wrestling / News

Backstage Notes on Angles and Finishes for Raw TV Tapings in Manchester (SPOILERS)

November 9, 2019 | Posted by Jeffrey Harris
WWE Raw Logo 2019 Image Credit: WWE

– At yesterday’s Monday Night Raw TV tapings in Manchester, England, Humberto Carrillo, Ricochet and Randy Orton beat The OC in a six-man tag match after Humberto Carrillo got the pinfall. During today’s edition of The Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer reported that the finish for the match at the Raw TV tapings, with Carrillo going over AJ Styles by pinall, was the original plan for last Monday’s Raw.

According to Meltzer, plans changed for letting Carrillo get the win on Monday because The OC ended up making an appearance later that Wednesday on NXT. And WWE didn’t want to job out The OC right before their NXT appearance the same week. Apparently, the plan is to book another match between Humberto Carrillo and AJ Styles, and Carrillo getting the win on Raw will help “groom” him for another shot at the US champion.

Also, as noted, Natalya cleanly submitted Asuka in a non-title tag team match last Monday on Raw. That finish was rumored to originally have Asuka going over, but it was changed to have Natalya submit Asuka clean at the last minute. However, the Raw TV tapings in Manchester saw Asuka and Kairi Sane beat Raw women’s champion Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair in a title defense. Per the spoilers, Asuka gets the after pinning Becky Lynch, just days after she was cleanly submitted by Natalya.

Meltzer described the situation with Asuka losing to Natalya in WWE as a “miscommunication.” He added, “One hand didn’t know what the other hand was doing.” As a result, Asuka going over Lynch during the Raw tapings is an attempt by WWE to “rehab” the Empress of Tomorrow to groom her again as an opponent for Becky Lynch. Apparently, WWE is trying to build to a rematch between Asuka and Lynch that will happen “down the line,: which has already been set up in recent weeks.

The previous rumor noted that WWE opted to have Natalya go over Asuka earlier this week was to build off of her momentum after her moment at WWE Crown Jewel, where she defeated Lacey Evans in the first-ever WWE women’s match in the country.