The Official UKFF RAW Thread...

[Weezenal]

Seth's turn on the Shield was pretty big.

[The Gaffer]

The WWE brand thing is very strange. I'm struggling to think of another example where your most loyal, monopolised core casually claim to hate it so much. Through a weird combination of kayfabe decades of evil on screen management and real life it-hasn't-gone-my-ways the company has become it's own evil villain of... itself. It's fucking bizarre.

 

And yeah everyone has the internet in 2016 but surely it's plain to see that there is a prevailing stereotype at play of a sizeable, very vocal section of the audience who come to TV and generally inhibit a hive mind of certain 'schooled' opinions with a view to going against what angles the WWE are presenting to them.

[Pinc]

They've tended to do one big story-driven turn in the summer over the last few years.

 

2011 - Punk goes Face (with the pipebomb promo).

2012 - Punk goes Heel (with the attack on The Rock on Raw 1000).

2013 - Triple H goes Heel (with the pedigree to Bryan in the SummerSlam main event).

2014 - Rollins goes Heel (with a single chair shot to Roman Reigns' back).

 

They skipped it in 2015 for some reason when Roman Reigns was ready to cash in his nuclear heat and it doesn't look like we're getting  a big turn this year unless you count AJ Styles, which isn't really in the same category as the above given that AJ was such a new character when it occurred.

 

I hadn't thought of it before but you're right, it's fostered a feeling of stagnation that they'd do well to break out of. They had easy turns for Reigns and Rollins fall into their laps but they just blanked them for some reason. It's frustrating.

[Arn Anderson's Darb]

The Internet Points thing is a bit redundant at this point. I think it simply comes down to respect for the performer rather than reacting to the way his character is behaving. I liken it to going to a pantomime where the villain is played by a beloved character actor and the hero is played by some mush from Geordie Shore. You know the villain is a better actor, but you wouldn't bloody cheer for him.

 

It would be simplistic to call it a kid's show and say it's as black and white as that, but it's not these days because they've blurred the lines between performer and character probably a little too much now. People seem to think the problem is that there's no top babyface but really without a unanimously hated villain with some credibility, there's noone to cheer against.

[tiger_rick]

The term 'internet fan' is pretty much redundant in 2016. Everyone is an internet fan with social media and online interaction being pushed heavily by WWE themselves. Everyone is 'smartened up' to how it works.

 

The only time this term is used seems to be by wrestling fans wanting to pretend they're somehow superior to other wrestling fans. It's very strange.

Its not at all strange. Go read Reddit, Facebook or YouTube comments. Absolute fucking mutants. Not even the stupidest person who posts regularly in on-topic on here is that level of knuckle dragger.

[UK Kat Von D]

Is that supposed to be exclusive to wrestling? Most YouTube and Facebook comments come from mutants. People are just really stupid on the Internet.

[Ian 86]

when did 'mutant' become synonymous for stupid?  Some mutants are really smart...

 

[FUM]

I totally agree about the Seth Rollins return being the time to turn him face. Triple H interferes in a match to try and help his new golden boy only for Seth to return and thwart the plan would've been how I went with it.

[tiger_rick]

Is that supposed to be exclusive to wrestling? Most YouTube and Facebook comments come from mutants. People are just really stupid on the Internet.

Not exclusive at all. Just most other pursuits don't take place in front of a live audience of them.

[Dead Mike]

And yeah everyone has the internet in 2016 but surely it's plain to see that there is a prevailing stereotype at play of a sizeable, very vocal section of the audience who come to TV and generally inhibit a hive mind of certain 'schooled' opinions with a view to going against what angles the WWE are presenting to them.

 

 

There's a large chunk of the audience who are vocally against the bits of the show/performers they don't like yeah, you could almost call it a 'general consensus'.

 

The idea that fans are rallying against everything the WWE are presenting though simply isn't true. The best example of this for me was the end of this years Royal Rumble. HHH, Reigns & Ambrose left in the ring. If some on here were to be believed the crowd would've been cheering HHH (the heel) and booing the faces to be contrary & to go against grain. 

 

What actually happened was they were booing Reigns & cheering HHH during their interactions, because the audience simply didn't like Roman Reigns. The second he was eliminated the intended face/heel dynamic was restored as the fans really liked babyface Ambrose & wanted him to beat HHH. As they should. This isn't a vocal audience hating the brand & constantly doing the opposite of what's intended, just a promoter simply misjudging what their audience wants.

 

I remember when 50 Cent got pelted with bottles of piss at Reading festival. Afterwards a lot of talk was that those fans just all hated hiphop acts & it was wrong for that festival etc. The reality was that Jurassic 5 played the exact same stage & got a glorious reception. It was simply that everyone hated 50 Cent & it was a misfire by the bookers. Same thing.

[UK Kat Von D]

 

Is that supposed to be exclusive to wrestling? Most YouTube and Facebook comments come from mutants. People are just really stupid on the Internet.

Not exclusive at all. Just most other pursuits don't take place in front of a live audience of them.

The people commenting on YouTube videos wouldn't wouldn't be capable of chanting cohesively together, let alone capable of wanky chanting. Those people don't leave their houses

[HarmonicGenerator]

When you think about it, when was the last big face/heel turn?

 

Probably AJ Styles that I can really think of in recent times, the likes of Seth, Reigns, Cena, Ambrose, Owens, Rusev etc have been face/heel for years now. People get bored of the same thing, its bad enough watching RAW at the best of times as its all samey, but when you look at who is on the show, none of the characters have really changed the last two or three years, all still faces/heels.

 

At the top of my head, its only been AJ Styles, Jericho (who always turns), New Day (although they became popular so naturally turned) that has changed, you could maybe throw one or two tag teams in there, but across two brands thats quite poor. They may have tried their hand with Wyatt but he got injured and lost momentum.

 

Seth could be the next one but even then they've missed the opportunity I think.

 

**Edit** Some may say Brock Lesnar, but to me he has always been a tweener/heel anyway when you think he's faced Cena/Undertaker/Ambrose/Reigns/Orton the last few years.

Debatable if you'd call it 'big' or not, but the Usos did a proper heel turn a couple of weeks ago.

[The Clint]

It's pretty obvious that Hunter will sabotage Seth's chance at becoming champion on Sunday. As it's been rumoured that Triple H is set to return to TV this will properly kick start their build up towards Mania.

[DavidB6937]

Hunter's a weird one. He almost needs Steph by his side to keep him a proper heel at the moment.

[Dirty Eddie]

Rusev and Ryback didn't have any internet points and haven't been rejected by the fans.

 

The whole arguement is massively flawed. Fans don't decide who they like based on where they worked before WWE. Fact. Internet darlings come in with a good start which is useful for obvious reasons. They also have that to fall back on when WWE give them terrible programs or even no program at all.

 

If someone is brought in and promoted well the fans will respond accordingly. If an indie star is brought in and they aren't promoted well they can get by on good will built up.

 

That is exactly what I'm talking about.

 

Are people on this forum seriously considering that having "internet points" means "got over in NXT"? Because NXT is the WWE. It's not some fantasy indie promotion, it's WWE's developmental program, so if someone gets over there, it's because the WWE did it - not some sort of indie cred from before they signed up. As stated above, anyone with a name already has a head-start, but that's it.  Bailey, Enzo, Cass, Jordan and Gable were regular WWE style prospects who got over because they were presented well. Not because of previous experience. 

 

Jason Jordan is a Vince McMahon wet-dream - if anyone should have been turned on by "main roster hating" internet fans it would be him. A good looking, well spoken ethnic powerhouse of muscle and athleticism. Vinny would be all over that shit and these sad, hardcore internet fans should be booing him out the door like a second rate Roman Reigns.