Former WWE Champion's appearance on RAW was reportedly a "Vince McMahon call"
A new report suggests that AJ Styles' presence on WWE RAW was a last-minute decision made by Vince McMahon.
During the 2023 WWE Draft, Styles and The O.C. were shifted to Friday Night SmackDown. Later, The Phenomenal One turned his opportunity into a struggle for gold as he faced Seth Rollins at Night of Champions for the new World Heavyweight Championship.
Despite the former WWE Champion putting on a spectacle in Saudi Arabia, The Visionary had the last laugh. Still, The Phenomenal One appeared and confronted the new champion on this week's episode of RAW, even though he's part of the blue brand.
Per PWInsider, portions of Monday Night RAW were reworked to accommodate Styles coming in during the opening segment and aligning with Seth Rollins at Vince McMahon's insistence.
They also stated that the rest of the show went very much as intended and that it was an effortless night concerning creative, production, and execution for WWE.
Seth Rollins and AJ Styles' reaction to Rhea Ripley saying Dominik could win the title has me dying 😂😠https://t.co/aIGVH7AtBn
The two men showed class and respect toward each other until Judgment Day arrived to break up the moment, which led to a main event tag team match. Styles and Rollins later won the bout, defeating Damian Priest and Finn Balor to close the show.
Jim Cornette disclosed wrestling phrase prohibited in WWE by Vince McMahon
Wrestling veteran Jim Cornette recently revealed that Vince McMahon is not a fan of a certain term and has banned it. The former CEO is known for his quirks, such as disliking the word "hospital." McMahon appears to favor the term "local medical facility" instead.
While watching the Intercontinental Championship encounter between Gunther and Mustafa Ali at WWE Night of Champions on a recent episode of the Jim Cornette Experience, the legendary manager revealed that Mr. McMahon dislikes the phrase "caught a quick one," which refers to a superstar grabbing a win via roll-up.
"Vince hates that – that's another Vince McMahon banned term. In the old days, when you weren't completely sure that guys were gonna agree to going along with doing a job (losing a match), the booker or whoever was doing the finish would go up to the f**king guy and he'd say, 'Look, you take most of the match, boom boom boom, get some f**king steam on him, whatever, he'll make a comeback and then let him catch a quick one. Just catch a quick one," Cornette said.
Check out the video below:
WWE Superstars are all in favor of Triple H, but McMahon's decision could jinx that. It remains to be seen if Vince McMahon will continue contributing to creative choices with the 14-time world champion in charge.