The Official UKFF RAW Thread...

[buba3d]

rollins almost being attacked by a fan and as the camera shows a closeup on seth, cole says something about rollings being in a trance and of course the fan gets carted out the ring by security and the ref, seth mocks him and says is that the demon which then has cole stuck for words.

[The Gaffer]

Okay show. There's absolutely no buzz around SummerSlam, is there? It's going to get seen because it's on the Network but if this was the traditional era of PPV buys it's a shoe in for lowest drawing SummerSlam ever, right?

[Ambulance Chaser]

Something is off with Rollins for me in this program, he looks I dunno, uninterested or unmotivated by the whole feud. Not sure why, it's guaranteed to be a good match, maybe it's this whole selling of being scared of Demon balor that he aint having. It's all so flat, I'm not enjoying it at all, they know Finn can't talk so they have to build around the mystique of the Demon, and why blow your load the Raw before Summerslam, full entrance, ring gear, even some flippy moves, they may as well have had that match on top of Rusev/Reigns. Most odd.

Edited August 16, 2016 by Ambulance Chaser

[The Gaffer]

Rollins comes off as uninterested or unmotivated any time he's on the stick for long, like he has been in this program because as you say they know Finn can't talk. Seth can't do a convincing 'the best' on the mic without his tongue seeming firmly in his cheek. Everything is predicated on smarmyness which is fine to a point.

[neil is brill]

 and why blow your load the Raw before Summerslam, full entrance, ring gear, even some flippy moves,

 

My take on it is that it was probably more for the benefit of those who don't watch NXT or aren't totally familiar with the Balor character. Rather than reveal him at SummerSlam, they can show him to the kids on Raw to gauge the reaction. Maybe get a few more eyes on the network to see how different the demon is to the man? I'm probably wrong though.

[ColinBollocks]

I did chuckle like Rollins when they decided to give away the Demon gimmick on Raw. It was definitely the right choice, but that's mostly to do with how utterly useless Rollins and Balor are at talking up some interest in their matches. It seems like they realised how dire Balor's first Raw promo was so are trying to book ways around him talking in the ring, which again is the right way to go about it because he's miles away from being a main event promo - granted, standards aren't terribly high for the most part. The angle itself was fairly pants until Rollins sold it like he saw Cactus Jack while walking up the ramp, good job by him there.

 

Rusev is doing a grand job with Reigns. Giving the match away a few days before the PPV in the third hour was, again, incredibly lazy. As is Sheamus v Cesaro trading wins in a nothing best of seven.

 

Lesnar said "shit".

[AndyUK]

I'm thinking the Balor appearance was to build him up and get the upper hand on his initial appearance rather than the damp squib of having him show up and lose at Summerslam? I don't know. It doesn't feel like a very main event feud either way.

 

Anyway, it's become a bit of the same old already after the freshness of the first couple of weeks. Nothing's awful but nothing's really engaging me either. Cesaro and Sheamus have really good, hard hitting matches so I don't really mind a Best of 7 Series but it screams of them needing to fill time on RAW. Same with giving away a haf hour Reigns/Rusev epic days before the show.

 

If they're struggling to fill three hours already then that's not a good sign.

[d-d-d-dAz]

My blood turned cold when Brock lowered his voice and said 'I don't give a shit about your kids'.

 

Fucking hell.

 

What a scary man.

[CavemanLynn]

The Balor reveal was an utter waste. Yes, they were going to hotshot it to maximise their merch, but it's been barely a month of Finn being on the main roster and they've done little to nothing to differentiate him. They didn't need promo faceoffs. Seth could've kicked the crap out of him on interference for two weeks as soon as the match was made, so at least towards the end of one Raw, Finn could pipe up from a stretcher backstage about Seth not facing him at SummerSlam but "something else". Sure, Seth looked freaked out by the Demon King, but he still threw a punch, undermining the whole idea of him being a chickenshit heel.

 

Raw's had a lick of paint and a feng shui, but the booking's still sadly the same as ever.

[The Clint]

I'm looking forward to Lesnar V Orton. I reckon it's going to be one of those all out crazy brawls. The Ambrose V Ziggler match is the one I don't care about as I think this Ziggler push is bollocks.   Surely Sheamus V Cesaro ends up on the kick off along with I'm guessing Young V O'Neil and Eva V Becky.

[DJM]

I am guessing that the winner of the best of 7 will be the next challenger for the new Raw title (even though that have said that Cesaro is already the next challenger the past couple of weeks).

 

Lesnar was good last night. Just shows, give Lesnar a mic and not have him have to remember lines and lines of written promo and he gives a strong, believable promo. Who do we think will eventually get to beat Lesnar? The obvious choice is Reigns, but I feel that the crowd would turn on him again and he would be back to where he was a few months ago.

[Snitsky's back acne]

I'm looking forward to Lesnar V Orton. I reckon it's going to be one of those all out crazy brawls. 

 

It depends if Lesnar can be arsed or not.

If he decides to be with Orton like he was with Ambrose it'll be the usual Lesnar fodder.

 

Missy Hyatt agrees with us all re Cesaro v Sheamus

Courtesy of Twitter: ughhh!!! best of 7 matches with sheamus. why does wwe hate me!

Edited August 16, 2016 by Snitsky's back acne

[Snitsky's back acne]

EDIT *Apologies**

Edited August 16, 2016 by Snitsky's back acne

[Yakashi]

Okay show. There's absolutely no buzz around SummerSlam, is there? It's going to get seen because it's on the Network but if this was the traditional era of PPV buys it's a shoe in for lowest drawing SummerSlam ever, right?

If it was traditional PPV then there's no chance either of those title matches happens. At the end of the day, it just doesn't matter anymore.

[WeeAl]

If the winner of this Cesaro/Sheamus carry on is the next challenger for the Raw title, and expected to be Cesaro, we're going to get Balor being beat in his first time out as the demon followed by Rollins and Cesaro?

 

Reigns and Rusev should be the main event title program. Two big hosses beating the shit out of each other and having a blinding match for the big belt would do me nicely. I think their feud has come at a nice time for both men to sink their teeth into something good and fresh. Reigns material is still shit, but he could still be an effective baby if allowed to behave as the take no shit ass kicker that he was in the shield when people got behind him, and that we've only had momentary glimpses of the last 18 plus months. As for Rusev, well, that man should be knighted. Love the big fella.