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Bleacher Report catches you up on the latest news from the WWE Universe.
Raw Reportedly Featured Multiple Script Rewrites
Monday night’s episode of WWE Raw reportedly wasn’t finalized until shortly before the show went live on USA Network.
According to PWInsider’s Mike Johnson, there was “a lot of ripping up of the script” throughout the day Monday, and much of the first hour of Raw wasn’t decided until 35 to 45 minutes before the show started.
The first hour of Raw was largely dedicated to the WWE Championship scene, as Bobby Lashley and MVP opened with a promo that was interrupted first by Drew McIntyre and then by Kofi Kingston.
WWE official Adam Pearce then booked a match between McIntyre and Kingston with the winner going on to face Lashley for the WWE Championship at Hell in a Cell.
Lashley and MVP interfered in the match, resulting in a double disqualification, meaning it is still unclear who Lashley’s opponent will be.
Pearce went on to announce that McIntyre and Kingston will face off again next week, but if Lashley shows up ringside during the match, he will be suspended for 90 days without pay.
Monday’s episode of Raw featured multiple long matches and focused more on in-ring action than promo work.
Reports of WWE Chairman Vince McMahon rewriting scripts to his liking until minutes before shows start have been leaking for years, so it comes as little surprise that something similar may have happened Monday.
Edge Advertised to Appear at July 16 SmackDown
Edge has not been seen on WWE programming since WrestleMania 37, but his absence may be set to end.
According to WrestlingInc.com’s Marc Middleton, Edge is being advertised for the July 16 episode of SmackDown at the Toyota Center in Houston.
That show will mark the first stop on WWE’s 25-city tour running from July 16 through Sept. 6, and it will also be the first WWE show with a live crowd since early last year, aside from WrestleMania 37.
At WrestleMania, Edge faced Roman Reigns and Daniel Bryan in the main event for the Universal Championship. Reigns was victorious, as he stacked Edge and Bryan on top of each other and pinned them at the same time.
Given the 47-year-old veteran’s status as a part-time wrestler, it comes as little surprise that Edge has been taking some time off before eventually returning to the fold.
Since Edge is one of WWE’s biggest and most well-known stars, it makes perfect sense to bring him back for what should be one of the biggest shows of the year.
WWE is also advertising Sasha Banks for that show, and she has barely been seen since WrestleMania 37 either.
After dropping the title to Bianca Belair in the main event of Night 1 of WrestleMania 37, Sasha made a brief appearance on the following SmackDown, but she has not been seen since.
Balor Desires Eventual Return to WWE Main Roster
Finn Balor has enjoyed a great deal of success since returning to NXT in October 2019, but he doesn’t plan to remain with the black and yellow brand forever.
During an appearance on Out of Character with Ryan Satin of Fox Sports (h/t Felix Upton of Ringside News), Balor discussed his hope of returning to Raw or SmackDown one day:
“Absolutely [the idea of returning to the main roster interests me] obviously, I grew up as a wrestling fan watching WWE and I feel like that is where I want to be performing. I feel like in my last run there I wasn’t doing myself justice. I needed to change something and I went to NXT and I found out who I was again and I managed to do that to some level and I’m hopeful at some level that Raw or SmackDown will happen in the future.”
When Balor first arrived in WWE in 2014, he made a splash and quickly became NXT champion. Balor was eventually called up to the main roster in 2016, and it seemed as though there were big plans for him.
Balor became the first Universal champion in one of his first main roster matches at SummerSlam 2016, but he had to relinquish the title the next night because of injury.
While Balor went on to win the Intercontinental title, he never truly returned to the top of the card, and the wheels were set in motion for him to go back to NXT.
Since returning to NXT, Balor has been firing on all cylinders in terms of promo, character and in-ring work, and he is seemingly much better prepared to succeed on Raw or SmackDown.
First, Balor will look to become a three-time NXT champion on Tuesday when he challenges Karrion Kross for the title.
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