People In WWE ‘Trying’ To Stop Vince McMahon Changing Plans

WWE

Vince McMahon’s creative influence has been the topic of conversation recently, especially after the recent episode of WWE SmackDown.

The June 23 episode of WWE SmackDown saw “major changes” under the instruction of Vince McMahon with “most of the SmackDown script” being changed.

Among the changes on the chopping block were Bayley vs Shotzi, a triple threat between LA Knight, Butch and Santos Escobar, and Baron Corbin vs Cameron Grimes.

Bayley vs Shotzi and Corbin vs Grimes were advertised and then scrapped, while LA Knight ended up in a singles match against Rey Mysterio.

Dave Meltzer addressed the recent changes and the backstage reaction to them on Wrestling Observer Radio, saying:

“He re-did the entire show (SmackDown). I’ve heard a lot about this, and I know that there’s rumors that… everyone’s gotta be, like, treading on water. Because I am sure, logic will tell you, that there are many unhappy people. And Paul Levesque has to be one of them.

“These are matches that were built up with promos, they’ve been promoted for a week, they did the angles last week, and then just take them away like nothing.

“So it’s gotta be frustrating for the writers, it’s gotta be frustrating for Paul Levesque. But the thing is, it’s Vince, right? And you can’t say anything.

“That’s what somebody brought up to me, if you’re a writer, you can’t say anything to Vince. Even if you’re Paul Levesque you can’t say anything to Vince because you’re f**ked if you say anything to Vince. So you can’t say anything.

“They’re trying to figure out a way to have him not do this. One person noted to me like, it would be a lot better if you did it the day before, or two days before. But he’s doing it the day of the show.

“(Last) Monday wasn’t bad, it was only he dumped the Seth Rollins and Ciampa match, and I knew a lot of people who thought it was for the better, because the Finn Balor attacking Seth Rollins, it adds more heat to the pay-per-view.”

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Meltzer would go on to discuss where McMahon’s priorities are when it comes to the television product, stating:

“Yeah, you missed out on Seth Rollins and Ciampa, would have probably had a really good match. Ciampa would have lost but it would have been… I think he would have benefited a lot more losing to Seth than he would beating Miz. He didn’t get anything out of beating Miz. But, he’s not Vince’s priority.

“Just like this week, whatever they were gonna do with Shotzi and Bayley, Shotzi and Bayley aren’t Vince’s priority. Cameron Grimes and Baron Corbin aren’t Vince’s priority.

“They added that Rey Mysterio/LA Knight match for LA Knight to get a win, so obviously Vince has gotta be somewhat high on LA Knight, and in Vince’s eyes, Rey is a guy that you always beat because people will always get into his matches and he’s bulletproof and all that.”

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As for McMahon’s impact on the product, Meltzer would suggest that it’s an obvious thing to see, concluding:

“When I saw that unadvertised match when I was watching it, before I had even heard, it was like ‘This is Vince. I know Vince’s MO with Rey’.

“All these things that are advertised that don’t happen in the last couple of weeks, they’re always, or 90% of the time or more, they’re Vince. But this one was the most because it was three matches advertised all pulled hours before the show. So there was a lot of frustration. But it’s Vince.

“I’m sure there’s gonna be people who are gonna try to ask him nicely, but it’s Vince, he’s gonna do what he’s gonna do.”

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McMahon’s creative control was recently discussed by Ricochet, who noted that “Vince is still involved and Vince is still talked to.”

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• Creative
• WWE creative
• Vince McMahon
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