The Official UKFF RAW Thread...

[truthofsin]

I just think there will be a MAJOR curve ball and it will require an additional man that isn't Styles/Roman/Finn on his own. I don't think three is enough. It was ok for the nWo because of who they were but not for two guys who most people don't know, Styles who won't be the top heel all year or Finn who possibly isn't equipped yet based off promos and when he doesn't have the demon gimmick which i would assume he wont.

 

4 will be better, for me anyway.

 

Why wouldn't he have the demon gimmick? He used the paint while he was a heel in NJPW. That paint moves a lot of merch, i highly doubt they'd drop it.

[Slapnut]

AJ Styles and Festus are two of WWE's most pushed wrestlers, what a time to be alive.

 

I'm genuinely intrigued with the whole Bullet Club thing.  So many possibilities and I'm none the wiser to which is likely to happen, I'm liking it.

Edited April 26, 2016 by Slapnut

[Philjax]

I don't mean he wont do the demon thing ever, and he may use it as he does in NXT sure, but i dont think he can be the top heel in charge of this group as he stands. I could see redneck AJ in charge but i dont believe WWE see him as their top bad guy and i think that would be too obvious at this point, plus he'd have to win the belt which I can't see happening. Roman cant just chase the belt and lose it next month every time. It could just as well be Seth Rollins though if Tripper doesn't want to wrestle and they dont turn him face. It could even be Samoa Joe AND Finn together. We won't know for sure until at least Tuesday morning and maybe even until the next PPV!

[LWOLeN]

I watch WWE RAW on their youtube channel. I guess it is only open for Ip addresses in The Netherlands. The show takes 1.5 hours instead of 3.

4th Week in a row they have edited out Apollo Crews.

[Undefeated Steak]

I watch WWE RAW on their youtube channel. I guess it is only open for Ip addresses in The Netherlands. The show takes 1.5 hours instead of 3.

4th Week in a row they have edited out Apollo Crews.

 

There's a better version available to all IP addresses, it's about 4 minutes long.

[PSF]

So is Vince going to announce the brand split again on Sunday? Putting Shane and Steph/authority in charge of a show each? Seems that way, but I'm not sure who gets what show. Shane on Raw and Steph on Smackdown would be the freshest I suppose.

[Briefcase]

Raw was boring this week. Too many long matches again. Nobody gives a shit about Apollo Crews because he has no personality or character on Raw. The USO's are awful and that idea of splitting them and choosing sides is possibly the worst idea I have ever heard. They should be no where near Roman in top level feuds, here & there maybe but not into a full on program. 

 

Cesaro just can't deliver on his promos, just make him a machine (will probably come out as a Robocop next week) and don't make him talk, keep it simple.

 

This whole Vince/Shane/Steph thing is also shit, we've gone from Shane having a match with Undertaker to get control of Raw, he loses that match then gets given Raw for one night, then somehow he still has had Raw's the last few weeks (because of the WWE Universe) and now Steph is back with no explanation what her role actually is? And all of a sudden its a big thing this Sunday without any real fight or reason. 

 

On the plus side, I liked the three way promo with tag titles, Miz is always good and Styles is gradually getting there character wise.

 

Its probably going to be a brand split, Roman retains through various screw jobs, then Styles takes the Smackdown title into the new era of the brand split, Smackdown won't change unless they make it live, thats the only way they could save it. 

[Guest]

Smackdown is a pretty fun little show these days with miles better commentary, but the idea of half the roster being exclusive to the canned-heat show, and that supposedly being the 'cool' brand is a vomit inducing thought

Edited April 26, 2016 by sj5522

[theringmaster]

I really enjoyed RAW this week, the intrigue over the Bullet Club made it so watchable. I really enjoyed BC v Usos. BC have no fancy moves, they are just 2 big guys beating the crap out of the faces. Perfect. Another great addition to a strong growing tag division.

 

Miz to me at this moment in time is perfection and if people want to know why Cesaro never gets a push to main event then this promo is all the explanation they should need. I'm really liking the addition of Maryse, I can imagine her really winding up a few wifes/Girlfriends with that outfit. I really want his title reign to last until Summerslam at least.

[DavidB6937]

It wasn't a bad show. I appreciate them trying to do a few different things at least and getting some fresh faces out there, although Crews just suffers from the same problems as on NXT. I know Zayn/Owens had a ridiculous amount of history to pull from but if they can make something seem that important from one promo, I wish they'd put more effort into ones for the guys that actually need it like Crews.

 

Crowd was surprisingly quiet for the majority.

[Ambulance Chaser]

Not good news....

 

WWE Raw TV Ratings Tracking

April 25: Monday’s Raw fell to a 2.20 rating the week after falling to a 2.32 rating for a taped international show.

It was the lowest rating of the year and lowest since a 2.15 rating in December. If not for the Dec. 7 episode, this would have been the lowest-rated regular-week Raw TV rating in about 20 years.

• April 4 post-WM: 2.93 rating
• April 11: 2.50 rating
• April 18: 2.32 rating (U.K.)
• April 25: 2.20 rating (25% decline since WM32)

– Raw was especially hit hard among 18-49 viewers. General adults 18-49 fell one-tenth of a rating to easily the lowest a18-49 rating of the year. Also, males 18-49 fell eight percent to easily the lowest m18-49 rating of the year.

The only demographic that improved was males 18-34, which hit an extreme low-point last week and inched up from the basement level this week.

– Raw’s three hours averaged 3.128 million viewers, down six percent from last week’s audience of 3.335 million viewers.

It was by far the fewest viewers of the year and also the fewest since Dec. 7, 2015. Hourly Break Down:

• First Hour: 3.263 million viewers (down about 200k from last week)
• Second Hour: 3.184 million viewers (down about 350k from last week)
• Third Hour: 2.938 million viewers (down 40k from last week)

For the second consecutive week, the third hour drew fewer than 3.0 million viewers. That is the first time that has happened in the modern era.

Even during last year’s difficult Fall TV season, there were no back-to-back shows where the third hour drew fewer than three million viewers.

The key this week appears to be a very soft second hour (with the big week-to-week drop-off), which then fed into the typically soft third hour.

 

 

 

Seriously what do they do, they have spent 2 years building up Roman as the superhero face of the company, he is out there doing make a wish, meeting kids on Raw, do they turn him, do they just take the belt off him and relegate him back down. WWE cannot spin these ratings, and they can no longer make the excuse that the Roman backlash is in typically tough markets like Brooklyn, Philly, Boston, Chicago etc, he got booed in HERTFORD, he is not liked, on I'd say an 80%-20% sort of level. Someone said above there is no reason to care about Crews and some of these new guys, the intro of him has been terrible, just terrible.

 

As has been said before they won't do it, but this show needs to be 2 hours, it HAS to be, if they condensed everything, finished off the show with that hot Jericho/Ambrose scrap, or if that was at the top of the second hour and they ended with the Reigns/AJ stuff that is fine, overexposure is a killer in my opinion, 3 hours is just so draining.

[simonworden]

The two hour thing is a funny one because everyone says it from us on the internet, to the more in the knows to some of the veterans. It must be so lucrative though, does anyone have any figures what the revenue is from that 3rd hour for both WWE and USA? I guess we have to wait until the ratings drop to a point USA scale it back. Unless WWE do something in the first or third hour and just say fuck it. Put on some old matches or some old network content or something!

 

As I said in another thread I can't see AJ turning heel and joining the bullet club or Balor being called up as a heel. What I think will happen is Gallows and Anderson will turn on AJ. If they are brave they will create a group with Reigns as heels (I actually thought some stuff eluded to this on Raw). But AJ will feud with them and probably have Balor join his side sometime into the summer. I dont even know if they will turn on AJ tomorrow, I reckon we will get a six man on raw after Payback where they do it. 

[harlow2]

Two main money sources are network & TV rights fees, more the latter, so ratings are utmost important right now

 

Dave Meltzer 

[Scott Malbranque]

BOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIITTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT CRRRUUUUBBBBBBBBBOOOOHHHHHH

[ColinBollocks]

They should do what they should have done last year and give Reigns a few months with the belt and see how it goes - the fans know what's up, so just go with it. If the Shield are getting back together as a last ditch attempt to get Reigns cheers and it doesn't work, then they have a great out with Reigns being the one to turn his back on Rollins and co. Face Rollins v Heel Reigns could be a really good SummerSlam main event.