Backstage Update on Last Week’s WWE Raw Being Shorthanded, Using ‘Skeleton Crew’

– Fightful Select has a report with more details on last week’s edition of WWE Raw being shorthanded and using a “skeleton crew” due to the recent absences as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. As previously reported, some lead executives were not in attendance backstage at last week’s show, including Vince McMahon, Bruce Prichard, Michael Hayes, Adam Pearce, and Kevin Dunn.

Others who were not in attendance on Raw were Big E, Seth Rollins, Becky Lynch, Bianca Belair, and Omos. Some stars, such as Rollins, tested positive for COVID-19. Others were likely kept off the show as a precaution to keep the key matches safe for WWE Day 1 later that week.

Other talents who were not at Raw were Bobby Roode, Rhea Ripley, Zelina Vega, Finn Balor, and Austin Theory. Producers were split between Raw that night and the SmackDown house show that was held in Orlando, Florida that same day. According to Fightful’s report, producers James Gibson, Shawn Daivari, Pat Buck, and TJ Wilson were all absent from the list of names that was made available for last week’s Raw. However, the report noted while some of the names were not on the list, it’s possible they still might’ve been in attendance.

Fightful also reports that WWE sources said that last week’s Raw was “the most skeleton of crews” ever seen at a WWE TV event with live fans in attendance. One source noted a conversation about the show, which said that there were many times you’d see more people around backstage at Raw shows at the WWE Performance Center than the Dec. 27 event at the Little Caesars Arena in Detroit.