They’re Thinking It Through: Backstage News On Why Intercontinental Title Match Did Not Happen At Payback

Keep it moving. WWE presents several televised events in any given week and those shows feature a variety of major matches on a regular basis. It can mean a lot for wrestlers to be in a featured match on such a show, especially in the show’s main event. That was the situation earlier this week, and now we know more about why WWE scheduled things the way they did.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Back There? CM Punk Reportedly Hoped To Return To WWE Earlier This Year

The main event of this week’s Monday Night Raw saw Gunther retain the Intercontinental Title over Chad Gable. As a result of the win, Gunther will surpass Honky Tonk Man’s record for longest reign in the title’s history later this week. According to Fightful Select, the match took place on Monday Night Raw rather than on Saturday’s Payback event for multiple reasons. First, WWE is trying to avoid stretching its premium live events to longer times than necessary. Second, WWE wanted to wait a few more days so Gunther was closer to setting the record.

It was a heck of a match. Check out the title match, plus some of what took place at Payback:

Opinion: These reasons both make sense and I can appreciate the idea of not wanting to stretch events out longer than they need to be. Payback could have used the boost from another title match, but it would have left open the possibility of a last minute title loss on Monday Night Raw. WWE seems to be thinking these things through and that is rather nice to see.

What do you think of the idea? Who will take the title from Gunther? Let us know in the comments below.

Please share this story on Facebook! And follow the Wrestling Rumors’ Twitter account for up to the minute news and more! Help us spread the word!

You can find more from Thomas Hall at kbwrestlingreviews.com, or check out his- Amazon author page with 30 wrestling books.

Get the LATEST RUMORS! Click to sign up for the exclusive Wrestling Rumors daily newsletter.