Vince McMahon was not happy with the original plan for the first episode of Raw following WrestleMania 39.
Following a well-received Mania in Hollywood, the next night was highly anticipated by the fans who expected new rivalries, explanations and even a few surprise appearances. However, members of the WWE Universe were left angered and confused when all was said and done on April 3rd, with some going as far as saying it was the ‘Worst Raw ever.’
Segments that caused fans to be critical included Seth Rollins walking to the ring and then walking back again and Brock Lesnar attacking Cody Rhodes in the closing part of the show. To this day, it still hasn’t officially been explained why Lesnar chose to attack Rhodes.
Following the show, reports would come out that the show felt disjointed due to last-minute changes that were made by McMahon. Former Superstar Mansoor was backstage when some of the sudden changes were taking place and even witnessed one in person.
Speaking on a Twitch stream, Mansoor recalled Omos being booked for a match despite being previously told that he had the night off, causing The Nigerian Giant to rush out of the arena to get his gear. The former Maximum Male Model then stated that it was McMahon who made the change on short notice:
“Raw after Mania. Card is up, show is rehearsed. Hunter [Triple H] has been running the show for a while. Mania was a huge success. We weren’t on it because we were told we were being taken off TV right before. We’re sitting backstage and in catering with Omos. He’s got some disgusting slop on his plate. He gets a call, answers the phone, gets up and runs out. We’re looking at him, we’re with Tyson Kidd [TJ Wilson]. Ten minutes later we’re like, ‘did [Omos] just leave his pile of food here?’
It was a call saying, ‘Omos, you’re booked for Raw in an hour, you need to go get your gear.’ He didn’t bring his gear because he wasn’t supposed to work the show. He had to run back to his hotel and get his gear from when he worked Mania. Vince came through and just changed the whole show an hour before. Suddenly, the first match after WrestleMania was Omos squashing Elias, for no reason,”
Why Was Vince McMahon At The Raw After WrestleMania?
The Raw after WrestleMania 39 was significant because it was the first episode of company programming to air following the news that WWE would merge with the Endeavour Group to create TKO Holdings. The merger was completed on September 12th. This was also the first episode of Raw that aired with Vince McMahon back in charge of the company.
H/t to Fightful.