Tommaso Ciampa made his big return on Monday’s episode of WWE Raw by answering The Miz’s open challenge, going on to win the match.
On this same show, Seth Rollins was slated to defend the World Heavyweight Title in an open challenge. Instead, he was laid out by Finn Balor, who challenged Rollins for the title at the July 1st Money in the Bank PLE.
As previously reported, there were a lot of things changed about this show by Vince McMahon, who felt that the Rollins – Balor program needed more heat, and that’s why they did the attack angle.
Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful Select reported that WWE originally planned to have Ciampa answer the open challenge with Rollins and Ciampa set to get a ton of time. However, that was “changed multiple times over the weekend prior and a few hours before the show.”
The bout was internally listed as TBA before being changed to the Rollins attack and Ciampa vs. Miz. The report added, “We haven’t heard that it was so Ciampa wouldn’t lose his first match back, as there was a plan in order that would have been a non-finish.”
WWE is still building towards reuniting Ciampa and Johnny Gargano as DIY, something heavily teased on television.
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