WWE officials were forced to change immediate plans, and long-term directions, when Seth Rollins suffered an injury at Saturday Night’s Main Event. Sources are now revealing interesting details on what was planned for RAW’s biggest Superstars on their way to The Biggest Party of The Summer.
The Visionary suffered some sort of knee injury while wrestling LA Knight at SNME XL, then called an audible and took the loss. Sources have reported that the finish was changed on the fly as Rollins was scheduled to win. Rumors were then dismissed on WWE nixing a planned Money In the Bank cash-in during Gunther vs. Bill Goldberg, claiming this was never in the works, and that the only main SNME change Rollins’ injury forced was the match result with Knight. With that said, it was also acknowledged how the Rollins injury debacle led to an unfortunate event during Goldberg’s retirement speech, which a WWE official reportedly apologized for.
WWE’s Creative Writing Team did have a big angle planned for the main event but it was nixed due to what happened with Rollins, according to Bryan Alvarez on Wrestling Observer Live. The last 40 minutes of SNME were described as being in “disarray,” with sources claiming that something was planned for the end of the show, but it was not a cash-in by Rollins.
Certain staffers working the show were told, “We gotta change it,” when word of Rollins’ injury emerged. It was noted that workers were scrambling backstage to change course, but sources were unable to provide any further details on what was planned.’
WWE Nixes Big SummerSlam Match With Seth Rollins
Gunther watched from a suite as CM Punk became the new #1 contender to his World Heavyweight Championship in the RAW main event. Punk won a Gauntlet that included Bron Breakker, Jey Uso, LA Knight, and Penta.
Breakker defeated Penta first, then eliminated Knight and Uso, but was stopped by Punk for the win. After the match, Bronson Reed attacked Punk while Breakker attacked Uso. Roman Reigns made his surprise return to take out Breakker and Reed, then stood tall with Punk and Uso to end the show.
Reigns vs. Seth Rollins was reportedly the plan for SummerSlam coming out of last week’s RAW, which was the reason for Rollins’ promo. Speculation is that SummerSlam will now feature Reigns vs. Breakker, or Reigns and Uso vs. Breakker and Reed in tag team action. Wrestling Observer Radio‘s Dave Meltzer adds that this was not the plan as of last week’s go-home RAW.
If the match happens, WWE SummerSlam will feature the first-ever Reigns vs. Breakker match. Roman and Jey have not teamed up in standard two-on-two action since late 2020.