3 Reasons why Sami name-dropping AEW on RAW was a work and 3 why it was not

The Monday Night RAW this week was one of the most anticipated ones of the recent times, not because of the quality of the programming of course, but because it was the first major show of the company after their rival AEW's first show: Double or Nothing.

With AEW taking a lot of shots at the company on their inaugural show, fans were excited to see how would WWE respond to it. There was a genuine feeling in the air that WWE would come out all guns blazing this week to deliver a solid show.

What we got instead was a below-average episode of RAW which was, to be honest, disappointing. WWE did a lot of mistakes throughout the show, but there was one big moment that caught everyone's attention.

During the electric chair segment with Sami Zayn, he namedropped "AEW" on the mic while responding to a fan's question. This was the biggest surprise of the show for me, as would have been for a lot of you as well.

With Sami mentioning All Elite Wrestling on TV, one big question that everyone has is whether it was a "work", i.e., planned or did Sami go unscripted and said what he was not supposed to.

In this article, let's take a look at 3 reasons why Sami namedropping AEW on RAW was a work, and 3 why it was not. Do let me know your take on this situation in the comments section below.

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#6 Was a work: The segment seemed to build towards it

.@SamiZayn answers one of several hard-hitting questions while sitting on the Electric Chair on #Raw! pic.twitter.com/TFj0DE2kPx

— WWE (@WWE) May 28, 2019

The whole segment that was planned to have fans ask Sami Zayn questions seemed to be building up to something like this. While the fans who asked the questions looked genuine, I still think they were fake fans or were given previously decided questions.

A genuine fan would definitely have asked Sami about AEW as he himself said on the mic! If this was a work, WWE did a great job by letting AEW know that they were not afraid of mentioning them on their program and will not resort to "cheap tactics" that AEW used.

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#5 Was not a work: Corey Graves quickly changed the topic

Corey looked surprised with that as well!

As soon as Sami spoke the 3 letters we didn't expect him to, Corey Graves suddenly changed the topic before fans could overtake the segment with their chants.

Also, Seth Rollins' music hit immediately afterward in what seemed a little hurried up decision. If this was not a work, just imagine how furious Vince would have been backstage!

#4 Was a work: To give it back to AEW

This was a huge jab at Triple H!

AEW took a lot of hits at WWE during Double or Nothing. Cody Rhodes destroying the throne with a sledgehammer, the fake attendance joke, everything was a jab at Vince, Triple H, and WWE.

Whether anyone accepts it or not, the fight is on and we as fans should be happy to see two major powerhouses collide to provide us the best wrestling product. WWE mentioning its rivals name is a sign that the McMahons aren't afraid of this fight. The ball is in AEW's court now!

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#3 Was not a work: WWE never mentions its competitors

Not a smart business decision!

Throughout its history, WWE has never mentioned its competitors on their programming. This decision of them completely makes sense because their doing this would only give "free promotion" to their rivals, something which would not be a smart business move.

The last time they did this was during Kurt Angle's backstage segment with KO and Sami when he told them TNA is hiring, but that was after the company was repackaged as Impact wrestling.

In the photo above, a fan has tweeted the Google search trends of "AEW" that have taken a visible spike on the hour when Sami mentioned AEW on RAW.

#2 Was a work: Sami Zayn is too big of a star to do such a huge mistake

Sami's mic work has been impressive lately!

Just consider this for a moment. Sami mentioning WWE's biggest rival on TV without Vince's permission would make him absolutely furious for sure. We talk about wrestlers getting heat backstage and Sami doing this would have enraged Vince so much that he would have told Seth to go out and squash him instead of having a solid match that we witnessed.

Sami is too big of a superstar to commit such a massive blunder. In the last couple of months, he has proved his excellence on the mic and it's tough to imagine him saying that by mistake.

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#1 Was not a work: WWE removed that part from their Youtube video

It is no secret that WWE puts some segments of RAW on their Youtube channel for fans to see it anytime. WWE is also known to edit the videos, change fan reactions, and omit certain parts that were not meant to happen.

Attached above is the video of the "Electric Chair" segment that WWE have uploaded on their Youtube channel. The biggest thing to notice is how they have removed the part of the video where Sami says "You could have asked me about AEW!"

This is a huge hint that this might not have been planned and Sami went off-script.

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What is your take on this matter? Let me know your views and opinions in the comments section below.