CM Punk, Seth Rollins, and Drew McIntyre were given permission to ad lib in the flow of the otherwise largely scripted, pre-framed segment on Raw

Last night’s segment with C.M. Punk, Seth Rollins, and Drew McIntyre was a mix of scripted and improvised lines from the three wrestlers, according to PWTorch sources. As I noted on last night’s Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Post-show, Punk asking Drew who “chose” him – of course, a reference to Vince McMahon dubbing him “The Chosen One” during his first WWE stint – was not planned.

Multiple sources indicate Punk wasn’t in trouble for veering into territory that related to the now-disgraced former WWE leader, Vince McMahon. Instead, because of how he steered away from it adeptly after a few seconds while still getting the impact he was looking for as a “controversial comment,” it was seen as a slick comment that enhanced the tone they were going for. That said, while it was framed as walking right up to the line, it’s possible some top executives at TKO might feel differently than those at Raw last night who were ultimately okay with it.

That segment, along with others we’ve heard recently (including segments with Cody Rhodes, Roman Reigns, The Rock, and Seth Rollins) are designed to feel like they stray into “shoot” territory by venturing into zones where there is known legitimate heat. That doesn’t mean there is or isn’t still legitimate tension or heat between the wrestlers who are “trolling” each other, as Seth characterized it last night, but rather that everyone is willing to set aside any hard feelings to play on those tensions to make the segment generate more buzz. It’s a sophisticated worked-shoot that pushes just far enough to feel real but not far enough to feel unprofessional or get overly personal.

So while the framework was planned and certain lines were certainly scripted and discussed beforehand, there were some on-the-fly comments that were interjected, something Paul Levesque is encouraging and endorsing, but of course within reason. It’s a sign of trust in those three that they were given the green light to engage with each other like that. Not everyone, we’re told, would be given that latitude and trust by management.

Attempts to create a pseudo-shoot environment don’t always work, such as when Seth Rollins threw an over-the-top fit when Punk first returns to WWE and then Drew stormed away through the crowd, but was caught being given stage directions from a camera man that gave away aspects of it were planned.

By all accounts, while Seth harbored legitimate gripes with Punk, the two are getting along backstage when planning their segments. Punk continues to get all positive reviews from many sources regarding how he is carrying himself amongst colleagues and management.

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