Vince McMahon wanted everyone to leave Raw happy, which led to changes the day of the show.
Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer reports that Raw "dramatically changed from what was scripted" and that Vince McMahon rewrote Raw to have "more happy storylines and endings." McMahon reportedly arrived at the Toyota Center in Houston around 3:30 p.m. because he was visiting his mother, who lives in Houston. McMahon came into the show with the idea the crowd would be somber due to the death of George H.W. Bush, which WWE acknowledged to begin the show, and that they needed to produce a happier program.
Fightful can report that the scripts have been coming in late with regularity.
Throughout the show, multiple babyfaces stood tall, including Finn Balor, Elias, and Ronda Rousey. Dolph Ziggler also turned face during the show and scored a victory over Drew McIntyre, who has been heavily pushed in recent weeks.
Despite the babyfaces getting shine, it didn't translate into extra viewership. This past Monday's episode set a new viewership low, averaging 2,285,000 viewers across the three hours. However, the rating in the 18 to 49 demographic was up to 0.81 compared to the 0.79 from last week's episode.
