WWE: Piper Niven RAW Absence Update, Reason for No Chad Gable vs. Gunther Match at Payback, More News

Sep 5, 2023

Piper Niven RAW Absence & Health Status Update

Monday’s WWE RAW show in Charlotte, North Carolina featured a backstage segment involving Chelsea Green and WWE official Adam Pearce. During the segment, Pearce revealed that Piper Niven was not medically cleared to compete at the show.

Fightful Select reported that their sources stated that the reason for Niven not being medically cleared to compete at Monday’s RAW show was not due to anything injury related. Instead, it was reported that Niven is currently dealing with a short term illness that WWE officials currently expect her to only be out of action for at least one to two weeks if all goes well for her.

It was also reported that despite her illness, WWE officials currently do not have any plans for Green and Niven to vacate their titles nor for Green to have a new tag team partner to replace Niven.

Reason Why Chad Gable vs. Gunther for Intercontinental Title Was Not Planned for WWE Payback 2023

Monday’s WWE RAW show in Charlotte also featured Gunther successfully retaining his Intercontinental Championship against Chad Gable clearing the way of him breaking Honky Tonk Man’s record for longest ever Intercontinental title reign in WWE history later this week.

Fightful Select reported that their sources stated that the reason why WWE officials did not have this match take place at this past Saturday’s Payback 2023 event was due to WWE officials wanting to keep their runtime in order for the event and also push Gunther’s last stop title defense closer to the date of the Intercontinental title record. WWE officials also wanted to highlight the match more fthan they felt it would have been at their Payback 2023 event.

It was reported that this is part of WWE’s current strategy when it comes to their booking mentality for Premium Live Events so that the event runtimes do not “overstay their welcome” and especially for their PLEs that are not larger stadium events. This reportedly has caused many matches that normally would have been on pay-per-view events to take place on RAW and SmackDown shows instead.

It was also reported that one source spoken to reportedly stated that WWE officials never had any real plans to bring in Honky Tonk Man for last week’s RAW show in Memphis for something involving the Intercontinental title.

WWE News & Notes

The Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer reported that due to this week’s Labor Day holiday, ratings releases for last week’s SmackDown show and this week’s RAW and NXT shows have been delayed. The ratings release for this past Friday’s SmackDown show will be released today, Monday’s RAW show ratings to be released this Wednesday, and Tuesday’s NXT show ratings to be released this Thursday.

Monday’s WWE RAW show in Charlotte, North Carolina featured WWE official Adam Pearce revealing that WWE’s SmackDown brand will be receiving “trade compensation” over former SmackDown brand talent Jey Uso recently moving to the RAW brand’s roster. No other details regarding this trade deal between the two brands was given by Pearce.

WWE held a recent digital exclusive backstage interview with Gunther discussing his thoughts about his victory over Chad Gable to retain his Intercontinental Championship at Monday’s RAW show and guaranteed his all-time record setting title reign. Gunther stated “What’s going through my mind? I’m not surprised. From the moment on I won this prestigious championship, I saw the vision. I envisioned this very moment, that I’m the one to redefine history, redefine the legacy of the Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship. I heard them talking, I heard them discussing their childhood heroes, Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels. I heard them them talk about Steve Austin, The Rock. The reality is, when that bell rings, they all can come line up and lace my boots. Because as long as I’m alive, there’s no man born yet to take this title off me again.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)

WWE held two matches prior to the start of Monday’s RAW show in Charlotte for this week’s Main Event tapings. These matches were Bronson Reed defeating Akira Tozawa in a singles match and Tomasso Ciampa defeating Riddick Moss in a singles match as well.

PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that his sources stated that Bobby Roode and Nick Aldis were seen working as producers backstage at Monday’s RAW show in Charlotte. Johnson reported that Roode worked as a producer for both that night’s RAW and Main Event tapings while Aldis continued his producer tryout work for the company. In a separate report, Johnson reported that Aldis had worked alongside Michael Hayes as the producers of The Judgement Day in-ring promo segment on the show.

As noted before, WWE is currently believed to have brought back the Authors of Pain and signed them to a contract in 2022. PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that his sources stated that former AoP manager Paul Ellering was seen in Orlando, Florida on Monday. Orlando is the location where WWE’s Performance Center currently resides in.

WWE’s Payback 2023 event this past Saturday in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania reportedly generated 100,000 searches and a #19 ranking on Google for that day, according to the Wrestling Observer.

As noted before, WWE currently has scheduled for their next event in Saudi Arabia to take place on November 4th. PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that his sources stated that this upcoming event will be this year’s Crown Jewel event and will be taking place in Riyadh.