WWE News: Backstage notes from last night's Raw (25th February 2019)
What's the story?
Last night's Raw was filled with emotion for several reasons, ranging from the announcement of the remission of Roman Reigns' Leukemia to the ending, involving the birthday celebration for Ric Flair.
WrestlingInc.com provided several backstage news tidbits regarding both segments as well as some news regarding other aspects of the episode of Raw.
In case you didn't know...
Raw kicked off with Roman Reigns announcing his return to the ring after informing the world of the remission of his Leukemia.
In the middle of the show, Becky Lynch showed up again to attack Ronda Rousey. It forced Rousey to plead with Stephanie McMahon to reinstate Lynch for the match at WrestleMania 35.
The night ended with a birthday celebration for Ric Flair, filled with guests like Sting, Ricky Steamboat, Shawn Michaels and Kurt Angle.
The heart of the matter
With two big segments planned to both start and end the night, writers had several plans in order to make both memorable.
WrestlingInc reports that although there were rumors stemming from last week that suggested that The Rock would be backstage since he would be in Atlanta, that was not the case. He was simply in the city for a screening of 'Fighting With My Family'.
His mother Ata Johnson, however, was one of the people in the front row who Reigns hugged on his way to the ring.
The site also reported that former TNA Heavyweight Champion James Storm was backstage during the show, but he 'was just visiting with friends since he lives in the area'. He also 'stayed for the entire show'.
Regarding the appearance of The Animal, Batista, WrestlingInc noted that 'Batista was kept very well hidden' as only Titus O'Neil and some WWE official were the only ones 'that knew he was there until the news broke online'.
Before Batista's last-minute attack on Ric Flair, Sting, Ricky Steamboat and Shawn Michaels were noted to be backstage and interacting with talent throughout the night.
Another big backstage note involved the return to WWE of Bruce Prichard, who saw his first night in charge of creative for Raw.
WrestlingInc noted that he 'clearly had a large amount of influence last night' and that after the show, he 'spent a fair amount of time speaking one-on-one with Reigns in the hallway'.
What's next?
Sandwiched in between the two bit segments were matches including Aleister Black and Ricochet defeating The Revival, the second such loss by the Raw Tag Team Champions, as well as Lio Rush falling to Finn Balor in an Intercontinental Title match.
Ronda Rousey also laid the Raw Women's Title at Stephanie McMahon's feet until she agreed to reinstate Becky Lynch for the WrestleMania main event.
Lynch's attack on Rousey furthers the storyline that the match will be a triple threat involving Charlotte Flair. With so many things happening last night, WWE might have continued on the path of keeping its ratings on the steady incline.