WWE Rumors on Vince McMahon’s Involvement, Raw Travel Issues, Eric Young’s Return | News, Scores, Highlights, Stats, and Rumors

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Vince McMahon Reportedly Didn’t Heavily Influence Raw Script

WWE chairman Vince McMahon reportedly didn’t make any significant changes to the script for Monday night’s episode of Raw.

According to Mike Johnson of PWInsider.com, McMahon did not attend Monday’s Raw in Seattle. He did review the script from the WWE offices in Stamford, Connecticut, but reportedly didn’t make “massive changes.”

Last week, Endeavor Group Holdings purchased 51 percent of WWE and merged it into one company with the UFC. McMahon was named executive chairman of the entire operation.

McMahon had retired from his roles as WWE chairman, CEO and head of creative last summer amid an investigation into sexual misconduct allegations, but he returned in January to facilitate a sale of the company.

Triple H took over as head of creative in McMahon’s absence, but Johnson reported that McMahon was backstage for last week’s Raw and “firmly back in charge.”

McMahon reportedly rewrote much of the original script, and the show was not well-received by fans, especially since expectations are usually high for the Raw after WrestleMania.

For the ensuing episode of SmackDown, McMahon was reportedly not backstage, however. That carried over to Monday, which suggests McMahon being present for the shows will not be the norm.

The WWE product has been viewed far more favorably under the leadership of Triple H, and if he largely remains in charge of the creative direction, WWE figures to continue on its upward trajectory in terms of quality and fan interest.

Travel Issues Reportedly Necessitated Raw Rewrites

While McMahon didn’t have much of an impact on the script for Monday’s Raw, another factor reportedly did.

According to Andrew Zarian of the Wrestling Observer (h/t WrestlingInc’s Shaun Ranft), 50 percent of the Raw roster was not in Seattle at the start of the show because of travel issues, leading to “major rewrites.”

Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer (h/t Ranft) added that some Superstars would not be able to arrive until later in the show and some wouldn’t arrive at all, forcing the creative team to switch some things around.

Perhaps the biggest advertised match that didn’t happen was Matt Riddle against The Miz after Riddle made his return to WWE programming last week by attacking Miz.

WWE acknowledged on Raw that there were travel issues keeping multiple stars out of Seattle, and it was used as part of a storyline as well.

Kevin Owens faced Solo Sikoa in the main event of Raw, and Paul Heyman noted that Owens had no backup to counteract Sikoa and The Usos since Sami Zayn and Riddle could not make it to Raw.

After Solo beat Owens, he and The Usos attacked KO, but Zayn and Riddle ran into the arena and cleared the ring at the end of the show.

The Miz did not end up appearing on the show, and other top Raw stars who were not present included Raw women’s champion Bianca Belair, Seth Rollins, United States champion Austin Theory, Asuka and The Street Profits.

Eric Young Reportedly Signed with WWE in November

Despite having not made his return to WWE programming, Eric Young has reportedly been under a WWE contract for months.

According to Fightful Select (h/t WrestlingInc’s Ross W. Berman IV), Young signed with WWE in November, but he has not made his on-screen return and reportedly hasn’t been seen backstage at any WWE shows.

Impact Wrestling reportedly knew that Young intended to sign with WWE as far back as October, and it wrote him off its television show in December.

The 43-year-old Young originally had a stint with WWE from 2016 through 2020, and he enjoyed his greatest success during that time in NXT.

As part of NXT, Young was the leader of a stable called Sanity, which included Alexander Wolfe, Nikki Cross and Sawyer Fulton, the latter of whom was eventually replaced by Killian Dain.

Collectively, Sanity held the NXT Tag Team Championships once before getting called up to the main roster. Little was done with the group on the main roster, and Young was released in 2020.

EY returned to Impact Wrestling for a few years, and during that time, he won the Impact World Championship for the second time in his career.

After Triple H took over as WWE’s head of creative last summer, he re-signed several wrestlers who had been released under McMahon.

Young was apparently part of that crop, but it isn’t yet clear if or when WWE is planning to reintroduce him to its audience.

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