WWE Raw And Smackdown Backstage News And Producers For April 24-28

WWE Raw

– Cody Rhodes promo: Shane Helms

– LWO vs. Bloodline: Michael Hayes

– Damage CTRL vs. Bianca Belair, Liv Morgan & Raquel Rodriguez: Petey Williams

– Austin Theory promo: Adam Pearce

– Chad Gable vs. Mustafa Ali: Jason Jordan

– Cody Rhodes vs. Finn Balor: Shane Helms

– Seth Rollins promo: Jason Jordan

– Rey Mysterio vs. Damian Priest: Jamie Noble

Backstage News

– Candice LeRae vs. Piper Niven was slated to be produced by Molly Holly

– There was no producer listed for the Triple H segment

– Kenny Dykstra produced Main Event taping matches for Cora Jade vs. Nikki Cross and Dexter Lumis vs. Joe Gacy

– Becky Lynch was again not backstage at Raw.

– Zelina was backstage at WWE Raw. Tamina, Chelsea Green and other women who weren’t used were brought in.

– CM Punk was backstage at WWE Raw. He spoke with Triple H, Bobby Lashley, Baron Corbin, The Miz and Tamina, and was asked to leave.

It was made a point to hammer home that Brock Lesnar was “the most decorated combat sports star of all-time” on WWE Raw

Vince:

Vince McMahon’s involvement in WWE Raw this week was a hot topic.

Piper Niven vs. Candice LeRae was completely pulled from the card, as was a backstage segment that had them both involved with Trish Stratus. Both segments were on rundowns that were handed out by 7 PM EST. The match was replaced by Street Profits vs. Cedric Alexander & Shelton Benjamin

If you thought the Mustafa Ali vs. Chad Gable match was abrupt, there’s a reason. It was only scheduled for one segment, but still had minutes cut from it.

There were several matches that had time cut from them, there were winners and losers changed, and there were set ups to get into the finish changed.

Several of the female wrestlers have been vocal about their division’s segments constantly being cut. There was a backstage segment featuring women and Adam Pearce that was changed.

All of the other matches on Raw were the originally scheduled matches, but there were still plenty of changes. The card was not posted internally backstage until much later.’

Smackdown

Producers:

– Usos, KO and Owens promo, round 1 draft: Jason Jordan

– Butch vs. LA Knight: Michael Hayes

– Draft round 2, LWO vs. Street Profits vs. Braun Strowman & Ricochet: Adam Pearce

– Draft round 3, Zelina vs. Sonya Deville: TJ Wilson

– Draft round 4, backstage segments: Shawn Daivari

– Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn vs. The Usos: Jason Jordan

Backstage News

– Michael Hayes didn’t produce Bloodline related segments, which is a rarity on nights he works.

– There were several additional draft reactions filmed from NXT.

– Shotzi vs. Lacey Evans’ dark match was produced by Lacey Evans

– Matt Riddle vs. Solo Sikoa dark match was produced by Jason Jordan

– Raquel Rodriguez vs. Rhea Ripley dark match was produced by Jason Jordan.

– By the time of the show, most of the talent knew where they were headed in the draft, at least based on those we spoke to.

– There are plans for draft cameos on Monday as well.

– Those we spoke to on Saturday were puzzled by some of the “free agents,” including Omos, who had been booked against Brock Lesnar and Seth Rollins.

– AJ Styles was around all day backstage and was not hidden for his return.

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