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

[ReturnOfTheMack]

Literally only watching the Punk bit, maybe it'll get me back into it? Let's see.

 

Surprisingly muted reaction to the entrance. Once his music stopped the chants picked up fair well mind.

How does he look so much older than at the PPV? Sorry, older than he did in AEW (sorry to bring it up, don't want to start that shit up).

Shit Tshirt.

Been a while, but I try to keep up with results. That said, I thought Seth was a face? Dude looks like a bigger twat than The Cunt of Personality ever did.

I love that the championship belt is the least gaudy part of Rollins outfit.

Rollins promo was great when Hangman did it, as has been pointed out. Rollins is so bad, he's about half a point above Darby Allin. Has anyone thought his delivery was good? Seriously?

Also dude needs to recognise that his hairline has started to go. And I know that feeling well...

 

Honestly. Punk was fine, Rollins was the issue.

[air_raid]

9 hours ago, jazzygeofferz said:

Maybe it's the travel that takes it out of him? 

Man needs a new bus ASAP.

[Snitsky's back acne]

7 hours ago, ReturnOfTheMack said:

Honestly. Punk was fine, Rollins was the issue.

Agreed. I don't watch the shows outside of PPVs and the odd clips on YouTube but has Rollins voice always been that annoying? 

[Lorne Malvo]

1 minute ago, Snitsky's back acne said:

Agreed. I don't watch the shows outside of PPVs and the odd clips on YouTube but has Rollins voice always been that annoying? 

Yes, going all the way back to his Triple H's lapdog 'best for business ha-ha-ha' cackling phase which was one of my most hated title runs ever.

[air_raid]

9 hours ago, ReturnOfTheMack said:

That said, I thought Seth was a face? Dude looks like a bigger twat than The Cunt of Personality ever did.

I've been struggling with that one for a while. One thing I dislike about this is that I, as an internet dork, understand where the animosity comes from between the pair. But on screen, there has been hardly any explanation as to the issue between the characters. When Flair and Foley feuded over things said in books, it was explained on TV. Rollins seems to be disproportionately pissed off that Punk walked out ten years ago (arguably making it easier for Seth to get to the top in his absence...?) because that's all that it sounded like the reason was for him to snarl (avoiding ambiguity) "I hate you" at him. Either that or the "The Man of his own home" quip was too close to the bone? Either way, it's a little too nudge nudge wink wink so far.

However one thing that I loved is that just like Cody did on SmackDown, Punk mentioned "winning the Royal Rumble" and not the terribly clunky winning of "the Royal Rumble match" - it's been 24 years coming but hopefully that AWFUL bit of Vince-mandated Universe-speak is in the bin for good. We aren't idiots, we know they're not talking about winning the whole PPV. Imagine Hulk Hogan talking up winning the "Royal Rumble match." So naff.

Edited December 13, 2023 by air_raid

[Mr_Danger]

14 hours ago, Devon Malcolm said:

They had the interaction at the Rumble so there's *something* to build on. I don't know, though. They're not gonna give the IC title to Lesnar so Gunther would have to lose that somewhere between now and then, and who would that be to? Jey Uso? Can't thnk of a ready made challenger aside from him.

They’ll have to change his name to ‘The Top Of The First Hour Main Event’  Jey Uso. 
 
They took everything that was great about Bloodline Jey Uso and traded it out for generic happy baby face Jey Uso. He should be angry and trust no one not buddying up with the other faces and trying to prove his sincerity.

[DavidB6937]

15 minutes ago, Mr_Danger said:

They’ll have to change his name to ‘The Top Of The First Hour Main Event’  Jey Uso. 
 
They took everything that was great about Bloodline Jey Uso and traded it out for generic happy baby face Jey Uso. He should be angry and trust no one not buddying up with the other faces and trying to prove his sincerity.

Should he though? Fans enjoyed him and Sami. That was more towards him being like he is now. And he's over, so why not? I think shifting him to RAW and allowing him a bit more of a personality that the fans can get behind has really worked for him. He's far more believable as a singles wrestler now. It's about him trying to find himself away from the Bloodline, rather than just constantly hanging on to the memory of that. Obviously there's still some element of it, but he needs out of that dark cloud of the Bloodline and have a personality people can actually enjoy watching.

[JLM]

For me the appeal of him and Sami was that Jey was a hardened, stone faced tough guy, but Sami was able wear him down and coax out his sense of humour and his more sensitive side. If he’s *all* soft side it’s a bit less interesting and appealing. I think there’s a middle ground to be found. 

Edited December 13, 2023 by JLM

[air_raid]

14 hours ago, Devon Malcolm said:

They're not gonna give the IC title to Lesnar 

Maybe they should. I mentioned Cena earlier in the thread, if we want to go all the way with "this belt is prestigious again" then guys who can main event going after it simply because they haven't held it before, is a good way to go about it. Gunther loses nothing by going down swinging to Lesnar, the belt definitely loses nothing, and instead of thinking "Christ, who do we give THIS rub to" by ending the massive long run of Gunther, you get to give someone else the rub of beating Brock Lesnar for it. And Brock's business, he'll lose to anyone as long as you pay him.

Equally though, they could have Lesnar get cheated by someone unpalatable like Austin Theory instead of making someone new. And then segue into the story I want, Cena going after the ICT to complete the set.

[andrew "the ref" coyne]

Jey Uso winning the IC belt the night after a Mania where Gunther barely survives Lesnar?

I can buy that. 

Gunther goes away for a while then comes back to smash Punk for the World title. Perfect.

[simonworden]

12 hours ago, air_raid said:

Maybe they should. I mentioned Cena earlier in the thread, if we want to go all the way with "this belt is prestigious again" then guys who can main event going after it simply because they haven't held it before, is a good way to go about it. Gunther loses nothing by going down swinging to Lesnar, the belt definitely loses nothing, and instead of thinking "Christ, who do we give THIS rub to" by ending the massive long run of Gunther, you get to give someone else the rub of beating Brock Lesnar for it. And Brock's business, he'll lose to anyone as long as you pay him.

Equally though, they could have Lesnar get cheated by someone unpalatable like Austin Theory instead of making someone new. And then segue into the story I want, Cena going after the ICT to complete the set.

Oh god, that last bit you said. They're going to have Priest cash in for it if they want it off Gunther aren't they. Then Priest/Balor can be for the IC belt

[FUM]

The latest RAW just set out to prove you can have the best video producers in the world but they will still mix up your and you’re.

You are father was inbred.

[air_raid]

On 12/13/2023 at 10:57 PM, andrew "the ref" coyne said:

Jey Uso winning the IC belt the night after a Mania where Gunther barely survives Lesnar?

I can buy that. 

Might accidentally turn Jey heel if they do that though.

On 12/14/2023 at 2:47 AM, simonworden said:

Oh god, that last bit you said. They're going to have Priest cash in for it if they want it off Gunther aren't they. Then Priest/Balor can be for the IC belt

Only if the plan is to make Priest look like a moron.

[I Bent My Wookie]

I really want to get behind Ivy Nile as an underdog Vs Rhea, because she has that sort of secret strength and tenacity (as shown last night and through the groups Instagram's and such) to be a viable threat.

But she looks like she's about to cry every time she steps forward to Rhea, I thought something was off last week and couldn't place it, but again last night at times she looks ready to bawl her eyes out as she's battering you.

A bit of work with the coaches on characterisation and facial expression and she's got a lot of potential.

Gunther still continues to be my favourite thing in wrestling at the moment. 

The women's tag division continues to be a chaotic but fun mess too. The new champs have had less than 10 matches together (maybe even in singles) on the main roster but through winning 2 in a row got the titles, where the main viable threat are already on SmackDown and should realistically be the next challengers but don't really have any full time tag teams to go up against on their show to have a number 1 contenders match. 

Rare chance I got to watch Raw live but I really did enjoy it overall. I'm nowhere near as able to talk about it week to week as people in here but reading all the feedback each week made me decide to catch that instead of watching 3 hours of Law and Order and it was a well made decision.

[air_raid]

Yeah, I could see Damage CTRL murdering them pair given the chance.