Yesterday evening's episode of RAW ended with Big E defeating Bobby Lashley for the WWE Championship after cashing in his Money in the Bank briefcase.
Over the weekend, there were rumblings WWE had big plans for the show after AEW's successful week (which included the debuts of Bryan Danielson and Adam Cole during All Out and big ratings for Dynamite). Surprisingly, The New Day member's title win wasn't a last-minute decision and is something WWE originally had planned for another episode of the show.
As Mat Med Podcast's Andrew Zarian explains, Big E was supposed to cash in on Lashley during the second night of the WWE Draft on RAW. However, the decision was made to move it up, hence why we didn't get that promised RAW Tag Team Championship match most of last Monday's episode was built around.
Orton and Lashley were supposed to clash for the WWE title at Extreme Rules, but it now looks like Big E will defend his newly won belt at the PPV instead.
It's good to hear that his big win wasn't just a reactionary move on WWE's part, though the change in date obviously was. There had been some speculation Big E might be the one to finally dethrone Roman Reigns (cementing him as a main event level talent in the process), but a hard-hitting feud with Lashley could be a lot of fun to watch play out.
The official dates of this year's WWE Draft have also been revealed:
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