Brock Lesnar was set to cash in his Money In the Bank title shot on WWE Universal Champion Seth Rollins during tonight’s RAW, but looks like the cash in will now come at WWE Super ShowDown on Friday in Saudi Arabia.
As seen below, Lesnar came out to destroy Rollins following a beatdown from Baron Corbin, who will challenge Rollins in a singles match at Friday’s pay-per-view. Paul Heyman kept encouraging his client to cash in, but Lesnar yelled at him and said “Friday!” to indicate the cash in will come at Super ShowDown. Lesnar has been advertised for Super ShowDown since it was announced, but his plans were up in the air following the announcement of Corbin vs. Rollins.
WWE commentator Corey Graves took to Twitter to point out some major plot holes with the current Brock Lesnar – Stephanie McMahon storyline.
Lesnar and Paul Heyman had said that they would announce on last Monday’s RAW if Lesnar would be cashing in his Money In the Bank title shot against WWE Universal Champion Seth Rollins or WWE Champion Kofi Kingston. That announcement never happened as during a segment on RAW, Lesnar realized that he had one year to cash in the briefcase.
Stephanie released a video on Friday stating that WWE will take action against Lesnar and Heyman. The announcement was confusing, as Money In The Bank cash-in teases have been the norm since the gimmick started. My guess would be that there have been more cash-in teases than cash-ins themselves. Heyman then announced that Lesnar will be cashing in the Money In the Bank contract this Monday on RAW against Rollins.
Graves addressed how confusing the storyline is on Twitter, writing, “So, he’s is cashing in because the boss was mad at him for not cashing in when he said he was, even though the point of the contract is to cash in at the holder’s discretion? Where’s my new chair?”
If Lesnar does in fact wrestle on RAW this Monday, it will be his first match on RAW or SmackDown in over 15 years. The last time he wrestled on regular WWE television was on the March 2, 2004 episode of SmackDown where he defeated Hardcore Holly. His last match on RAW was years earlier in 2002, when he defeated Tommy Dreamer on the July 22nd episode.
You can check out Graves’ tweet below:
So, he’s is cashing in because the boss was mad at him for not cashing in when he said he was, even though the point of the contract is to cash in at the holder’s discretion? 🤯
Paul Heyman took to Twitter this afternoon and announced that Brock Lesnar will cash in his Money In the Bank briefcase on WWE Universal Champion Seth Rollins during Monday’s RAW from Austin, Texas.
As noted, Stephanie McMahon released a video that condemned the actions of Lesnar and Heyman on this week’s RAW. Stephanie promised that the McMahon Family and the WWE executive team would take action on the two during Monday’s RAW.
Heyman responded and said Lesnar will be cashing in on RAW.
“Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Paul Heyman and I am the advocate for Mr. Money In the Bank 2019, Brock Lesnar. My client has been apprised of WWE’s condemnation of his actions, as spewed forth in a diatribe by Stephanie McMahon. There is no need for an executive meeting, there is no need for the McMahon Family to get together, ever. What there is a need for is my client to be proactive, rather than reactive. Therefore, ladies and gentlemen, please be advised, my client Brock Lesnar hereby cashes in the Money In the Bank contract, effective this Monday, June 3, 2019, between the hours of 8pm and 11pm ET, at a moment of his choosing, live on Monday Night RAW against the reigning, defending, undisputed Universal Heavyweight Champion, Seth Rollins.
“And now that the WWE Universe has been apprised, and the McMahon Family has been apprised, and the executive team has been apprised, a personal message to Seth Rollins from my client, Brock Lesnar – Mr. Rollins, here comes the pain,” Heyman said.
We noted before how the AEW mention was edited off the YouTube replay, but it was left on the USA Network website and app replay. The mention was also left in the Hulu replay, which is usually heavily edited.
While multiple sources are now reporting that the line was scripted, many if not most people within the company were told otherwise. It was previously reported that Vince McMahon “flipped out” backstage when Sami made the mention, and he did act like he was freaking out, according to the Observer. The Observer notes that since the buck stops with Vince in WWE, either his behavior was a miscommunication, which is what the Observer was told, or an attempt to “work the boys” backstage.
Stephanie McMahon released a video from WWE HQ this afternoon to address what happened with Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman on this week’s RAW.
Lesnar and Heyman were set to announce who he would be cashing in his Money In the Bank title shot against – WWE Universal Champion Seth Rollins or WWE Champion Kofi Kingston. That announcement never came and the angle ended with Lesnar just realizing that he had one year to cash in the briefcase. Stephanie says they will take action against Lesnar and Heyman.
“WWE renounces and in fact condemns the behavior of Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman on Monday Night RAW this past week,” Stephanie said. “Brock Lesnar walked to the ring with the Money In the Bank briefcase fashioned as some kind of boom box, let alone making promises about announcing who they were going to face and cash in the Money In the Bank briefcase against, which they did not do. But they also disrespected what the Money In the Bank contract represents, they disrespected both the Universal Champion as well as the WWE Champion, and in fact, I think they disrespected the entire WWE, as well as the WWE Universe.
“So, on behalf of our organization, on behalf of all our fans, I’m going to take this matter up officially with both the McMahon Family as well as our executive team, and we are going to take action.”
It will be interesting to see where the storyline goes on Monday’s RAW. Lesnar is scheduled to be at next Friday’s WWE Super ShowDown event in Saudi Arabia, but no opponent has been named. He could participate in the 50-Man Battle Royal, but there’s been no talk of that happening. Rollins is scheduled to defend against Baron Corbin at Super ShowDown while Kingston will defend against Dolph Ziggler.
WWE has announced that The Undertaker will be returning on next Monday’s RAW from the Frank Erwin Center in Austin, Texas.
This will be the final RAW before WWE Super ShowDown in Saudi Arabia, where Taker will face WWE Hall of Famer Bill Goldberg for the first time. There’s no word yet on if Goldberg will be at RAW to help promote the match.
This will be Taker’s first WWE appearance since the post-WrestleMania 35 RAW from Brooklyn back in April. That show saw Taker destroy Elias in an in-ring segment.
There have been conflicting reports over whether or not Sami Zayn’s AEW name-drop on last night’s WWE RAW was scripted. Dave Meltzer noted on Wrestling Observer Radio that the line was scripted, but co-host Bryan Alvarez said he heard otherwise. PWInsider then reported that several sources said Zayn’s AEW line was not scripted, and was likely something that Zayn improvised as he is known to pitch his own verbiage for promos. PWInsider also pointed to how WWE could have used their 15-second delay to bleep the plug out, if they had a real issue with it.
In an update, Alvarez noted on Wrestling Observer Live yesterday that Vince McMahon was furious when AEW was mentioned live on RAW. Alvarez fueled the speculation with stories from multiple sources.
“These are two facts about the situation, alright? There are absolutely people who insist that Sami was given the OK to mention AEW, alright?,” Alvarez said. “I’ve even heard from one person who said that in the script that went around in the morning yesterday, it was in the script that he was going to mention AEW. One person said that. I had another person say, and Dave had people tell him that it was a scripted line. Now, with that said, I heard from multiple people, far more people in fact, and people that heard from other people, that all said, the line was not scripted, the line was not supposed to be said.
“I was also told from multiple people that when it happened, Vince flipped his lid. He was furious that this happened, OK? So, that’s literally… those are the two things that I can tell you. So, however you want to figure out what the hell is going on here, there’s various ways that you could explain this. The one that people seem to think is the most likely, is that a small number of people were told that he was given the OK, and that they’re working the boys and flipping out about it. I don’t know what the answer is, all I know is that some people were told that he was given the OK, but most people said that he wasn’t, and that Vince flipped out. I wasn’t there, I don’t know how the flip out occurred, I wasn’t there to witness it, but I do know that the people there who absolutely 100% believed that he was very angry, that this was not him putting on a show for people, that this was not him trying to work the boys, that he was angry when this got on the air. I don’t know how to explain everything, I just know that’s what happened last night.”
If the line was not scripted, it’s believed that Zayn could face some sort of consequences. Meltzer speculated that he could be suspended. Stay tuned for updates on the situation and check out the name-drop in the clip below. As we’ve noted, WWE did edit the AEW mention out of the segment that was posted to YouTube, seen below.
Sami Zayn name-dropping All Elite Wrestling on Monday’s RAW episode was reportedly scripted, according to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio. As seen below, WWE edited the line out of the video that they uploaded on their YouTube channel.
Sami was a guest for a new segment on RAW called “Electric Chair”, where a wrestler sat in an electric chair while Charly Caruso, Kayla Braxton and Sarah Schreiber took questions from fans in the crowd. After several questions, Sami ripped on the crowd for what he was being asked. Sami said that they could ask him about anything, including about his love life, if he was a good kisser and “even about AEW.” The crowd popped for the AEW reference and Seth Rollins’ music immediately hit.
The questions in the segment were from real fans, however their questions were screened. Meltzer said a backstage source noted that the AEW mention “was so f–king stupid.” Meltzer’s co-host, Brian Alvarez, said that he heard from a different source that the line wasn’t scripted, however Meltzer noted that the person who he spoke to was in the meeting before the show.
You can hear the name-drop in the Twitter clip below:
AJ Styles was pulled due to injury from last night’s WWE RAW Fatal 4 Way Elimination match with Braun Strowman, The Miz and Bobby Lashley, with the winner going on to face WWE Universal Champion Seth Rollins at Super ShowDown. Styles was replaced by Baron Corbin, who ended up winning the match.
Styles later appeared in a backstage RAW segment with Charly Caruso and noted that he felt his back pop during the recent Money In the Bank loss to Rollins. That was the last time he wrestled. Styles was dropped by Corbin in that backstage segment, but that’s the only physical action he saw this week. When asked how long he will be out of action, Styles noted that he still has more tests that need to be done.
There’s been speculation on Styles’ injury being a work, but apparently he has been working hurt. PWInsider reports that word going around RAW was that Styles is “banged up” but there’s no word on the nature of his injury beyond that.
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