All eyes were set on the latest episode of Monday Night Raw. As is the case, many were excited to see new events unfold in the current story, especially Cody Rhodes opening the show. The audience present at The Simmons Bank Arena in North Little Rock, Arkansas, however, noticed something different on Monday night.
The set for the show was not as grand as WWE sets usually are, and this started to breed doubts in the hearts of the faithful. While people have been speculating that it might be due to a budget cut, the reason behind it is entirely different.
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Why WWE decided to change the set for Monday Night Raw
According to a report published by PW Insider, the Stamford-based promotion decided to take this decision due to the current weather conditions in Arkansas. While many might think that it is not a big deal for Triple H and the company to erect structures to their desire, the venue was the reason why they decided to make some changes. The Simmons Bank Arena was established back in 1999 and the structure is not as durable as it once was.
It was reported that the arena is not strong enough to hold WWE’s current lighting rigs that happen to hang from the ceiling. Apart from that, due to the weather conditions, there were concerns that a lot of snow might accumulate on the rooftop. In such a scenario, the lights will end up adding extra weight to the roof and due to this, the ceiling might fall.
To tackle this situation, WWE decided to use lighting trusses that they usually use for house shows. These are towers that are erected from the ground up and have lights on them. Apart from that, a smaller stage was used to accommodate this.
While WWE had to make changes to their set due to the weather conditions, four of the superstars almost missed their fights on the latest episode.
Four stars almost miss their fight due to circumstances
The state of Arkansas was hit by a snowstorm on Sunday and Monday morning. Due to this, the commute was affected severely. This was witnessed firsthand by #DIY‘s Johnny Gargano & Tommaso Ciampa, Candice LeRae, and Indi Hartwell. The accounts of their travel were shared by Gargano on his X (formerly Twitter) account. According to him, they were left stranded at Dallas Airport in Texas. All flights were canceled and so they had to wait for another flight.
After waiting hours for another flight, the stars decided to drive to North Little Rock in Arkansas. The drive took them almost five hours to reach. However, despite an exhausting journey, they gave their everything in this week’s episode of the Red Brand.
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Edited by
Jayant Chhabra