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WHY CM PUNK WASN'T ON RAW, MORE ON LAST NIGHT'S REWRITES

The original plan for last night's Raw was to feature a number of qualifying matches for the Elimination Chamber match that will headline the 2/23 PPV of the same name. We are told that there were 10 different versions of the script over the course of the day.

When Vince McMahon decided the show needed to be rewritten late in the day, the qualifiers were dropped in favor of the six man tag, with the decision to drop other segments.

The original plan featured CM Punk cutting a promo as a follow-up on the Kane attack of Punk during the Royal Rumble. That was dropped over the course of the day.

One source claimed this morning that the opening segment was scripted to put Daniel Bryan in the first segment as the hope was if Bryan was in the first segment and the crowd knew they would see him later, they wouldn't hijack other segments of the show.

We noted last night that The Big Show was also selling the Brock Lesnar attack and that's why he was held off the taping. Show actually went home to Florida early Monday, so he wasn't even backstage.

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