It seemed a near certainty that Ric Flair was going to appear on RAW this past Monday. Between the Charlotte, NC location, his early exit from the Ring of Honor event on Saturday, numerous internet spoiler reports, and the promised announcement of a new General Manager on RAW -- all the pieces were in place for a big Flair return to television.

It didn't happen, and according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, it was never supposed to happen.

As noted recently, WWE officials are once again focused on stopping news and storyline leaks to the Internet–-Flair was apparently backstage primarily to serve as a red herring to trick the people who leak storylines to the 'net. WWE anticipated the Flair story breaking in the media, which would throw reporters off the track on the Donald Trump storyline.

It did ultimately work, as the Donald Trump “purchase” storyline was not spoiled before its airing.

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