The Official UKFF RAW Thread...

[Chris B]

Batista's return was obviously huge, but I think people are assuming that Daniel Bryan wasn't part of the rating at all. I tend to think that you can see how big an angle is by the response the following week. The previous week, Daniel Bryan closed out one of the best feel-good moments in ages when he turned back babyface and the crowd went ballistic. The following week, Raw does strong ratings.

 

So, what I'm wondering is if the monster ratings wasn't just the return of Batista, but was people wanting to see Daniel Bryan AND Batista. Because that second hour did pretty well too. We had a .25 drop for hour two - we had a bigger drop after the Daniel Bryan interview.

 

I'm not suggesting that Batista wasn't a huge part of it - but I don't think that the audience was all Batista. This may have been a bigger rating than usual without Batista. Not *as* large, but still larger than usual.

[UK Kat Von D]

Pretty hilarious that we're now at the point where a "smark internet workrate crowd" is one that pops massively for Kevin Nash and boos Rey Mysterio.

 

Fuck this got a chuckle out of me

[hallicks]

Regarding this notion that the reaction of the live crowd doesn't matter. Survivor Series, and the crowd take huge dump over the Orton-Big Show main event, so to try and cover they bring out Cena at the end and have a hugely impromptu champion vs champion face off.

[d-d-d-dAz]

Surprisingly nothing Raw.

 

Either they haven't got anything else up their sleeve this year, or they're holding off until Network launch night because it all seems a bit flat right now. Obviously Batista's great to have back but between being put headlong into a feud with a human charisma vacuum, and his tepid reactions, it doesn't have the perception of being as great as it should.

 

I would have liked the ball to have started rolling towards Undertaker, at least.

 

I think the fan reactions at the Rumble have definitely inspired a change of direction, and it seems like the biggest loser is going to be Bray Wyatt. He seemed to be set right up for a feud with Cena (the biggest 'angle' coming out of Sunday was his attack on Cena) but I got the distinct impression from last night that they were putting the onus on The Wyatt Family versus The Shield. Where that leaves Bryan is anyone's guess. Cena? Sheamus? Punk?

 

Fuck knows.

 

I know that'd I'd like to see Batista/Orton a million, bazillion times more than either Batista/Orton or Lesnar/Undertaker.

 

I think it's all gone back up in the air as they scramble desperately to find a balance between appealing to the normal folk at home, and the more vocal wrestling fan who buys a ticket to the show.

[andrew "the ref" coyne]

Where that leaves Bryan is anyone's guess. Cena? Sheamus?

 

I'm starting to wonder whether the storyline will be that Daniel Bryan will be inserted into the Mania main event on the night of mania via a fan petition sent to the "board of directors" making it Orton vs Batista vs Bryan.

 

Semi wishful thinking, but I'm beginning to wonder if all this pro Bryan support by wwe wrestlers and on twitter is a little... manufactured.

[d-d-d-dAz]

Oh, it's definitely manufactured now.

 

They've hit the panic button, it seems.

 

Not necessarily from a strictly business perspective (or, at least, they aren't reacting to 'poor business') but from the perspective where its just embarassing to have your live audience revolting against your product. It makes you look out of touch, and can make big stars look daft.

 

They're going to make an angle out of it, and play pretend that it was their plan all along.

 

In my opinion, though, there's very few spots you can put him in and not have dissatisfaction from the live audience. You either stick him in the title match, or against Undertaker. Even against Undertaker you might still get some shit in the title match.

 

It's a real test of their resolve, this. They've made their investments, and slowly begun to transition towards Mania. How much do they want to push on, irrespective of the live audience, and try and appeal to the star-hungry, home bound audience? Clearly, they feel they need to do something, but how far are they going to go? They're not exactly reasonable folk they're dealing with. Anything but exactly what they want and you're back at ground zero.

 

In terms of match quality, I think I'd go with...no, I don't know anymore. I'd like to see Undertaker/Bryan but that leaves too many loose ends.

 

Like I say, it's all back in the air I think.

[ColinBollocks]

I still think John Cena/Bray Wyatt is happening at 'Mania, but The Shield/Wyatt stuff was to finally set up that PPV match at Elimination Chamber, which will no doubt lead to more bickering in The Shield.

 

I'm actually starting to get into the idea of Bray Wyatt v John Cena, as it's something new for Cena and Bray is hitting form.

 

Anyway, as I've said previously, you can stick anybody with Randy Orton and it feels like a cold feud. Poor Batista deserves better, because you can see this match going the same way as the Cena/Orton Rumble match, unless they find a way to stick Bryan in there. No idea what has happened to Orton, these days his act and performances seem a bit antiquated.

 

The Bryan stuff was ok, but his promo was a bit of a standard AJ Styles moaning one, which always puts me off people. You can tell Triple H is too quick for him in a promo v promo situation. At the very least Punk will give him some back (lets just hope they stay away from the "I said your real name" stuff).

[GalaxyV.2]

I would quite like Bryan Vs Triple H at Mania. Would be a Wrestlemania moment if Bryan won, and would then set him up strong to chase the belt again.

[d-d-d-dAz]

I'm wondering at this point, whether they just scrub any plan of Triple H/Punk and just chuck Punk and Bryan in together and hope to God that the live audience are a) happy to see their boys in, hopefully, a 5 snowflakes match and b) have tugged themselves raw over it, so can't be arsed to ruin the rest of the show.

 

I think that might work equally as well as sticking him with either Taker or whoever is champion.

[Popcorn]

Question.

 

How does the new network impact us in the UK?

[d-d-d-dAz]

It doesn't. Yet.

[ColinBollocks]

Daz -

 

Not so sure. Like the Rumble, if Bryan has a belter of a match that stands out from the rest of the card, then the fans may get restless and start chanting for their favourite again, seeing as they feel he should be in the big matches and another great performance may make the fans feel justified in chanting for Bryan. Batista/Orton is doomed, they can't even get through a sentence without the fans giving them abuse and Orton isn't good enough to use it to his advantage.

Edited January 28, 2014 by ColinBollocks

[d-d-d-dAz]

Orton is such a pain in the arse, he's just in the way this year.

 

I don't know how they can resist the temptation to just stick him in with Sheamus and let Batista and Lesnar kill each other instead.

Edited January 28, 2014 by d-d-d-dAz

[Mr.Showtime]

The Tag Title rematch between Goldy Rhodes & the Outlaws was brilliant, if only for the commentary both in the ring and out. Road Dogg was hilarious talking through the match ("Billy...he's too fast for me!") and the guys at the announce desk just started taking the piss out of each other.

 

I agree with the above about Bray maybe being the unfortunate one with show re-writes and what not. Cena looked like he didn't care about what happened at the Rumble, there was no real reason for him to come down at the start and attack the Shield, and it didn't make sense for the Wyatts to basically help Cena qualify for a title shot.

 

Overjoyed that Jake is entering the Hall of Fame

[The Whole Show]

I still reckon they wont backtrack on their plans and we will get Sheamus/Bryan at Mania. Will go along the lines of Sheamus screwing Bryan in the chamber, maybe attacking him once he is eliminating. As ive said several times, this would be a huge waste of Bryan.

 

I think I am at the stage now where id add Bryan to Batista/Orton making it a 3 way. I know a Mania main event should be one on one but adding Bryan to the match makes the title match at Mania a hell of a lot more interesting.

 

Dont really know where they are going with the Lesnar title shot, Hope they dont dismiss it and we do get to see Brock competing for the title at some stage. Cant see them doing Brock/Batista at EC, surely that would be a huge waste it they put it on that PPV.

 

Really really happy were getting The Shield/Wyatts at Mania it seems before the split. Its the first time in years where the WWE has had two hot stables and this should be really good, should also play into the Shield spliting storyline well.Is it sad that at the moment I want to see this match at Elimination Chamber more than anything on the predicted Mania card.

 

Where was Punk? As well as the Lesnar title shot storyline I have no idea where this Punk storyline is going, I commented in the rumble thread that I have a feeling the HHH feud is gonna be a poor one. As someone mentioned earlier it wouldn't surprise me if they scrap the whole Punk/HHH feud, maybe they will switch Punk & Bryans roles.

 

Nothing much else on the show, the main event was really good but surprised they didn't really wheel anything more out for Mania, Must be all happening on network night.