F4Wonline.com is reporting that a Daniel Bryan vs Curtis Axel match was “axed” from last week’s RAW. According to reports, WWE Creative wanted to have at least one match between Axel and Bryan after they had Axel interfere and attack Bryan at Money in the Bank. The two were booked to go one-on-one during the July 15th RAW, but last minute changes were made.
With Bryan facing Axel, everything would have been pushed forward a week. WWE Champion John Cena would have selected Bryan as his SummerSlam opponent on the July 22nd RAW. The contract signing between Cena and Bryan, and the Gauntlet Match we saw Monday, would have taken place on the July 29th episode.
The next week, August 5th, would have seen the Tables Match between Ryback and Cena, and Kane vs Daniel Bryan, which would have only left one final RAW before the PPV. Reports say WWE officials wanted more time to build Bryan/Cena, so they scrapped the Axel match and began the storyline, giving them one extra episode of RAW to promote it.
Follow Doug McDonald on Twitter