The Official UKFF RAW Thread...

[Brock Goldberg]

I've just watched the introduction of the NXT divas and the triple threat match.

 

Amazing work by all involved, really enjoyed both those parts of Raw.

 

Don't have the time or want/need to attempt all three hours of Raw but will gladly watch the most impressive moments.

[DJM]

A couple of pictures from backstage at Raw this week...

 

 

[poetofthedeed]

Any diva who wasn't in the ring for that segment last night should probably start getting their cvs in order. That was incredible.

 

Wwe has quietly become awesome at having unique separate title division's. You can spend the next 4-6 months having great matches between cena/rusev/owens/cesaro

Rollins/brock/ambrose/reigns

Bella/naomi/nxters

 

Even the ic and tag division are fun at the moment.

 

Is wrestling great again?

Edited July 14, 2015 by poetofthedeed

[tiger_rick]

Is wrestling great again?

No. The wrestling is always of a good standard. But you get an hour of storyline development in 6 hours of TV per week. It's not enough.

 

Wwe has quietly become awesome at having unique separate title division's. You can spend the next 4-6 months having great matches between cena/rusev/owens/cesaro

Cena vs. Rusev - Seen it more than once

Cena vs. Owens - Seen it more than once

Cena vs. Cesaro - Seen it more than once

 

There are one or two matches in there and the obvious four way but it's not even two months worth.

 

Rollins/brock/ambrose/reigns

Rollins vs. Ambrose - Done to death

Rollins vs. Lesnar - Nearly seen it

Lesnar vs. Reigns - Done

Reigns vs. Rollins - Been done but there's definitley another match in there.

Reigns vs. Ambrose - Genuinely fresh match.

 

We've seen most things. That's the problem. And a shame too because they have tons of talent.

[Guest]

thought Raw was absolutely great this week after being pretty down on the previous 2 episodes

The divas bit was so, so good. And it feels amazing to actually appreciate a divas bit for once, and for the previously poor standard of competition to be actually acknowledged - I feel so worked in the best possible way. Thank you Steph. Not that I wanna sound like Foley, but some tears got in my eyes watching that - all the times I dismissed somethin like this happening in my head because I thought they really didn't give a solitary shit , god, yeah ,I got a bit emotional.

Hey it was even a bit messy - why does Sascha come out to stand with Naomi and Tamina? So there's 3 groups of 3? I didn't get that, thought she was turning face on NXT anyway - but it means so much that the right amount of effort is being put in and for the first time I'm really hopeful of a quality women's product. When was the last time an entirely women's segment got a "this is awesome" chant? I'd like to see whatever the next PPV match is, that's a huge amount of match possibilities they just opened up - just hope they last more than 5 minutes.

 

The US title stuff was again really good. A shit-hot fatal 4 way at Summerslam? Dolph better not ruin that by getting his larynx uncrushed or whatever.

 

Even the Brock and Seth stuff was good and I'm pretty hyped for their match now. Hope Kane's out for ages, like years, it's the only way he gets a pop when he comes back.

 

Also good to see Cody back, although seeing him go back to the same spot he was in, with the same gimmick and still being the heel is a little peculiar. I'm not saying he comes out and gets this big push cos Dusty died - just a something to acknowledge the moment as the crowd blatantly wanted him to beat Neville out there. It could've been the moment to turn him back to Cody, but at the same time I appreciate this comic thingy Stardust has going on. Not sure about this rumoured match/feud/wahetever with Stephen Amell though

Edited July 14, 2015 by sj5522

[DCW]

Skipped all the inconsequential Barrett/Truth, Reigns/Ambrose/Wyatt and Tough Enough shite, and I quite enjoyed the remaining bits of Raw as a result. It's a crying fucking shame that Cesaro has no personality whatsoever, cos he'd be a star otherwise. Rusev is top notch too, though they should really bin the idea of saddling him with Summer Rae. The womens stuff was alright. I was fully expecting Steph to come out and just piss all over the Bellas for no discernible reason, as is customary, so it was a nice surprise to see the NXT womens crew turn up. Hopefully they all get a decent crack at establishing themselves before WWE lose interest in the womens division again in a few weeks.

 

Sooner they got the title of Rollins the better, such a dull reign as champion. There surely hasn't been a more boring champion in recent memory.

Edited July 14, 2015 by DCW

[WWFChilli]

The women's bit was canny good, breathe some life into that area. But fuck off Stephanie McMahon, making your lead diva heel looked like a child. I can see why people praise Steph, but I'd be happy to NEVER see her or hear that voice again... she's also a HEEL so fuck knows what sense it made. The Authority, specifically H and Steph and bloody weird characters these days.

 

Also The Bellas and Alicia deserve a knock for just STANDING THERE while Becky Lynch and Charlotte came out. Shouldn't they have been losing their shit at Steph and screaming injustice or whatever?

Edited July 14, 2015 by WWFChilli

[Mr.Showtime]

Bloody hell that Owens/Cesaro/Rusev match went on forever, and Cena/Rusev went on longer than I thought it would, but it worked. It's noted often here, but do WWE even realise how they've portrayed Rusev most of this year? I felt so sorry for him getting bullied around by Cena with no energy to do anything about it, and cheered like crazy with that super counter into his finisher.

[Snitsky's back acne]

Loved the triple threat match. Cesaro came off like a star, Owens looked like a pussy (which is a good thing) and Rusev was total babyface - Cesaro should have been in that position against Cena. Having a heel be the one who wins a gruelling match and then wrestles straight after will always make them a babyface in my opinion.

 

Agree with Stephanie making Nikki look like a tool and the total non-reaction/under-reaction Team Bella gave to the 3 newbies was lame but other than that the amount of new matches the introduction of the NXT Divas allows for is great, plus it gives other Divas in NXT like Alexa Bliss, Bayley, Carmella etc. a chance to get more airtime / ring experience.

[The Clint]

What the fuck was Cole talking about when he said "It's a rare Raw appearance from Stephanie" ?  Just because she hadn't been on Raw for the last 2 weeks that makes it rare?. I was expecting Rusev to win that triple threat just to have Lana come out and cost him the match with Cena by fighting with Summer at ringside resulting in Rusev being counted out trying to split them up. Well something along those lines anyway but I was surprised that there was no Lana last night. Looks like that mixed tag will be booked for SummerSlam. And there's no doubt that Kane will interfere in the Rollins V Lesnar match on Sunday probably resulting in a DQ to allow Rollins to keep the title until at least SummerSlam.

[Jizzlobber]

Yeah the "rare appearance" line made me chuckle, just as Steph was about to deliver her weekly emasculation to a member of the roster (though emasculation isn't the right word in this instance, but I don't know what is).

 

I'm intrigued by the way they presented the women in a serious light and the three factions idea certainly has some legs, but the segment itself bothered the hell out of me. It was cool to see all the new women get big pops and a chance to shine, but the way it was done just seemed really baffling. Stephanie as the all controlling puppet master/school teacher soured it for me. Just creating all these alliances by herself was dumb. There was no need for anyone else to be involved other than the women themselves. It was presented as though Paige is unable to make friends on her own so the teacher has forced two pupils to sit next to the weird kid.

 

But we should know by now that the Authhority have to latch on to anything they know is going to create a buzz. They have to make it abundantly clear that they are responsible for everything. We saw it a few weeks when Owens had just finished taking out Cena and it cut to the Authority backstage with Steph saying "You sure know how to pick 'em, Hunter". Awful stuff.

[Guest]

Maybe I'm being over optimistic but Steph made sense out there to me. Sure there's about 1000 ways this could've been done better, particularly in the weeks building up to it - oh god, the weeks building up to it!

It's just a segment that hopefully we'll be able to look at in 10-15 years and think "shit, yeah, that changed the game" so it makes sense having a McMahon, not to mention a woman, out there. 

Edited July 14, 2015 by sj5522

[Otto Dem Wanz]

Biggest surprise of the night - Cole said "wrestling" during that Divas bit!

 

I'm starting to turn against Rollins as champion, he really is boring and not even in the "annoying chickenshit heel" way, maybe his bit on Swerved and his recent Twitter and Instagram posts talking about how great he is are an act but he's not even making up for it with any memorable promos or work outside PPV matches which I'll give him he is delivering in.

 

That said, I can't wait for Brock to win the belt for the second Summerslam in a row (I don't see them having a conclusive finish at Battleground).

Edited July 14, 2015 by Otto Dem Wanz

[King Pitcos]

The divas thing felt like the only noteworthy part of the show. The US title stuff was good, but it didn't develop much of anything. Barrett vs R-Truth is quite funny purely because they seemed to make a point of ending that feud a week or two ago, yet clearly they had a bit of time to fill on Raw and couldn't be arsed coming up with anything new so it's still going.

 

Surely Mandow and Axel should've been given more of a go? They seemed to immediately get relegated to Shotgun, but there's ample space on Raw for them to be doing skits. Mad how Sandow went from being the highlight of the shows to a total non-entity again. Has the thing with Adam Rose having a "masterpiece" been dropped as well?

 

 

You can spend the next 4-6 months having great matches between 
Rollins/brock/ambrose/reigns

 

Not while retaining anyone's interest. Rollins has fought Reigns and Ambrose multiple times this year and last, and Lesnar's not around enough to keep the continued overexposure of Shield matches interesting. There's still interest in a Reigns vs Ambrose singles match/feud, but that's about it. Plus, every time Ambrose and Reigns fight Rollins for the title and fail, it's a strike against their credibility.

 

We've seen most things. That's the problem. And a shame too because they have tons of talent.

 

 

This sums up the great shame of current wrestling. Incredible amounts of talent, going to waste because the folks in charge give not a fuck about keeping any combination fresh.

 

Also The Bellas and Alicia deserve a knock for just STANDING THERE while Becky Lynch and Charlotte came out. Shouldn't they have been losing their shit at Steph and screaming injustice or whatever?

 

 

Why would they? They think they're above the rookies. Nikki Bella's been the top women's wrestler in the world's biggest promotion since November, she shouldn't be scared of some bint who has just come out of the academy. Standing there looking unimpressed is bang on.

 

What the fuck was Cole talking about when he said "It's a rare Raw appearance from Stephanie" ?  Just because she hadn't been on Raw for the last 2 weeks that makes it rare?

 

 

Stephanie's been pretty sporadic (compared to 2013/14) since about WrestleMania time, or whenever it was that she went off to do that fellowship thing for a month. Triple H has had way less TV time lately as well, but they should both be on more now to try to stem the ratings decline a bit.

Edited July 14, 2015 by King Pitcos

[Ian 86]

I quite liked the Divas segment right up until they starting getting physical - Charlotte's chops looked awful and Paige locking in a submission hold, which Naomi had to through her arm up for, in the middle of brawl made her look a bit daft, especially when she then got a kick in the head.  I sniggered and I doubt very much that's the reaction they were looking for.  The brawl was sort of saved at the end with the 3 NXT divas all locking holds on but then Paige came in looking a bit confused.  To me it came a cross a little bit like one of the old 'TNA/Russo' brawls we used to get every week.

 

But it is the first time I've actually been interested in a Divas segment in months (probably since Paige's debut, and that was only because it was her!) so it worked, I guess.

 

Great to see the new divas.  

 

Charlotte - she's Ric Flair's daughter, we get it! In fact she's so much his daughter she uses a redubbed version of his entrance theme, she woo's, and she chops. But don't call her Flair because surnames are uncool.... unless you are Becky Lynch, Sasha Banks, Alicia Fox, or Stephanie McMahon.  If you want to trade off his name, then use it otherwise what's the point of keep bringing it up.  Loved the F4 with the bridge.