During Monday night’s RAW opening segment from Madison Square Garden in New York City, Vince McMahon’s WWE retirement was referenced.
The SummerSlam go-home edition of RAW began with an in-ring promo featuring The Bloodline. Paul Heyman made the first reference to Vince’s retirement during his speech. His microphone stopped working, so he requested a new one. After receiving it, he knocked the crew member by claiming that he must be from New Jersey, which forced a reaction from the New York crowd.
Heyman also said, “We want your name written down, you’re the next one out the door!”
The Bloodline was eventually interrupted by Austin Theory, who appeared with his Money In the Bank briefcase to taunt Roman Reigns in the ring and threaten to cash in at SummerSlam following his Last Man Standing encounter with Brock Lesnar. Reigns warned him, making mention with how Mr. McMahon has recently helped Theory in the storylines.
Theory was told by Reigns to look around and assess the situation, adding that, “Your daddy’s not here anymore. This is my ring.”
After that, the stunned crowd chanted, “Daddy’s gone!” “You heard them, daddy’s gone,” Reigns replied.
“Whose Your Daddy?” was chanted by the crowd as Theory stared angrily at Reigns. Reigns warned Theory that The Tribal Chief would become his father if he continued to mess up. Then Reigns stated that The Garden is now his territory. He left the ring with Undisputed WWE Tag Team Champions The Usos, with Jey Uso smacking Theory on the back of the neck. Theory reacted by hitting Jey with a briefcase shot. The Bloodline and Theory then squared up, but Reigns and The Usos left the ring as another “whose your daddy?” chant began.
Below is footage from the opening as well as a portion of Reigns’ promo on Theory. You can also view an Instagram post from WWE that singled out the Reigns jab at Theory.
