As noted, last night’s WWE RAW saw a few major re-writes as Monday was an “absolute travel day from hell” for a large portion of the RAW roster traveling into Seattle. Since a number of wrestlers were not expected to make it to RAW in time, this led to multiple creative changes to the show. It was reported on Monday evening that there were also a number of talents en route to RAW, who they were hoping would make it in time, but their segments would be last second additions, if they are able to land and make it to the Climate Pledge Arena in time. Monday was described as a “pretty stressful day” for the creative team as they were forced to basically put together a show with the limited performers they had available.
In an update, a new report from PWInsider notes that Damian Priest, Matt Riddle, Undisputed WWE Tag Team Champion Sami Zayn and RAW Women’s Champion Bianca Belair were among the unfortunate victims of the travel issues as they had multiple delays and problems getting to Seattle for RAW.
It was noted that around a third of last night’s RAW had to be rewritten due to the travel issues.
To make things worse, many of the wrestlers arrived after they could have gotten to the arena, and went all the way to Seattle only to be booked to return home last night on red-eye flights, so they literally flew across the country only to then turn around and fly right back home.
Zayn and Riddle got to RAW late in the show, just in time to fight with The Bloodline after the main event, which saw Solo Sikoa defeat Undisputed WWE Tag Team Champion Kevin Owens.
Other planned segments that ended up being nixed were Riddle vs. The Miz and Priest addressing Bad Bunny. The LWO was originally scheduled for a six-man match on last night’s RAW, but WWE went with Finn Balor vs. 2023 WWE Hall of Famer Rey Mysterio instead.
The Wrestling Observer adds that SmackDown Women’s Champion Rhea Ripley and The Street Profits were also a part of the delayed travel group flying out of Orlando to Seattle. The Miz also was not at last night’s RAW. Johnny Gargano and Candice LeRae were never scheduled for RAW, so they were not a part of the affected group. The Observer also indicated that Riddle vs. Miz may have been nixed for reasons unrelated to the travel issues, but that was not confirmed.
WWE acknowledged the travel issues as soon as RAW hit the air with Corey Graves saying some Superstars couldn’t make the show due to travel issues, but the ones there were ready to tear it down.
WWE Chairman Vince McMahon was not present for last night’s RAW in Seattle, but he did go over the original plans for the show. It was said that there were no massive changes made to RAW because of Vince.