The Official UKFF RAW Thread...

[Otto Dem Wanz]

Nothing else to add apart from - Smackdown has a lot to do to top that. What a great show, easily the best RAW in years.

Edited July 26, 2016 by Otto Dem Wanz

[Benno]

Random thought about Byron.. how the hell was he ever a wrestler? Anyone remember what he was like?

I remember him having one of the worst finishers of all time.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=TqWudY_iViM

[PunkStep]

Nia Jax shouldn't straighten her hair, looks less intimidating. Like Miranda.

[Supremo]

A great show, with more momentum than they've had in ages, but fucking hell. That new camera they've got that swoops towards the ring and then back again made me feel some serious motion sickness every time they did it. I appreciate that they're changing as much stuff as they can, it's definitely the right thing to do, but that one shot done me in every single time.

[The Clint]

Didn't expect Sasha to win the title on Raw. I was sure they were saving that for SummerSlam.  I think Corey Graves does a cracking job on commentary.

 

I wonder what kind of show Smackdown will be tonight. They're gonna have to work hard to top Raw from last night.

[DavidB6937]

I was definitely looking forward to Smackdown more but Raw was pretty damn amazing.

 

Loved Sasha winning the title. Exactly what Raw needed to make it seem a must watch every week. Didn't feel any less important not being on PPV. And following her journey on Breaking Ground and NXT just made this feel all the more special and genuinely emotional.

 

Same with Balor really. Seeing that BBC documentary on him and following him through NXT has really given me a respect for the man so to see their faith in him last night was pretty amazing. He's not the kinda guy you want a slow burn with. Strike while the iron's hot and just go with it.

 

More Strowman squashes please.

[Pinc]

Cesaro is a useless fucking bell end.

[Shane O' Mac Version 2]

It raises the question of what to do with Balor between now and SummerSlam.

 

 

Do you really want him to be going over the Zayn/Reigns/Rusev for the next few weeks, which will give him credibility but halt their momentum when they need to be building them up as well. Do you give him victories over the next to nothing lot like Dallas/Axel/Sin Cara, which gives increases his momentum but doesn't do a lot for his credibility given he's just beaten Reigns. Do you simply keep him away from the ring for the next few weeks but keep on the show. Or do you go the tried and tested way of putting on great wrestling matches with people with no direction whatsoever at this point with the likes of Jericho/Cesaro/Owens where he'll be made to look great.

 

 

I don't know why you'd have to pick only one of those directions. Mix everything up and I think you'd get all the benefits with little or none of the drawbacks. Maybe next week have play a short clip of Finn's great Raw, really brief backstage interview to get a reaction then have him squash Sin Cara in a short but acrobatic match. The week after, run a Balor hype vid and don't have him wrestle, perhaps run a Rollins/Balor angle. Then run a episode long mini feud with Jericho where Balor wins in the main event. Remember the good old days when Raw had episode long story arcs? We had a more wrestling based version of that with the fatal 4 ways + main event this week, but all the things I listed are ways to keep Balor on the show and fresh without burning through all the great matches without reason. You want to save them for PPVs as much as possible.

[PowerButchi]

Why would you hotshot Jericho vs Balor already and do it in one three hour show? That's a bad idea and a waste of what could be a hot and profitable match on a bigger stage in future. Episode long story arcs aren't what you want, at all. Long ones from week to week which slowly build (without turning into I win/You win) to a hot crescendo at an event which isn't a throwaway episode of free TV is.

[Shane O' Mac Version 2]

I'm saying give it some purpose instead of just putting it on there, because odds are they'll put that match or a match of that ilk on Raw anyway. As long as they do it sparingly and don't give away a marquee match for no reason every week, it'll be fine. Rotate between a match like that and Balor vs. midcarders/jobbers and you won't have that problem of Balor having faced all his main opponents X20 before a PPV match.

 

Why would a one-off Balor vs. Jericho match on Raw hurt? It's like saying, "oh, the HHH vs. Jericho feud didn't work because they had that match on Raw in 2000 where Y2J won the belt but didn't." It's only damaging if they have a bunch of matches on the weekly show then try and sell it as PPV-worthy... like they've been doing for the past few years.

[King Pitcos]

I wasn't as impressed with the show as everyone else seems to have been. I really liked what they did with Finn Balor -- I'm not a fan, but they need new main event guys so it's bloody good that they went with him properly instead of "maybe in six months, just put him against Sheamus til then." This is a case where the hotshotting seems the best play and I'm much more interested in Balor vs Rollins than I would be in Reigns vs Rollins again. I love the speculated idea of Reigns vs Jericho as well.

 

But everything else was largely carried by the novelty factor of the shinynew, and that will be gone in a few weeks. The new commentary team and table, the stage, the jobbers etc. I can't see it being raved about consistently. I know I was a lot more forgiving of it in terms of fast forwarding simply because of the new visuals.

 

One thing they should try to do is find a story for the show every week that keeps momentum going throughout. This one was easy with the mini tournament, but they're gonna have to get creative to fill those key top-of-the-hour quarters every week. On the plus side, they've got some super talent there to fill those slots. I just don't have much faith in them having great ideas to utilise it. It's too easy for the writers and Vince to argue about the storyline all week and then get to quarter to eight on Monday night and go "fuck it, just throw some workrate in."

 

New Day's bit was fucking dire this week. I'm baffled as to how it made it to air.

[Sphinx]

Oh yeah, it was definitely better because they knew it had to be as it was the new era. I don't think it'll consistently be that good, but it was nice to see a decent episodes. As you say, they won't have new titles and the like to make the Raw more compelling. Like you, I don't have faith that Raw will truly change but for the time being I'll enjoy it...except the name Universal Championship and that New Day segment.

[Briefcase]

I don't think Finn really needs a match between now & Summerslam. You can have Seth do his usual bragging and talk next week (give Finn a week off) then have Finn show up once or twice and just have them face off at Summerslam. 

 

Speaking of Finn, the only thing that really concerns me (as far as his gimmick goes) is the crowd reactions, in an NXT arena everyone is in sync with his entrance, but felt like on Raw 50% of the arena didn't know what to do or want to join in. I reckon they will turn him heel with The Club anyway so might not be a big thing. 

[IANdrewDiceClay]

Surely Finn's winning the title then? 99% certain he's going to come out as the Demon. Would be pretty shit for him if he showed up as this alternate better Super Finn Balor and then he loses.

[The Clint]

It'll be interesting to see if Heyman shows up on Raw this Monday as his WWE contract recently expired.  Apparently they're working out a deal to get him at SummerSlam.