Monday's episode of RAW kicked off with Seth Rollins issuing an open challenge for his World Heavyweight Championship. Before anyone could answer, though, he was attacked by Money in the Bank opponent Finn Balor.
The Miz would later reveal that he planned to face Rollins and issued an open challenge of his own, leading to the return of his old running buddy, Tommaso Ciampa.
However, this wasn't how things originally played out.
According to Fightful Select, Vince McMahon decided to make some big changes to RAW's opening segment. Original plans called for Ciampa to answer Rollins' challenge, with the match getting a lot of time during the first hour of the show.
However, the bout was always going to wrap up with a DQ/non-finish, so we're guessing the plan was still for Balor to attack Rollins, thereby avoiding a loss for Ciampa in his first match in several months.
As you might expect after a huge alteration like this was orchestrated by the WWE Chairman, it's said people "around the match" were "clearly frustrated by the change."
The plan now is reportedly for Ciampa and his former tag team partner Johnny Gargano to reunite as DIY, though many fans have pointed out how strange it was for Johnny Gargano not to be present during RAW when it was taking place in his hometown of Cleveland, Ohio. We have seen a greater emphasis on slowburn storytelling since Triple H took charge of WWE Creative, though.
As always, we'll keep you updated as we learn more.