"Cena turns around, goes after Goldberg" - Big alternate booking plan for WWE RAW explained (Exclusive)
WWE kicked off its SummerSlam build-up this week as the RAW after Money in the Bank featured some massive names.
John Cena and Goldberg showed up on Monday Night RAW, and their respective segments, unsurprisingly, were the most significant moments from the episode. Vince Russo and Dr. Chris Featherstone broke down WWE's latest offering on Sportskeeda Wrestling's Legion of RAW show.
The former WWE head writer wasn't happy with the company's booking of Cena and Goldberg and pitched an alternate plan.
John Cena opened this week's RAW and was involved in an angle with Riddle, while Goldberg confronted Bobby Lashley later in the night.
Russo felt WWE officials were "lazy" with their approach. Instead, he came up with a way to feature Goldberg and Cena in a segment together.
According to Russo, WWE RAW should have begun as planned with a big pop for John Cena, followed by his angle with Riddle. The former head writer added an extra interview segment for Cena to accommodate Goldberg's arrival.
He noted that WWE could have featured the 16-time world champion in a backstage interview, as Goldberg would then emerge from a limousine during the segment.
"I'm saying they are lazy because this is what I'm doing. Let me tell you what I'm doing. Bring him (Cena) out there first. Get your pop. You want to do your stupid 'Bro, bro, bro!' Fine, do it. Here's what I'm doing then. We go to commercial break off of that, okay? Before we get to the match, we go to the back, and we get an interview with Cena as he is exiting. Hey, bro, as he is exiting, a Limo pulls up. Goldberg gets out of the Limo. Now bro, keep this in mind, too Chris, I want people to understand this. Chris, they want the pop of the live crowd; they want to see Goldberg for the first time in the building. Okay, bro, then play this just for home. You don't need to play this in the building. Play this for your audience watching at home," said Vince Russo.
An ensuing scuffle between the two megastars could include the former WCW Champion shoving the Cenation leader's shoulder as he walked past him.
Russo stated that booking such a segment would have given WWE a storyline thread featuring Cena and Goldberg to explore throughout the night.
"So, bro, I'm doing the old, the Limo pulls up, Cena is getting the interview, Goldberg out of the Limo bro, and he walks past Cena and gives him the shoulder gimmick. Bro, it's on! It's on! Cena turns around, goes after Goldberg; holy crap, bro! Pull apart, go to your match in the ring because you know what you have just done now? Now, you've got a cliffhanger for the entire night. Now for the entire night, you've got a Goldberg-Cena thread. This wasn't supposed to happen. What was supposed to happen was Cena was just supposed to come to do a stupid promo segment, and Goldberg was just supposed to come and do the 'You're next,' and this happened organically. Chris, I just gave you that at the top of my head," revealed Russo.
"There's no way they can be this incompetent" - Vince Russo questions WWE's creative decisions
Vince Russo continued to highlight the incompetence of WWE's writing team while speaking about the promotion's repetitive booking patterns.
Russo couldn't grasp how WWE had a week to formulate plans for John Cena and Golberg and still managed to fall short of expectations.
"Bro, here's where, and Chris," Russo continued, "I'm going to use 'lazy a**' as the reason, because bro, there is no way everybody working in that company on a creative level, there's no way they can be this incompetent. I don't believe that. So, I'm not saying that they are stupid. Now, they had a week to think about this. A week! You talk about the Attitude Era. No, bro, that's what I would have done. You've got to do stuff like this. But no, bro, you've got the Pavlovian dog. Here's Cena, here's my washed cloth. Okay, here's Goldberg. How many times are they going to wash, rinse, repeat? How many times, Chris!"
What are your thoughts on Vince Russo's alternate booking plan? Would it have been better than what transpired on WWE RAW? Sound off in the comments section below.
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