Notes On The WWE Raw Changes On September 11, The Rock’s Return, Producers

WWE Raw on September 11, saw numerous changes even before the show went on the air.

Fightful spoke to numerous staff and talent who confirmed the changes were happening, but didn’t know specifically who made what changes throughout the night. Both Vince McMahon and Triple H were credited with making changes, which happened until shortly before the show went on the air. McMahon was not at the show and has not been physically present in months, but has made remote changes.

Among those changes included Cody Rhodes, who was scheduled to open WWE Raw, being moved to later in the show. Instead, Jey Uso opened the show. Cody’s segment ended up getting the same amount of time as it would have otherwise.

Viking Raiders vs. Cedric Alexander and Shelton Benjamin was originally slated to happen after the Baszler/Chelsea Green match. It was only slated for one segment, and ended up getting moved to the Main Event tapings. Adam Pearce was scheduled to produce those.

Natalya vs. Zoey Stark (produced by Shawn Daivari) was originally slated to take place on the Main Event tapings and ended up being scrapped. Plans for them changed multiple times throughout the day, and Natalya was used in a backstage segment, but she was planned for that anyway.

We’re told that some of the time adjustments ended up going to the presentation of the main event between Raquel Rodriguez and Rhea Ripley.

Internally, there were two segments that weren’t listed with specifics — after the Judgment Day tag match, and after the six man tags. The Becky Lynch/Tiffany Stratton, and several Jey Uso segments were budgeted in those.

We asked a WWE talent about Vince McMahon’s general involvement over the weekend, and were told that McMahon was calling in changes as recently as Smackdown regarding minor details that were in the script. We’re working to find out how long he’s been contributing again, as he was out of action for a while following major spinal surgery.

Vince was at the merger announcement with Endeavor for TKO.

There was no meeting regarding the merger, and was said to be an otherwise normal WWE Raw backstage.

Raw Producers

– Cody Rhodes, Dominik, JD McDonagh promo: Michael Hayes

– Kevin Owens & Jey Uso vs. Finn Balor & Damian Priest: Michael Hayes

– Akira Tozawa vs. Miz: Shane Helms

– Gunther Celebration: Petey Williams & Robert Roode

– IMPERIUM vs. Ciampa & Alpha Academy: Petey Williams & Robert Roode

– Drew McIntyre vs. Xavier Woods: Chris Park & Nick Aldis

– Shayna Baszler vs. Chelsea Green: TJ Wilson

– Raquel Rodriguez vs. Rhea Ripley: Jason Jordan

MAIN EVENT:

– Cedric Alexander & Shelton Benjamin vs. Viking Raiders: Adam Pearce

Smackdown Producers

– AJ Styles vs. Finn Balor: Michael Hayes & Bobby Roode

– LWO vs. Street Profits: Jason Jordan

– LA Knight vs. The Miz: Jamie Noble

– Asuka vs. Bayley: Kenny Dykstra & Molly Holly

– John Cena on Grayson Waller Effect: Michael Hayes & Bobby Roode

Dark Matches

– Mia Yim & Zelina vs. Alba & Isla: Adam Pearce

– John Cena & AJ Styles vs. Jimmy Uso & Solo Sikoa: Jason Jordan

– Alpha Academy vs. Viking Raiders: Jason Jordan

Smackdown Notes:

– Fightful Select reported that The Rock and Pat McAfee would be at Smackdown on Friday.

– For obvious reasons, The Rock’s promo was not listed on internal rundowns.

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