WWE Star Receiving “Lots Of Praise” Following Raw

One WWE star is the subject of backstage praise following his performance on Monday Night Raw.

Ahead of the June 5th episode of Raw, Seth Rollins issued an open challenge to defend his newly-won World Heavyweight Championship. Triple H first announced the creation of the new title back in May, and at Night of Champions, Rollins defeated AJ Styles to become the inaugural champion in this iteration of the belt.

During the red brand’s opening segment in Hartford, CT, Rollins was confronted by Finn Balor and Damien Priest of The Judgment Day. Priest was the one to officially answer the open challenge, but Rollins got in some verbal jabs on Balor as well, pointing out their history and mocking him for getting injured during their WWE Universal Championship match back in 2016. Priest agreed to Rollins’ stipulation that there be no outside interference in the main event, much to Balor’s chagrin.

At one point in the match, Rollins re-created his infamous buckle bomb spot that injured Balor’s shoulder in their Universal Championship match. Despite agreeing to no outside interference, Balor made his presence known in the match, delivering a cheap shot to Rollins and nearly costing him his title. However, Rollins overcame the interference and was able to defeat Damian Priest with a Stomp. Balor and Rollins stared at one another to end the show.

According to a report from PWInsider, there was “lots of praise internally” for Damian Priest’s work against Rollins on the show.

According to reports, Vince McMahon was backstage during Raw for the first time since the night after WrestleMania. Hartford, CT is not far from where McMahon lives, so the show didn’t require McMahon to travel. He is not expected to be a regular backstage figure and has been making changes to the shows remotely in recent weeks. He reported re-worked a good deal of last night’s show.