WWE: Vince McMahon Made Many Changes to Mon’s RAW, Carmelo Hayes on RAW In-Ring Debut, More News

Vince McMahon Reportedly Made Many Late Changes to Monday’s RAW Show Plans

WWE Executive Chairman Vince McMahon reportedly made many late changes to the original plans for Monday’s RAW show in Savannah, Georgia, according to PWInsider.

Mike Johnson reported that his sources stated that Monday’s show had a lot of “Vince McMahon fingerprints” all over it. Johnson reported that McMahon was not physically present backstage and instead had made all of the changes from a remote location.

Those spoken to reportedly stated that the current belief within the company is that McMahon’s influence over the creative direction of WWE shows will likely grow in the coming weeks and months as Endeavor’s acquisition of WWE becomes a reality.

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Carmelo Hayes Comments on His In-Ring WWE RAW Debut at Monday’s RAW Show

Monday’s WWE RAW show in Savannah, Georgia featured a singles match of Carmelo Hayes vs. Finn Balor, which was won by Balor.

Following the match, WWE held a digital exclusive backstage interview with Hayes discussing his thoughts on his in-ring debut for WWE’s RAW brand.

“I mean, shoot, I can’t take away from Finn Balor, Judgment Day. Finn is one of the best in the world. If I gotta take a loss to one of the best in the world, I can accept that. But listen, the important thing is tomorrow night against Baron Corbin for the NXT Championship. I’m not 100%, but I believe I can beat Baron at 75%, at 50%, at 25%. I know he’s gonna put up a great fight, but I’m ready, man. I might have taken a loss, but I look in the mirror and I’m still Carmelo Hayes, so that’s a W.”

Following the show, Hayes reflected some more on Twitter about his official in-ring RAW debut.

Debuted on #WWERaw . Gotta let it sink in… Dream come true. Win or loss, still HIM.

— Carmelo Hayes (@Carmelo_WWE) June 27, 2023

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com

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WWE News & Notes

Monday’s RAW show in Savannah, Evans featured Cody Rhodes’ dog Pharaoh making his official on-screen WWE debut. In a backstage interview segment on the show, Rhodes was seen petting his dog and challenged Damian Priest to a match later in the show.

Monday’s RAW show in Savannah also featured Giovanni Vinci making his surprise return from injury. Vinci made his surprise return during Gunther’s match with Sami Zayn on the show. Near the end of the match, Vinci attacked Zayn with his crutch leading to Gunther hitting Zayn with a powerbomb for a pinfall victory. This was Vinci’s first appearance in WWE since the June 5th RAW show.

Monday’s 2023 NHL Awards event featured Sheamus among the presenters for this past NHL season’s awards.

WWE recently released a video featuring WWE Hall of Famers Mick Foley and The Undertaker rewatching their iconic Hell in a Cell match from King of the Ring 1998 in celebration of this week being the 25th anniversary of the match.

As noted before, Braun Strowman has been out of action for WWE since this past May due to a neck-related injury and surgery. Strowman recently provided an update on Twitter stating “I’m not gonna lie. This is hard. I hate not being able to do what I love. Especially after it was taken away from me two years ago. Being back where I love and then again having it taken away again by things that I couldn’t control yet again is hard. I just want to wrestle!“