leaving the creative to his “whims and sensibilities.”  

Other talents were less disheartened by McMahon’s return to Gorilla, noting that they always suspected “all roads” would eventually lead to his return to WWE’s creative process. There was also optimism that McMahon’s heavy involvement was likely a one-off, seeing as Triple H still holds the title of WWE’s Chief Content Officer. Regardless, multiple sources confirmed to PWInsider that McMahon was “firmly back in charge following the Endeavor acquisition of the company.” This was expected after Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel stated that he wasn’t going to let McMahon retire and that he wanted the iconic promoter to remain at the helm of WWE.

Source: Wrestling Inc

RAW After Mania Highlights

This years Raw After Mania was very disappointing. Probably the worst Raw After Mania ever. It was lacking in the big surprises that usually occurs. The only so called surprises was the return of Matt Riddle and Brock Lesnar turning heel, assaulting Cody Rhodes.

Below are a few of the highlights form WWE Raw After Mania.

WWE RAW Preview 4/3/2023

Following a successful and entertaining WrestleMania 39 two-night premium live event at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, CA., WWE returns to the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, CA. for the post-WrestleMania Raw show.

The road to WWE Backlash 2023 begins tonight

On tap for tonight’s edition of the weekly three-hour WWE on USA Network television program is the fallout from WrestleMania Goes Hollywood and the start of the build towards WWE Backlash 2023.

What will be the fallout of Cody Rhodes failing to finish his story against Roman Reigns? Who might make the move up from WWE NXT after a big WWE NXT Stand & Deliver 2023 show on Saturday, which closed with Carmelo Hayes defeating Bron Breakker for the WWE NXT Championship, freeing up the former champion for a potential move.

Things are always bigger and better on the post-WrestleMania edition of WWE Monday Night Raw every year, and tonight should be no exception!

WWE RAW Preview 3/27/2023

WWE Raw airs live tonight on the USA Network and will emanate from the Footprint Center in Phoenix, Arizona.

This episode of Raw is the go-home for this weekend’s WrestleMania.

  • Cody Rhodes vs. Solo Sikoa
  • WrestleMania weigh-in with Brock Lesnar and Omos
  • Miz TV with Becky Lynch, Lita, and Trish Stratus
  • The Street Profits, Braun Strowman & Ricochet vs. Chad Gable, Otis & The Viking Raiders

WWE RAW Preview 3/13/2023

WWE Raw will air live tonight on the USA Network and emanate from the Amica Mutual Pavilion in Providence, Rhode Island.

  • WWE Raw Women’s Champion Bianca Belair vs Chelsea Green
  • Brock Lesnar and Omos to go face-to-face
  • Edge Calls Out Finn Balor
  • Elias vs Bronson Reed
  • Johnny Gargano & Dexter Lumis vs. The Judgment Day (Damian Priest & Dominik Mysterio)
  • The OC (Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson) vs. Maximum Male Models (Mace & Mansoor)

Trish Stratus Coming Out Of Retirement For Match At WWE WrestleMania 39

Trish Stratus will officially come out of retirement at WrestleMania 39, joining forces with WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Becky Lynch and Lita in a six-woman match against Damage CTRL. The match was made official on this week’s “WWE Raw” where Lita and Lynch thanked Stratus for helping them even the odds in their rivalry against Bayley & Co. 

Stratus stepped out and told Lita “I’ll always have your back” and that it was a pleasure to watch her win gold with “The Man.” At this point, Damage CTRL confronted the three women in the ring.

“You two [Lita and Stratus] are legitimately the reasons why we are in this ring right now,” Bayley said, thanking the Hall of Famers for their contributions to the business. “That said, the three of us [Damage CTRL] are going to be the reasons you never come back!”

At this point, Stratus referenced her promo from “Raw” last August, where she teased stepping out of retirement. 

“I warned I could go real quick from ‘I am retired’ to ‘I was retired,'” Stratus reiterated. “I couldn’t think of a better place to shut your mouth up than at the Grandest Stage of Them All!”

Stratus then looked at the WrestleMania sign and issued the challenge to Damage CTRL.

Bayley immediately accepted the challenge, something that seemed to upset IYO SKY and Dakota Kai. Thereafter, Stratus and Lita delivered tandem offense to throw SKY and Kai out of the ring, leaving Lynch and Bayley to come face-to-face in the ring. The segment ended with an upset Damage CTRL retreating from the ring.

It remains to be seen if Damage CTRL implodes at WrestleMania 39, seeing as WWE teased some tension between the trio on Monday’s show.

Stratus had previously retired following her loss to Charlotte Flair at SummerSlam 2019 in her hometown of Toronto. Subsequently, Stratus teased the possibility of unretiring for a match against Lynch, especially when Lynch was portraying her “Big Time Becks” heel persona. Stratus would also get physical at a pair of WWE live events last August, coming to the aid of Alexa Bliss and Asuka during their rivalry with Damage CTRL. As such, the news of Stratus coming out of retirement has been widely expected and is not surprising in the least.

Besides the aforementioned six-woman match, the confirmed lineup for WrestleMania 39 includes Roman Reigns vs. Cody Rhodes, John Cena vs. Austin Theory, Rhea Ripley vs. Charlotte Flair, Asuka vs. Bianca Belair, Brock Lesnar vs. Omos, and Logan Paul vs. Seth Rollins. Other rumored matches include Bobby Lashley vs. Bray Wyatt, Edge vs. Finn Balor, Rey Mysterio vs. Dominik Mysterio, and Sami Zayn & Kevin Owens vs. The Usos. 

Source: Wrestling Inc.

John Cena Accepts Austin Theory’s Title Challenge For WrestleMania 39

John Cena made his much anticipated WWE return last night on RAW and accepted a major challenge from reigning United States Champion Austin Theory for a title match at WrestleMania 39.

Cena hit the ring and as he was about to speak, Theory popped up, interrupted The Champ, and issued a challenge to face him for the WWE United States Title at WrestleMania 39.

Cena initially rejected the challenge and roasted Theory on the mic, noting that the latter didn’t believe in himself and lacked any heart or soul. This led to Theory asking Cena where his “Hustle, Loyalty, and Respect” have been.

Theory added that Cena would disappoint the WWE Universe if he refused to compete at WrestleMania, to which the 16-time World Champion declared that he was trying to protect Theory.

According to Cena, Theory wasn’t ready to face him at WrestleMania and would lose everything in such a high-stakes bout. Cena then asked the WWE Universe about their opinion, and the live audience cheered for him to wrestle Theory.

Ultimately, Cena accepted Theory’s challenge, and the match was made official.

Source: eWrestlingNews

WWE RAW Preview 3/6/2023

WWE Raw will air live tonight on the USA Network and emanate from TD Garden in Boston, MA.