Roman Reigns allegedly responsible for original plans for former WWE Champion getting changed
Roman Reigns' lengthy promo during the opening of WWE Monday Night RAW at Madison Square Garden allegedly cost former WWE Champion his promo time. As per reports, Drew McIntyre was scheduled to have an in-ring promo with Theory before the two had a match, which had to be cut.
The Scottish Warrior faced Theory on RAW before SummerSlam. McIntyre came out victorious in the match and gained momentum heading towards his WWE Universal Championship match at Clash at the Castle. The show was opened by Roman Reigns, who cut a promo for his upcoming match against Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam.
Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter revealed that the original plans for Drew McIntyre's promo and match on RAW got changed because of Roman Reigns. McIntyre and Theory had to call most of the match in ring as they had to inculcate changes due to reduced time.
''On the Madison Square Garden Raw, there was an in-ring promo before McIntyre vs. Theory that was cut because the opening Reigns segment went long. Because of the time change in the match the match was all called in the ring rather than preplanned. So there is more of that,'' stated Meltzer
Superstars being allowed more leeway with Triple H as WWE creative head
Dave Meltzer also reported that superstars are being allowed a lot more room to improvise their promos and matches with Triple H in charge of creative. He stated that Drew McIntyre's match against Sheamus on SmackDown last week was heavily improvised and most of the action was called inside the ring:
''Aside from key spots, at least with certain top guys, they are allowing talent to improvise more in the matches. The McIntyre vs. Sheamus match on Smackdown, which was one of the best WWE TV bouts of the year, had a lot of leeway given to the guys although obviously the key spots and run-ins were all planned out ahead of time.''
Fans have often stated that they want superstars to have more creative freedom and it looks like that is turning into reality under the new management.