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

[BomberPat]

50 minutes ago, jazzygeofferz said:

Are you allowed to mention Blue Kane for legal reasons? He got cease & desisted, didn't he? In spite of being a parody. 

I'm not sure he actually got a cease and desist so much as he changed things up because there were rumblings of one. He got suspended on Twitter, which was just as likely from the Cornette snitch-tagging weirdos reporting him as from any actual legal threat, and I expect it was more a case of changing things up to be able to stay on social media than WWE actually getting all lawyer-y. Though the timing of it being around when he started selling merch online might mean there was a bit more to it, but I haven't asked him.

[CavemanLynn]

I was indifferent to LA Knight until I heard him described as if he was the dads in the crowd getting to live out their teenage Attitude Era dreams, and, canon or not, that's made him much more likeable and relatable to me, so good luck to him.

[Jazzy G]

When I watched NWA Powerrr and he was on there were definite Rock vibes from his promos, I thought similar of Ricky Starks, but that was more with his physical mannerisms in the ring rather than his promos.

The cadence of LA Knight/Eli Drake's promo is like that of promos from the attitude era, whether that's because he's not delivering scripted promos, or because he treats them as lines and works out how to deliver them in a natural manner remains to be seen. The best gimmicks, like great songs, tend to be those that remind people of other songs or promos, even if it's just from having their little catchphrases or hooks. 

[d-d-d-dAz]

I hate wrestling.

7 years of convincing me my love for Shinsuke Nakamura was misguided. 7 years of allowing Shinsuke to creep into his 40s, pick up injuries, get old. 7 years and, to be honest I’d made my peace with the cliche…

”…good in Japan” 😞

And then they decide NOW is the time to find a presentation for Nakamura that’s cool as fuck? Bastards. Too much time has gone. Too much conditioning people to see him as a midcard wally who flatters to deceive. Too much Rick Boogs.

All in black, speaking like a sinister fuck in his native language as he doesn’t care, grinning like a murderer? IT’S ALL I EVER WANTED YOU TRUMPETS.

Heartbroken.

*edit* in my fervour I sent that message mid-watch. Had I waited until the main event finished, I’d have asked “why did Finn Balor try and kill Cody Rhodes?”. Good grief.

Edited August 15, 2023 by d-d-d-dAz

[BomberPat]

Reading the recap made it pretty clear, as ever, that these shows just aren't for me any more.

Them having Gunther and Imperium do the laziest of "this town smells bad" cheap heat is just a singular misunderstanding of how to present their gimmick, and doing that while also doing classic WWE faction in-fighting is even worse. It's especially irritating because they shouldn't have to resort to any of that when they're in a feud with Alpha Academy.

Otis and Chad Gable are both guys with legitimate wrestling credentials and backgrounds, but who are also a bit goofy and silly - that's the perfect foil to Imperium, who shouldn't be able to stand that they don't take wrestling 100% seriously, and that it's not the only thing they have time for in their lives. It's a natural point of animosity, but also an opportunity for both Chad Gable and Otis to step up a notch and prove that they can hang with the serious wrestlers regardless. It's the most obvious of storytelling, but no, we need the leader of a stable arguing with his underlings on the same show that already has Judgement Day in-fighting, and needs Gunther doing Jerry Lawler quips calling Winnipeg the "armpit of Canada". 

[OzExile]

14 hours ago, BomberPat said:

Reading the recap made it pretty clear, as ever, that these shows just aren't for me any more.

Them having Gunther and Imperium do the laziest of "this town smells bad" cheap heat is just a singular misunderstanding of how to present their gimmick, and doing that while also doing classic WWE faction in-fighting is even worse. It's especially irritating because they shouldn't have to resort to any of that when they're in a feud with Alpha Academy.

Otis and Chad Gable are both guys with legitimate wrestling credentials and backgrounds, but who are also a bit goofy and silly - that's the perfect foil to Imperium, who shouldn't be able to stand that they don't take wrestling 100% seriously, and that it's not the only thing they have time for in their lives. It's a natural point of animosity, but also an opportunity for both Chad Gable and Otis to step up a notch and prove that they can hang with the serious wrestlers regardless. It's the most obvious of storytelling, but no, we need the leader of a stable arguing with his underlings on the same show that already has Judgement Day in-fighting, and needs Gunther doing Jerry Lawler quips calling Winnipeg the "armpit of Canada". 

HHH booking.  Get Vince back on gorilla asap. 

[Kamran]

I didn't want to start a new thread so thought I'd post it here, taken from the Wrestling-Online Newsletter:

Quote

 

> WRESTLEMANIA 40 SECOND PRE-SALE SEES PRICE INCREASES

The second WrestleMania 40 pre-sale went live this morning on Ticketmaster.com and in a replay of yesterday, tickets went out lightning quick despite the very expensive prices. The two-day combo offer didn't see much new sections added to it with the only tickets remaining priced between $3,000 and $10,000. The single-day tickets were even more pricier as it looks like most of the tickets were labeled official platinum, even those in the upper decks where you will need binoculars to watch the ring. Single-day ticket prices were double that of the original combo tickets, with the cheapest seats being in the 200 Level for $220 each plus fees and tax. Club-level seats started at $300 each plus fees and tax whereas the other sections started from $600 and up. Ringside for either night were $8,500 and you needed to buy them in pairs. A ringside seat had an additional fee of $1,965 and two ringside tickets together, including everything, were going for $20,930.

 

I know they'll still sell those ringside tickets but those prices are crazy!

Edited August 16, 2023 by Kamran

[OzExile]

On 8/17/2023 at 7:07 AM, Kamran said:

I didn't want to start a new thread so thought I'd post it here, taken from the Wrestling-Online Newsletter:

I know they'll still sell those ringside tickets but those prices are crazy!

WWE and the UFC have really been pushing their gate size takings lately as record-breaking and pushing them out as positive PR.  I guess following the lead of boxing.  But the media should really be fighting back and pointing out that these are just grim reading statistics, plenty of fans will be priced out of going to WWE shows.  

Yours sincerely, Gordon Brown 

[Supremo]

From Gordon Brown to Doc Brown.

I probably watch Raw about once every month or so at the moment. Not only do I always leave with the same thought, but it gets more pronounced each time. We’re in the wrong timeline. Sami Zayn should have won at Elimination Chamber and/or Cody Rhodes should have won at Wrestlemania. It’s only getting worse and more obvious. This show reeked of this truth all night long.

In other news, that Gunther vs. Chad Gable match was an all-timer in terms of the ratio of great match to shit finish. They were having a belter and Gable looked like a superstar…until he didn’t. What a fucking whopper he looked, not only taking the count-out victory, but celebrating like it was the greatest win of his career. He could’ve broken the count and carried on being awesome. Or at least sold his frustration at not winning the belt. Instead, he instantly killed all his heat and looked like an absolute biff. Akira Tozawa came away better off on this show, being portrayed as a loser who was as shocked as anyone that he fluked a victory over The Miz. Even if it likely leads to a PPV rematch between Gunther and Chad, who the fuck cares now. Gable’s a fucking chump.

Judgment Day and Imperium teasing ANIMOSITY. Of course. If there’s one thing this company needs more of, it’s nobody ever getting along and everyone always bickering like a gang of pricks.

On a more positive note, both Nakamura and Seth Rollins delivered their best promos in years. Seth in particular, it became extremely clear that the only benefit to his current dog shit, “whacky,” act is that it’s extra effective when he completely drops it and cuts a proper promo. That was money by the end.

But yeah. That fucking crowd when Sami came out! The pop when Cody dragged his interview into the arena! The feel-good house show ending!

We need to go back Marty! It’s all gone wrong! We can’t allow Roman to use the Gray’s Sports Almanac!

Edited August 22, 2023 by Supremo

[Hannibal Scorch]

15 minutes ago, Supremo said:

From Gordon Brown to Doc Brown.

I probably watch Raw about once every month or so at the moment. Not only do I always leave with the same thought, but it gets more pronounced each time. We’re in the wrong timeline. Sami Zayn should have won at Elimination Chamber and/or Cody Rhodes should have won at Wrestlemania. It’s only getting worse and more obvious. This show reeked of this truth all night long.

In other news, that Gunther vs. Chad Gable match was an all-timer in terms of the ratio of great match to shit finish. They were having a belter and Gable looked like a superstar…until he didn’t. What a fucking whopper he looked, not only taking the count-out victory, but celebrating like it was the greatest win of his career. He could’ve broken the count and carried on being awesome. Or at least sold his frustration at not winning the belt. Instead, he instantly killed all his heat and looked like an absolute biff. Akira Tozawa came away better off on this show, being portrayed as a loser who was as shocked as anyone that he fluked a victory over The Miz. Even if it likely leads to a PPV rematch between Gunther and Chad, who the fuck cares now. Gable’s a fucking chump.

Judgment Day and Imperium teasing ANIMOSITY. Of course. If there’s one thing this company needs more of, it’s nobody ever getting along and everyone always bickering like a gang of pricks.

On a more positive note, both Nakamura and Seth Rollins delivered their best promos in years. Seth in particular, it became extremely clear that the only benefit to his current dog shit, “whacky,” act is that it’s extra effective when he completely drops it and cuts a proper promo. That was money by the end.

But yeah. That fucking crowd when Sami came out! The pop when Cody dragged his interview into the arena! The feel-good house show ending!

We need to go back Marty! It’s all gone wrong! We can’t allow Roman to use the Gray’s Sports Almanac!

Can’t disagree with that sum up. Spot on about Rollins. His current character is god awful, but his Lance Storm Let me be serious for a moment promo was great.

On a side note, why do people accept this? 

[DavidB6937]

Gunther/Gable was awesome. I didn't mind the finish. Gunther has been invincible basically so yeah, a count out win isn't ideal but its better than losing and Gable did more than anyone else - he won. So logically of course he'll be happy. Plus he'd know he'll likely get a rematch down the line because of it too. And I'm okay with that.. as long as we don't get 14 of them.

But they are at the point where they need to start doing things a bit differently with this Gunther reign and it's nice to see them build Gable up from it. Some of the stuff he does is so ridiculously smooth he's just a real pleasure to watch. Plus he's finally got a gimmick that people are into. It's taken far too long but finally they've got the full package there.

[d-d-d-dAz]

3 hours ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

Can’t disagree with that sum up. Spot on about Rollins. His current character is god awful, but his Lance Storm Let me be serious for a moment promo was great.

On a side note, why do people accept this? 

I don't think this is the point people think it is.

If you exclude Rhea, Judgment day is made up of 3 wrestlers. Add in Sami, KO, Cody and Seth you have 7. Nakamura dropped in for one of those main events so let's say 8.

It's entirely unsurprising that Raw has a main event scene made up of 8 wrestlers.

Where I think it stands out, is whether you are at all invested in the Judgment Day as the sort of main event faction that can carry a show. I do not. I think they were shite when they started - all serious and moody and stupid, got better when they started wearing bucket hats and being goofy but are now back to being serious and rubbish.

But, in general, having 8 people you use interchangeably to make up your main event scene for a few months isn't that surprising.

Edited August 22, 2023 by d-d-d-dAz

[air_raid]

3 minutes ago, d-d-d-dAz said:

But, in general, having 8 people you use interchangeably to make up your main event scene for a few weeks isn't that surprising.

It's not surprising at all, is it, considering most people pine for when every episode of Raw centred around Steve Austin, The Rock, Undertaker, Kane, Mankind, Triple H and The New Age Outlaws. Which makes... 8.

[Mr.Showtime]

I tuned in for Gable v Gunther and loved it. Also was fine with the finish, because I was still surprised with it. As it wasn't the main event, I thought it was 100% a Gunther win. So for him to lose in any fashion was interesting to see. I don't watch often but I thought Gable has been portrayed as an over-the-top chump for ages anyway, so I was fine with his celebrating. He knows he's getting another shot and wasn't out of his depth in this one.

Also loved Nakamura's video package. Let him speak Japanese and throw in a few menacing English lines, that's all you need. As probably said in this thread already, just a shame it's years too late.

[Tsurutagun]

It's not going to happen because WWE but Seth should talk about his change of dress sense amd character and the reason he has done this is because he mentally compensating for his back being fucked up. 

It ends upbringing a human side to this character. Have Seth talk about how nervous he gets about his back and how scared he is that his career could be over with one big impact and how when he hears the fans sing his song he's in his happy place. The fans will sing the song louder.