Report: WWE Raw Finishes Changed Prior To Show

This week on WWE Raw, The O.C. picked up a victory over Humberto Carillo and The Street Profits with Styles getting the pinfall on Carillo.  Also on the show, Natalya and Charlotte Flair picked up a tag team win over The Kabuki Warriors.

In the women’s tag match, Natalya scored a victory by tapping out Asuka.  However, according to Dave Meltzer, neither of these were the planned finishes for the matches originally.

Apparently, the original plan was for Carillo to get a pinfall victory over AJ Styles in the match.  The Carillo win was intended to set up a feud with AJ Styles over The United States Title.

Due to The O.C. Invading NXT, plans changed.  AJ Styles had pitched The O.C. vs. The Undisputed Era at Survivor Series.

Supposedly that match is not going to happen on the pay-per-view but will eventually take place on NXT television.  Because it’s now slated to be on NXT, WWE felt like NXT couldn’t afford to have another loss to the main roster on its home turf.

The Kabuki Warriors beating Team Kick was the first.  So, WWE wanted The O.C. to look strong and felt they couldn’t afford a loss going into that match.

Therefore, Carillo and The Street Profits had to lose.  Since The Street Profits are being protected, the loss fell to Carillo.

That is now 4 straight pinfall losses for Carillo on the main roster.  So much for getting off to a hot start.

As for the Natalya match, the original plans were for Asuka to actually tap out Natalya.  Meltzer claims the reason for this change was the amount of positive publicity Natalya was getting for the Saudi Arabia win.

The reason Asuka was slated to win originally was that she was being set up to face Becky Lynch for the Raw Women’s Title.  No word on if that is still happening, but the feeling is a loss to her in a random tag team match shouldn’t derail the push.

How’s that for convoluted booking procedures? You want to push Carillo and Asuka but put them in matches where you don’t feel anyone can lose.

WWE has one of the deepest rosters ever created.  They got stars who are begging to be put on television.  Why not put Cedric Alexander in Carillo’s spot?  Or Cesaro. Or Mike Kanellis. Or Apollo Crews.  The list goes on.

For the women, Kairi Sane has already lost to Lynch recently.  She could have easily taken the loss.

Or, again, find another pair of women for them to beat.  I don’t get it.

Why does WWE keep booking themselves into corners and cutting the legs out of talented superstars who might actually get over with the crowd if you let them win early in their debuts?  I guess Vince has his reasons.

• RAW
• Triple H
• Vince McMahon
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