The Official UKFF RAW Thread...

[AdamTH17]

Thoroughly enjoyable RAW last night. Was very surprised at how quickly the three hours went by.

Roman's promo at the start was ridiculously engaging given he said one sentence within ten minutes. It's so frustrating seeing WWE desperately trying to market him as a babyface when he's got the act of being a heel down to a tee. I've said before, if they booked him as a face in the same vein as he's been booked in the Undertaker feud, as opposed to trying to make him Cena v2, he would be over like nobodies business.

Kurt being the straight guy in the middle should make for excellent television, the man is a proper entertainer with effortless timing. Revival's debut was really well done, they managed to get a lot of stuff to reinforce their characters without cramming too much into one match. Hope we see the New Day split now, they peaked about two years ago and have been coasting by on shit catchphrases and unfunny jokes for far too long. Balor returning was predictable yet still a fun moment, Rollins is the utter fucking shits though. Commentary keep making the point of how fucked his knee should be, yet he's flying around the ring on it without a single problem. Enjoyed the team of KO and Joe as well, would like to see those two in the tag division once they're done with their respective feuds.

Who do we see going over in the draft then? I'll predict Nakamura, Corbin, Mickie James and Almas to RAW with Zayn, New Day, Dillinger and Big Show being sent packing to Smackdown.

[Guest]

Cor, Smackdown would get shafted if Raw get Revival and Nakamura. I'm hoping for a Nakamura debut tonight. Probably Tye too, maybe DIY. Zayns almost a cert to switch, Nia and Alexa will swap I reckon. I could kind of see Balor switching too, or perhaps even Joe. So looking forward to next week, and it'll be really intriguing to see what the post-Mania Smackdown has to offer. They've got to pull something pretty special out of the bag really as it's never felt more like the b-show (in this run, I mean) than it does now 

Edited April 4, 2017 by sj5522

[Van Dammer]

45 minutes ago, DJM said:

The other three fair enough, but I would keep Reigns away from Owens. Owens (and Joe) should be the top heels alongside/as well as Reigns on Raw if Heel Reigns is ever the direction that they want to go. 

 

With Raw getting the Hardys, Revival and Balor, who do we see joining/returning to Smackdown? The tag division could do with a couple of quality teams to oppose American Alpha. I guess with the draft next week though they might not bother doing much with Smackdown this week.

SmackDown! needs to have a few debuts/returns tonight. Even with the draft next week there needs to be something visible to show that it isnt second fiddle (even though it is). Since the draft, Raw has had an entire Cruiserweight division, Joe, Bayley, The Hardys, The Revival and Goldberg roll up and effectively taken Taker whilst Smackdown has brought in Ellsworth, Hawkins and Rhyno. For all the talk on investor calls about it being a genuine competition for ratings between two totally seperate brands, they just cant bring themselves to stop promoting Raw above everything else, despite SD nudging closer and closer in the ratings at points. Unless they start giving it equal footing, the whole thing will go the same way as the last brand split.

[WyattSheepMask]

Loved that Goldberg promo from Raw Talk once I managed to find it on the network. He wasn't going to take any shit from that crowd, and good on him for doing so.

[textonly]

* Reigns was great last night, but I don't think anything has changed. I hope I'm wrong, but I think ultimately we'll go back to mixed, confused reactions to mixed, confused booking. I've said it before, but I think the consequence of Roman not turning full heel while he's generating nuclear heat is that he becomes a black hole of sorts, sucking energy from his opponents rather than lending it to them. No babyface who goes up against him while he's playing the tweener will get the rub they need because you're splitting the foundation upon which babyfaces are built. I mean, if half the kids are rooting against a Balor/Zayn type in a feud between the two - which is what would happen unless you give them consistent, real reasons to hate Reigns - what chance do those plucky babyfaces possibly have of truly breaking out? It's fine for Reigns - he's good enough, established enough and protected enough to come out okay - but I think everything's going to rumble on just as it has.

* It was good to see Balor back. I'm actually pretty neutral on him right now because I've only seen him wrestle a couple of times, but I'm cautiously optimistic about the possibilities. It was slightly disappointing that he came back for what was essentially a pointless tag team match, but I won't hold that against him.

* The Goldberg segment on Raw Talk was great. I said that I couldn't have cared less when it was announced he was coming back, but it's been a great run. Fair play to the guy. I'm still not certain I'd like to see him come back - I guess I worry lightning won't strike twice - but if it does happen I won't be a misery guts about it. He definitely changed my opinion of him.

* I loved the Hardyz surprise at WM but if they're back simply as the older, fatter versions of what they used to be, I give it weeks before my interest is completely dead. Two matches and a Raw Talk into their new run and it already feels like the Dudleyz last year. Hopefully they can learn from that situation and see it's ridiculous to have your guys leave popular, super-over stuff in the locker.

* I'm quite excited at the prospect of a Charlotte/Nia feud, but I'm interested to see where the women land after the shake-up. Both divisions could use freshening up in a big way.

* I don't watch 205 Live but Neville is impressing me so much recently that I might have to reconsider that. Consistently a highlight.

 

[Guest]

That Mustafa Ali kid is really impressive. No idea if he has any charisma or owt, but that match with Neville was class, he can go and looks like he has no end of tricks up his sleeve. They turned what looked like a basic squash into a cracking match with breathtaking spots. Perfect ending too with Neville choosing not to do the red arrow and lock in his submission instead. Shame the crowd were more interested in a bloody beach ball. 

Tbh, the cruiserweight stuff on Raw and PPVs has been more vital than most things on 205. The Smackdown crowds just can't get hyped up for an hour of it, though there's certainly been some very good main events and I love the Tozawa and Kendrick angle, as well as sleazy Noam Dar so I'm still tuning in as it stands.

And yeah, Neville, one of the very best in the world right now. I never thought he'd be an all rounder, never thought he'd had the charisma, then he busts this out and basically rescues that division. Cracking matches, brilliant scathing promos delivered like he's been doing it for years, and a good proper heel. Couldn't ask for anything more

Edited April 4, 2017 by sj5522

[AdamTH17]

Oh and that's just jogged my memory of Neville setting up the Red Arrow only to fuck the crowd off in favour of a submission. Tease the crowd with what they want before never delivering on it. Great heel work that isn't done nearly enough these days. A lovely change from the majority of wrestlers these days, whom will continue to bust out their arsenal of crowd-pleasing, flippy moves whilst flopping between face and heel.

[Statto]

21 minutes ago, textonly said:

 I'm quite excited at the prospect of a Charlotte/Nia feud, but I'm interested to see where the women land after the shake-up. Both divisions could use freshening up in a big way.

I saw that more as Charlotte burning her last possible bridge on Raw more than the start of a feud, as I don't see either of them turning face. I think Charlotte is bound for the blue team, to become the centerpiece of the division over there, as I'd imagine Bayley vs heel Sasha is where Raw goes next.

Add me to the list worried about what they try to do with Reigns now, particularly after they highlighted his tweet in that package about how he did what he had to do to win the match, but still loves & respects Taker, then had Lawler banging on about him "being a really, genuinely good guy" on Raw Talk.

[Guest]

Oh, if next week's shake up includes NXT people, Peyton and Billie NEED to be aligned with Emma, Emma being the head bully and the other two being giggling little bitches hiding behind her. A programme with Bayley, while they build for Sashas probable turn would get me right back into Bayley after their peculiar booking of her has made me care less. Alexa would be brilliant against Bayley too. 

[The Dart]

Anyone who was there live got any idea why Curtis Axel got such a huge pop?  That confused me.

[AdamTH17]

Come to think of it I could see Charlotte moving over to Smackdown. It would make sense to give her some fresh feuds and it seems like she was pretty much written out of RAW after everyone fucked her off. If your main RAW women rivalry is going to be Bayley/Sasha then might as well let Charlotte add some prestige to the division over on Smackdown.

[Guest]

8 minutes ago, The Dart said:

Anyone who was there live got any idea why Curtis Axel got such a huge pop?  That confused me.

When was that? Totally missed anything to do with Axel

[Freddie-hartland]

So Brock offers a title match and reigns ain't interested. Maybe he'd gone home

[WeeAl]

I thought that was a heck of an enjoyable show on the whole. 

I liked the start of the show with the chants for Undertaker and then Reigns controlling the crowd. He did indeed have them in the palm of his hand. 

Vinny Mac showing up automatically adds grandeur to a show these days, and he didn't let us down with revealing Kurt as the new GM (Plus, no Stephanie!) Kurt was brilliant throughout the night in the skits. He makes that stuff look easy. 

It was great to see The Hardyz out there and get the win over Gallows and Anderson as well, I think one of Gallows and Anderson or Enzo and Cass will be heading to the Blue Brand. They need to be careful with the Hardyz though and not let them be a nostalgia tag team. I know little to nothing about the broken stuff, but it's current. And if they can use it for Matt then they maybe should. Jeff would be fine on his own though as he was a genuine main eventer. If they want to keep them as the Hardyz they maybe need to pair up two singles heels that are above the division to slot in for a while rather than having the Hardyz become mid card, it would temporairily elevate the tag straps. 

Neville and Mustafa Ali. The crowd shit all over this partly in the vien of getting themselves over and probably partly because most crowds generally don't care at all about the Cruiserweight division. They had a good wee match but it was destined to get this treatment on this show and better forethought should have been used in even putting it out there. I hate that fucking move the Spanish Fly though. Pure gubbins. It and the Canadian Destroyer need locked in a box never to be seen again. Loved the ending with Neville teasing the red arrow. 

It was nice to see The Revival debut and even though I thought it would be on SD!, they could be on Raw to replace Anderson amd Gallows which works for me if they go to Smackdown and can line up with AJ again. 

Balor got a great reception on his return but strangely the crowd hadn't much interest in this match either involving four former NXT/ROH/NJPW favourites. I imagine Rollins is programmed with Joe and Owens with Balor going forward.

According to big Dave on WOR Lesnar isn't scheduled for the next Raw PPV so the main event has Strowman v Reigns in a re-match. That's an interesting one going forward as you would imagine Lesnar faces Strowman before he faces Roman.

[D@mm]

Maybe Strowman beats Reigns cos of interference by someone to keep Reigns away from Lesnar for now and then we have Strowman Vs Lesnar in a few months or make it a slow build to Summerslam.