Vince McMahon making late changes to WWE programming is nothing new, but that doesn’t make it any easier for those involved.
While Monday Night Raw is usually the target of McMahon’s tinkering, on June 23rd it was SmackDown that got “Vinced.”
It was reported by WRKD Wrestling that there were a number of changes made to the show throughout the day which left talent frustrated.
“Plans for #SmackDown have changed throughout the day, leaving many frustrated, with matches announced last week potentially on the chopping block. One change is that LA Knight will now face Rey Mysterio in a singles match, as opposed to a triple threat with Escobar.”
This was followed by a report from Fightful Select which stated that most of the script for the show was changed before it went live. The report added that one talent even asked “Did SmackDown get Vinced?”
A number of the matches originally advertised for the show were either scrapped or adjusted. This included Bayley vs. Shotzi being dropped altogether, and a Triple Threat Match between Santos Escobar, Butch, and LA Knight being changed to a singles match between Knight and Rey Mysterio.
Vince McMahon Scrapped Seth Rollins Match On Raw
On the June 19th episode of Raw, Seth Rollins was due to host an open challenge for his World Heavyweight Title. It later came to light that the match was supposed to feature the return of Tommaso Ciampa. Instead, the match never happened and was replaced by a brawl between Rollins and Finn Balor. The change is said to have come directly from McMahon, and Ciampa ended up making his big return against The Miz in the following segment.