On the June 19th episode of Monday Night Raw, things went very wrong for Seth Rollins.
After coming to the ring for his World Heavyweight Title open challenge, the star was attacked by Finn Balor, not once but twice. It was reported after the show that the decision to scrap the match and run an angle instead came directly from Vince McMahon. The Executive Chairman reportedly believed that this would do more to advance the story between Rollins and Balor ahead of their match at Money In The Bank.
With Rollins taken out, Miz came to the ring and laid down a challenge of his own which was answered by Tommaso Ciampa. The former NXT Champion hadn’t been seen on the red brand since undergoing hip surgery which had kept him out of action since September.
It has now been reported that Ciampa was always meant to answer an open challenge, it just wasn’t supposed to be the one from The Miz.
A new report from Fightful Select noted that Ciampa was supposed to take on Rollins and the match would have been given a “ton” of time. Furthermore, Ciampa wouldn’t have ended the night being beaten, instead, there would have been some kind of disqualification finish.
There have been plans for Ciampa to reunite with Johnny Gargano now he’s back in action, although this wasn’t scheduled for Raw.
Ronda Rousey Potentially Following Seth Rollins To NXT
After his beatdown on Raw, Seth Rollins headed to NXT just 24 hours later to defend his World Heavyweight Championship against Bron Breakker. The match was praised across the board, and Rollins kept up his reputation as a fighting champion.
The move also gave NXT’s ratings a healthy boost, something that has undoubtedly gone down well backstage. With this in mind, it has been reported that Ronda Rousey could soon follow suit by appearing on the developmental brand alongside Shaya Baszler.