The April 3rd, 2023 episode of WWE Monday Night Raw is sure to go down as one of the most contentious in history.
The show came just hours after it was announced that WWE has secured a deal with Endeavor, which will see the company merge with UFC. The deal will see the creation of a new publicly listed company that will be 51% owned by Endeavor and 49% owned by WWE. A press release stated that the merger is worth a staggering $21 billion, and Ariel Emanuel will serve as CEO with Vince McMahon as Executive Chairman.
By the time Raw had gone off the air it was reported that McMahon was back running the show, despite saying that he wouldn’t be “in the weeds” regarding creative that day.
These reports noted that there were a number of rewrites immediately before, and during Raw, something that was a hallmark of the ‘McMahon era.’ While by the end of the taping he was opening giving orders and seemingly in complete control.
It has now been revealed that one of these changes saw Bayley cut from the show at the 11th hour. The report from Sean Ross Sapp, via Fightful Select noted that she had previously been scheduled to appear.
“Bayley was scheduled for the show, accompanying Damage CTRL. For some reason she was cut at the last minute.”
On the show, the Bayley-less Damage CTRL lost out to Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez. Morgan and Rodriguez will challenge Becky Lynch and Lita for the Women’s Tag Team Titles on April 10th.
Vince McMahon Back Running WWE TV
Mike Johnson of PWInsider noted that McMahon got “more and more involved” as the show went on, adding there was a “huge negative shift in morale.” It was claimed that the feeling within the company is that McMahon would be “overseeing everything” going forward.
This was followed by a report from Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio, which stated that McMahon was “running TV.” Meltzer noted that “it will be what it was before.”