5 WWE behind-the-scenes stories from this week: Paige, Roman Reigns, CM Punk, more

Lots of important storyline developments have taken place on WWE television over the last week, including the announcement that Daniel Bryan will challenge “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt for the Universal Championship at Survivor Series.

Off-screen, meanwhile, the biggest WWE story of the week occurred at the end of Tuesday’s episode of WWE Backstage, where CM Punk surprisingly appeared and announced that he will now be an analyst on the FS1 show.

In this week’s behind-the-scenes news, we not only learned how Paige reacted to Punk’s appearance, but Dolph Ziggler also told a fascinating story about how WWE originally planned to book his 2013 Money In The Bank cash-in.

So, without further ado, let’s take a look at five of the most interesting WWE backstage stories that have been revealed over the last seven days.

---

#5 WWE’s original MITB plan for Dolph Ziggler

One of the most memorable WWE World Heavyweight Championship moments of all time took place in April 2013 when Dolph Ziggler cashed in his Money In The Bank contract on Alberto Del Rio on the post-WrestleMania 29 episode of RAW.

With Big E and AJ Lee by his side, Ziggler marched down to the ring and tried to take advantage of a wounded Del Rio, who had just defeated Jack Swagger and Zeb Colter in a 2-on-1 handicap match.

Unlike many Money In The Bank cash-ins, which can sometimes be over in mere seconds, Ziggler initially struggled to defeat his opponent and it even looked as though Del Rio might win at one stage after he locked in a cross armbreaker.

Ziggler picked up the victory in the end, escaping the submission to hit a Zig Zag and get the 1-2-3, and the man himself explained to talkSPORT this week that WWE originally wanted him to win in quick fashion instead.

“The best part was, I was supposed to come down there, smack him with the briefcase and one, two, three. I said ‘that’s not what Dolph Ziggler would do. Dolph Ziggler would almost lose that cash-in a couple of times’ and we made it special because Del Rio is a real pro, him and I had some awesome matches and he was fun to work with, but he knew it too and he said ‘They’re all going to buy you losing’.”

#4 When Finn Balor plans to retire

Finn Balor has won the NXT Championship, Universal Championship and Intercontinental Championship (x2) during his five years in NXT/WWE.

He recently ended his three-year association on RAW (July 2016-April 2019) and SmackDown (April 2019-October 2019) to return to NXT, where he previously established himself as one of the brand’s greatest-ever Superstars between October 2014 and July 2016.

Speaking on this week’s episode of After The Bell, Balor told Corey Graves that he learned more on his time on RAW and SmackDown than at any time of his wrestling career, and he revealed that he intends on remaining an in-ring competitor for around eight more years.

“Looking back now, I learned more than anything in those three years on RAW and SmackDown, so I wouldn’t necessarily change anything, but I’ve learned a lot from it and I can take that forward. I’ve still got another, I believe, eight years left in me, so not a lot of people have been fortunate enough to have done what I’ve done so fast.”

Balor is currently involved in a rivalry with Johnny Gargano on NXT. However, the former #DIY member will miss NXT TakeOver: WarGames due to a neck injury, so Matt Riddle will take on the Irishman in Chicago instead.

#3 Paige’s reaction to CM Punk’s WWE Backstage debut

As mentioned in the introduction, this week’s biggest story came when CM Punk made his return to WWE programming for the first time in almost six years.

“The Best In The World” walked out on WWE in January 2014 and it looked for many years as though he would be the one high-profile Superstar who, unlike The Ultimate Warrior and Bruno Sammartino, would never return to the company.

However, just when it seemed as though WWE Backstage was set to come to an end, Renee Young surprisingly introduced Punk, who confirmed that he will be part of next week’s show on FS1.

After the broadcast, Paige took to Twitter to reveal that she asked Punk if AJ Lee – her former WWE rival and Punk’s wife – will return to WWE with him.

RIGHT?! Thats the first thing I asked!! https://t.co/sN2GcbOgDT

— PAIGE (@RealPaigeWWE) November 13, 2019

In April 2014, Paige debuted on WWE’s main roster by winning the Divas Championship from Lee on the episode of RAW after WrestleMania 30. One year later, the enemies-turned-allies teamed together at WrestleMania 31 to defeat The Bella Twins.

#2 Baron Corbin used to be disliked backstage

Anybody who has seen Baron Corbin’s antics as a heel in WWE may not be surprised to read that the former United States Champion earned a bad reputation for himself behind the scenes in his early days with the company.

Speaking to Corey Graves on After The Bell this week, Roman Reigns revealed that people used to refer to former football player Corbin, real name Tom Pestock, as “Football Tom” when he joined the FCW developmental system in August 2012.

Corbin initially “rubbed people a certain way”, according to Reigns, who now respects his on-screen rival due to the improvements he has made as an in-ring performer and character over the last seven years.

“He rubbed us a certain way, and when push came to shove and it was time for him to get in the ring, they were like, ‘Dude, you’re going to get fired if you don’t get in the ring.’ He picked it up, he’s a big guy, he’s got good timing... I’ll give him that."

Reigns, who will be on the same SmackDown team as Corbin at Survivor Series, also mentioned that he never expected to be main-eventing a European tour with “Football Tom”.

#1 When CM Punk embraced Darren Young at SummerSlam

Writing in his first column for Sportskeeda this week, Fred Rosser (fka Darren Young) recalled the time that he came out publicly to the world as the first openly gay WWE Superstar in the summer of 2013.

The one-time WWE Tag Team Champion’s announcement came on the weekend of SummerSlam, where CM Punk faced Brock Lesnar in one of the most anticipated matches of the night.

Rosser revealed that, just minutes after finishing his match against Lesnar, Punk approached him in the catering area and said how proud he was that the former Prime Time Player had shown the courage to come out. He added that Punk told him he will “take care of it” if anybody had a problem with Rosser’s announcement.

“With Punk embracing me in a manner like that, it made it that much easier for me to walk into a WWE locker room and just be myself. It’s a moment I’ll never forget and I’ll always share with the world.”

---

Now you can rate RAW, SmackDown and NXT matches on Sportskeeda!