More Details On Why Sami Zayn Mentioned AEW On Raw, Vince McMahon’s Reaction

More details have come to light regarding why Sami Zayn mentioned AEW during the electric chair Q&A segment on this past Monday’s Raw.

In this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer noted that Zayn was given direction to namedrop All Elite, with the idea seemingly being that it would make Raw feel more “edgy”.

The mention was actually edited out of the YouTube version of the segment, but apparently this was just to get the “edginess” over more, rather than being removed because WWE officials didn’t actually want it in.

To back up the idea that it was indeed directed, Meltzer makes mention that there is a delay on live programming which would have left ample time for it to have been edited out of the broadcast should WWE have wanted it to be.

The Hulu version of the show, which is usually very heavily edited had the namedrop left in too.

Vince McMahon was reportedly “freaking out” backstage when Zayn dropped the line, which would leave two possibilities:

1. It was a miscommunication and he didn’t realize it was in the script (what Meltzer had been told by sources)
2. It was an attempt to work everyone (a very risky tactic that could lead to distrust backstage)

The mention specifically came when the segment had gotten to the end of the fan questions, which Zayn criticized for being rubbish and said “you could have asked me about AEW!”

Probably fair to say he had a point.

This coincidentally came just two nights after AEW’s very successful Double or Nothing show last Saturday, which played host to AEW’s first Meltzer-rated five-star match:

• RAW
• Sami Zayn
• Vince McMahon
• AEW

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