WWE News: ‘Monday Night Raw’ Writers ‘Scramble’ To Write Show Hours Beforehand

WWE Raw has gone through a lot of adversity in the past. Anything can happen at the drop of a hat. The most-infamous time the writers had to change their plans was when Daniel Bryan had to retire and CM Punk left the company abruptly. Going back to Bryan’s retirement, it was a string of concussions that forced Bryan to hang up his boots. Surely, WWE officials weren’t planning on this to happen. They had long-term plans for the former-WWE champion.

Punk’s situation was a little more different. He was a disgruntled employee and simply wanted out. As he said on a podcast with Colt Cabana, he was angry and was treating people terribly. That’s not the way the WWE legend wanted to act and live. It’s interesting to note that before he left the company, WWE officials wanted Punk to wrestle Triple H at WrestleMania 30. Bryan’s miracle run to the WWE title wasn’t the initial plan.

The moral of those stories is that WWE writers can overcome adversity, but also face a ton of it at one time. Wrestlers can succumb to injuries, plans could change or Vince McMahon wanted to simply do something different. The most recent example comes from Monday Night Rawwhen Finn Balor found out he wasn’t able to wrestle anymore due to a torn labrum. It is a huge blow to the red brand, as he was crowned the first WWE Universal champion at SummerSlam.

It’s fair to assume WWE officials had big plans for Balor and his first championship reign on the main roster. The feud between him and Seth Rollins certainly wasn’t over. They had big plans for the Demon King after his huge championship victory. If it seemed like WWE Raw was a little off last night, it wasn’t a far-off critique. According to Ringside News, writers for WWE Raw were “scrambling ” to get the show done due to Balor’s injury.

“This led to many last minute changes to the show, as WWE had to put together a way to crown a new champion.”

“It’s being said that WWE had to re-write the whole entire show after they got the results back of Balor’s MRI, which indicated that his injury was much worse than anticipated and he would need 6 months off to recover.”

“We were also informed that WWE officials were still putting RAW together as the show went live on the air.”

WWE Raw ratings weren’t as high as one may think after SummerSlam. James Caldwell, assistant editor for PWTorch, announced the ratings earlier Tuesday with not-so-startling news.

Raw – 2.34 rating, slightly down from 2.36 post-Battleground.

— James Caldwell (@jctorch) August 23, 2016

From a WWE fan’s perspective, there wasn’t really anything big to look forward to. Balor was truly the only thing fans were excited for, but it ended up turning into bad news anyway. Brock Lesnar wasn’t scheduled for the red brand Monday night and neither was Randy Orton. With what they were given, the WWE writers didn’t do a bad job.

It was simply the hand they were dealt that wasn’t realistic. Finn Balor isn’t injury prone. He sustained one ailment in WWE NXT, but he recovered very quickly. Now, a torn labrum isn’t a good thing, but it could have been way worse. WWE is reporting that it will take six months for the Demon to recover.

Luckily, pro athletes have a way of healing quicker. John Cena is an anomaly, but Balor is in top shape. He should be ready by Survivor Series, or even the Royal Rumble. If Balor has surgery in the next week and rehabs as much as Rollins and Cena did, he could be back to win back the title he never lost.