WWE Rumors: Vince McMahon's reaction to Elias' big botch on Raw revealed
The Raw after SummerSlam was a mixed affair. Sasha Banks' return and the main event segment were the biggest positives from the show. However, the negatives threatened to overshadow the good work done by WWE, especially the missed spots and mistakes.
One of the biggest flops was Elias' match against Ricochet, which unfortunately had a botched finish. The finishing sequence saw Elias enter the ring with a guitar, however, the referee stopped him from using it and Ricochet took advantage of the distraction to lay The Drifter out with a kick.
Ricochet went up to the top rope for his finisher, but he had to improvise as Elias got up before he executed the 630. Ricochet converted it into a Sunset Flip and pinned Elias. The referee counted to three, however, Elias' right shoulder was clearly up in the air.
Replays confirmed that the finish was indeed botched.
As disclosed by Dave Meltzer on the Wrestling Observer Radio, the finish was not part of the script and that mistakes were committed by Elias and the referee. Vince McMahon reacted by telling the announcers to highlight the finish.
"The missed finish in the Elias match was really weird. They may do a rematch but I can tell you 100% that was not supposed to happen and that was a Vince call. You know Vince is like that."
When asked about whether the referee will be fined for the error, Meltzer explained the reality of the situation and how Vince McMahon reacted to it by taking the call to draw attention to the misstep.
"I don't know. I haven't heard that (referee fine) but I did hear that; I went back and I checked - Is this an angle? The plan is to not take anything from it. Vince may insist on it later but it was, you know, the ref botched it. Elias botched it. Elias was supposed to keep his shoulders down. He just didn't. I don't know why and the ref counted to three, which he shouldn't have and they called attention to it.
"That's Vince's idea, if something like that happens we call attention to it because remember they've done that before where you think, okay, this has got to lead to something, it must have been an angle and those weren't angles either. That's Vince's mentality when there is botch like that in a finish, the announcers have to acknowledge it for the announcers' credibility and they have to do slow motion."
WWE may have a rematch next week on Raw to cover up for this week's blunder or, as it has happened many times before, they may conveniently forget that the match even happened. In the end, it all depends on what the boss wants.
Elias would go on to win the 24/7 title later on in the night, which proves there may not be much heat on him. As for Ricochet, the former United States Champion was featured in the main event segment where he ran out to save Seth Rollins from an OC assault.
He also worked a six-man dark match after Raw went off the air.