The relationship between Vince McMahon and Smackdown lead writer Michael Hayes continues to be a topic of conversation among many within WWE right now according to various wrestling media reports.
Hayes had recently made a pitch to add a big interpromotional match for the 500th episode edition of Friday Night Smackdown along with a match between Edge and Big Show. Vince McMahon reportedly blew up when he saw this and pulled both ideas, pushing Edge vs. Big Show to Raw instead. McMahon reportedly felt Hayes was trying to book a more loaded 500th Smackdown and made the point that there are more important things going on right now, like WrestleMania, than the 500th edition of Smackdown.
He is said to be frustrated with Hayes and the Smackdown team in general with many pointing to the double tapings as being the biggest culprit as they can’t seem to be book two weeks ahead without revising a show after it was filmed because booking ideas change so frequently. One example includes how Big Show was originally scheduled for the “Money in the Bank” match, but his spot was instead given to Mark Henry when they decided to change the originally planned Edge vs. John Cena match into a triple threat due to Vince feeling that Edge vs. Cena had been done too many times before. Why he came to that reason after it had been cleared and weeks worth of angles were shot before is anyone’s guess, although it just seems to confirm recent reports of the WWE’s creative team and their frustration level with Vince.
Big Show was scheduled at one point to win the Money in the Bank had they not pulled him out and had Henry replace him, although plans are always subject to change. This is a situation that has been taking place since January and the Royal Rumble PPV when many changes were proposed by Hayes and now Vince is said to be losing faith in the team. Another example of frequent changes on the writing team is the company plugged an All Divas edition of ECW for this past week and then it was dropped suddenly. The plan as of now is to do the All Divas show for March 31 because they will be taping Raw, Smackdown and ECW this Monday night in Dallas, TX, which will be the last TV tapings before WrestleMania 25. Most of the matches for ECW and Smackdown will be kept quick as they intend on showing live shots at the AXXESS deal in Houston, TX on Friday during Smackdown.
Sources: The Wrestling Observer Newsletter & ProWrestling.net