The Official UKFF RAW thread (part 2)...

[WyattSheepMask]

The internet detectives are out in force over the latest White Rabbit bits

 

[Devon Malcolm]

Can't believe that not only has WWE got me interested in, well, WWE again, but that I actually sat and really enjoyed a match with Johnny Gargano in it. What the fuck is going on with this company!

Again, the match quality was excellent but that rarely seems to be a problem with WWE. It's the extraneous stuff and attention to detail that make it feel like a wrestling show again that's dragged me back. Kevin Owens and the sign was superb, as Supremo already mentioned, but Sami Zayn was the star once again.

Can't think why they've still got Omos doing squashes but otherwise I really enjoyed it. Again. I don't have time for wrestling in my life anymore!

[DavidB6937]

I love all that White Rabbit shit. Has Shawn Michaels' chin turned up anywhere yet?

I never thought where I'd actually get back to the point where I was looking forward to watching RAW but I'm really enjoying it right now.

[Supremo]

10 minutes ago, Devon Malcolm said:

Can't think why they've still got Omos doing squashes but otherwise I really enjoyed it.

I'd forgotten about Omos' match! Felt really weird amongst everything else on this show, like a bizarre echo of how things were before Vince left. I don't know why they're wasting their time. There's nothing there. He's never going to amount to anything. Just skip to the end and get him dancing already

However, it must be said. Watching someone as awkward and uncoordinated as Omos, scripted to place his two opponents on the announce table, then climb up himself to pose, when the table had already broken in an earlier segment? One of the most gripping moments in the history of television. I was convinced the table was going to collapse or he was going to fall off. Would've been an all-time moment.

[Loki]

I wonder if it’s even possible for Hunter to renegotiate Raw back to two hours?  Turn the final hour into a separate show maybe?

 

[mim731]

5 minutes ago, Loki said:

I wonder if it’s even possible for Hunter to renegotiate Raw back to two hours?  Turn the final hour into a separate show maybe?

 

When there was all those discussions a few years ago about how it could be positioned to a more sports-like presentation, I always liked the idea of the first hour being a pre-game show. Not like the terrible kick-off shows they do now, but an actual in-studio pundit-based talk show idea as you'd see before a big sporting event on US TV.

Use it for video packages and have pundits actually analysing footage to show strengths and weakness of certain key players in the previous weeks shows, breaking down the big moments from the week before. Have a presenter and an ex-pro showing how devastating a particular move is, and why it's so effective in order to hype the ability and threat posed by certain performers. 

If done right, and it's a massive "if" that I'm not sure WWE has the ability to steer into, I can't help but feel there's proper mileage in something like that to make RAW seem like a massive deal without losing the extra hour entirely and free the show itself up to be something more streamlined. Never happening mind, but I have no idea how you fix the three-hour issue otherwise. 

 

[FUM]

8 minutes ago, mim731 said:

When there was all those discussions a few years ago about how it could be positioned to a more sports-like presentation, I always liked the idea of the first hour being a pre-game show. Not like the terrible kick-off shows they do now, but an actual in-studio pundit-based talk show idea as you'd see before a big sporting event on US TV.

Use it for video packages and have pundits actually analysing footage to show strengths and weakness of certain key players in the previous weeks shows, breaking down the big moments from the week before. Have a presenter and an ex-pro showing how devastating a particular move is, and why it's so effective in order to hype the ability and threat posed by certain performers. 

If done right, and it's a massive "if" that I'm not sure WWE has the ability to steer into, I can't help but feel there's proper mileage in something like that to make RAW seem like a massive deal without losing the extra hour entirely and free the show itself up to be something more streamlined. Never happening mind, but I have no idea how you fix the three-hour issue otherwise. 

 

I don’t think USA would be willing to lose the first two hours as part of anything just time slot wise. The third hour is where the ratings dip and that happens regardless how good a show is ongoing. I don’t know how much say USA has in it but I would just fire ECW style/WM when it was raining style interview promos and video packages in that third hour if possible. Something that is at least original but that viewers know we can switch off as nothing show related is gonna happen except a great promo we might miss if we don’t watch.

[RedRooster]

2 hours ago, Supremo said:

I'd forgotten about Omos' match! Felt really weird amongst everything else on this show, like a bizarre echo of how things were before Vince left. I don't know why they're wasting their time. There's nothing there. He's never going to amount to anything. Just skip to the end and get him dancing already

 

See, I don’t mind it so much. They’d already invested a lot of time in him, so they’re as well as to cash in on that in some way, whether its to use him as part of a tag team, or to have him put someone over every-so-often. Heck, perhaps he’s shown signs of improvement. He was notable by his absence during the earliest days of Triple H’s booking, so I imagine there’s solid logic behind using him again.

[The Gaffer]

A lot of weeks you can pretty much just watch it as a two hour show, with the final hour being a piss break match, lower card segment and the telegraphed main event that rarely has much going on in the fallout. Would be just nice to have that in writing. 

[Chris B]

9 minutes ago, FUM said:

Something that is at least original but that viewers know we can switch off as nothing show related is gonna happen

I love the idea of a show putting out something with the intent of letting people know they can safely stop watching.

[mim731]

1 hour ago, FUM said:

I don’t think USA would be willing to lose the first two hours as part of anything just time slot wise. The third hour is where the ratings dip and that happens regardless how good a show is ongoing. I don’t know how much say USA has in it but I would just fire ECW style/WM when it was raining style interview promos and video packages in that third hour if possible. Something that is at least original but that viewers know we can switch off as nothing show related is gonna happen except a great promo we might miss if we don’t watch.

Oh for sure, it's not something I could ever see them actively doing now, for a variety of reasons but if they had to keep the third hour while also trying to make a better show, a proper pre-game show feels more like something that might entice viewers than a dead post-game show that gives no-one any reason to stay tuned.  

[Factotum]

2 Hours really is the way to go. Perhaps Hunter might try and do something different with the final hour, because yeah as fun as RAW is, I really cannot be bothered for the full show, which is a shame

[mim731]

This White Rabbit stuff is going to end up as a damp squib isn't it? It's going to be  like a fart in church when it turns to be Joe Gacy and the former GYV, or worse a campaign for some sort of NFT. 

[Hannibal Scorch]

1 minute ago, mim731 said:

This White Rabbit stuff is going to end up as a damp squib isn't it? It's going to be  like a fart in church when it turns to be Joe Gacy and the former GYV, or worse a campaign for some sort of NFT. 

All this effort, just for the return of this guy 

[air_raid]

1 hour ago, Factotum said:

2 Hours really is the way to go. Perhaps Hunter might try and do something different with the final hour, because yeah as fun as RAW is, I really cannot be bothered for the full show, which is a shame

I'd break it up more and instead of 3 relentless hours of the same stuff (plus potential overrun) I'd do something like this, as they love "content", recaps, and the preshow concept.

First Quarter hour : Like a pre-show, but condensed, faster paced and less meaningless crap. Do a quick recap of what happened last week (which they love, because its recycling content they already have), pre-tapes you have of any interviews or a quick look at what the wrestlers have put on their social media, run down what's on tap for tonight's show (get me excited about what's going to happen without a lengthy droning in-ring promo segment). Do loads of touching on the last PPV if this is the first show since.

2nd-5th quarter hour : Do matches and the usual kind of angles that are currently happening on a three hour Raw, but do them for an hour here. Don't do tiresome "moments ago" recaps, they're coming up later when everyone gets time to breathe. ALWAYS start this section with a match, no promos. We've been talked into the building, give us some wrestling.

6th and 7th quarter hours - break up everything you've just been doing and give me a break. Go backstage for some proper mic-in-hand interviews with wrestlers reacting to what's happened to them earlier, or "you're about to wrestle such and such" type things. Have the commentators do some hype for the PPV and touch on what happened on SmackDown too (casual reminder to watch it). If you lost some of your pre-show hype because there's been a PPV, do a bit more hype for what's coming up later. Do some vignettes for forthcoming characters. Fuck it, shill some network specials here too. Invest some time into flogging me anything other than the matches HERE, IN THIS TIME, which feels a bit different from the rest of the show. If people are going to debut or return without having a match, maybe make the habit of doing it here so its got the "something unpredictable usually happens at this predictable time" so fewer people channel hop while they're waiting for more matches.

8th-11th quarter hours : Do more of 2-5 but with different wrestlers.

12th/final quarter hour : go to a studio for a bit of a wrap show. Dwell (briefly) on what happened tonight, what it means for X or Y character going forward. Buzz for anything that's been added for the PPV, hype anything announced for next weeks show, remind the viewers to watch SmackDown, grab 3 minutes with whichever wrestler did something or had something happen that their reaction is the thing you want the fans to remember most. Or drop a bombshell of "BREAKING NEWS!!! - this guy is apparently returning NEXT WEEK OMG!!!!!" to get people talking and wanting to tune in next week, playing off the stuff we already have ruined by the net rather than ignoring it.

Keep it fucking tight, stick to that format rigidly, never run over. Instead of giving me the same format for 2 or 3 hours straight, change the scenery a bit. Then eventually, once its established, you can do one of those unforgettable episodes where the format goes out the window because a new wrestler or invasion force fucks something up, a return shocks the studio so much they abandon what they're supposed to be doing, someone invades the wrap up final quarter or something.

It's just an idea, might not have times right, but I'd do something like that. I know "structure" isn't in fitting with the "anything can happen" feeling that RAW (LIVE!!!111) was supposed to be, but it would break up the monotony of one massive chunk of the same kind of stuff week in week out.