Raw Script Ripped Up By Vince McMahon, Jax/Flair Match Problems
Vince McMahon reportedly “ripped up the script” several times ahead of the August 30th episode of Monday Night RAW. The WWE Chairman was apparently not in a good mood when he saw what was planned for this week’s show.
Ahead of the show, WWE had announced three high-profile matches. These were Bobby Lashley vs. Sheamus, The Miz vs. John Morrison and Eva Marie vs. Doudrop. By the time the show went off the air, none of the advertised matches had taken place. Although Doudrop and Eva Marie made it to the ring, the Scottish Superstar attacked Marie before the match could begin.
After the show, Mike Johnson of PWInsider reported that the script for the show changed multiple times, as Vince McMahon was “extremely unhappy” with the original plans.
The report notes that August 30th was one of the longest days for the creative team with the script being ripped up multiple times. McMahon then began requesting new ideas, some of which were reportedly better than others. The Chairman rejected every idea put to him before laying down the new plans himself.
“Until 6 PM EST, there was no official direction or plan for the episode.
One source who went through the process described it as “the loudest and angriest” they’d ever seen McMahon on a show day.”
When RAW finally got underway it didn’t quite pass off without incident. The match between Nia Jax and Charlotte Flair ended up catching the eye of many fans on social media for all of the wrong reasons. During the bout, it appeared Jax simply dropped Flair from her shoulders onto the mat, and the pair seemingly exchanged ‘real’ slaps and punches in the ring.
It has since been reported that the match did descend into a “legitimate confrontation” before the finish went ahead as planned.
Elsewhere on the show, Damian Priest defended his United States Championship against Drew McIntyre and Sheamus in what was clearly the match of the night. While RKO-Bro retained the RAW Tag Team Titles with victory over MVP and WWE Champion Bobby Lashley.