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

[Devon Malcolm]

I'm still not sure about the direction Gunther's going but he's playing it quite well so far. Feels like they're testing the waters a bit as to if he could work as a babyface, a bit like they did with Damian Priest, and that one has worked out well so far. I'm just not sure if Gunther quite has the personality for it.

[Supremo]

In my head, a babyface Gunther leads to Punk cheating and winning the Title, with help from Paul Heyman.

[DavidB6937]

2 minutes ago, Devon Malcolm said:

I'm still not sure about the direction Gunther's going but he's playing it quite well so far. Feels like they're testing the waters a bit as to if he could work as a babyface, a bit like they did with Damian Priest, and that one has worked out well so far. I'm just not sure if Gunther quite has the personality for it.

I'm glad they're giving him the time. I've always felt that while he played the heel really well, the 'undefeated' type characters often have a shelf life and a ceiling. There's only so far you can go with that. But they've actually done a good job of making him a little more human and giving him a reason to be a little weaker without making him look bad. It's actually a more relatable part to his character which is a good approach I think.

[LaGoosh]

My late (and probably first and final) Raw review. You'll be shocked to hear that I wasn't quite as high on it as the rest of you.

- Firstly, let's talk about music. Music is absolutely key to wrestling being good and all the music in WWE is absolutely terrible.

- I thought Cole/Graves were bad but Barrett/generic man are somehow even worse. Generic Man is so bland I completely tuned him out and Barrett is just awful. He sounds like when you get a posh actor of the moment turn up in a British gangster film and they do the shittest accent you've ever heard. An incredibly unpleasant voice to listen to and he talks constant bollocks and generic sound bites all night long.

- Show opened with Punk walking down to the ring from backstage. All wrestling companies do this and I hate it - they make the backstage area some kind of weird unrealistic, empty ghost town. Surely a live TV production has loads of people running around, working and doing shit? Make it feel like a real, living environment! Instead it's completely empty except for Jey Uso and Sami Zayn just leaning on some boxes doing fuck all for some reason.

- Before I get into the opening segment content I will say that the acting across this show reminds me of two very specific Futurama moments:

- CM Punk does not look well these days. I know he always looks a bit sickly but his face looks puffy and weirdly coloured in a way I don't think I've seen before. Middle age catching up to him I guess.

- 25 minutes of everyone standing around and talking very loudly about their feelings and motivations! Tell, don't show! I'm being overly harsh - I found the stories being told (or SMASHED INTO MY FACE repeatedly) pretty interesting. I find Punk's schtick pretty tired these days, he hasn't changed his act up since the 2010s. All the edges have been smoothed down and everything special about him seems to be gone. Terrible attire and entrance aside Rollins was surprisingly ok in this. He was much better with Sami Zayn than with Punk. For me though the main issue with this segment is the two matches it appears to be setting up (Punk/Reigns and Punk/Rollins) are of no interest to me at all. Punk/Rollins shitty brawling didn't help but Zayn and Jey Uso appearing from nothingness to immediately break them apart is exactly the type of production quirk I despise. Overall, not terrible but I wish they found a more interesting way to tell these stories than the main characters yelling them in the ring.

- Good lord, the two womens matches were so goddamn shit I couldn't believe it. As I said in the Smackdown thread - the wrestling on WWE TV is slow motion, terrible spots, zero psychology crap. I've seen better matches than these at the shittest BritWrest shows you can imagine. They should be embarrassed to put these on TV and if you enjoyed them you next your head checked.

- Finn Balor is still a thing in 2024?! Who's that lad with the absolute giant head he hangs about with?

- Gunther's jumper depressed me. You're the fucking Champion - dress like one!

- 10 Years of New Day: Sorry, I didn't buy it. This was let down by the performances for me. I didn't believe them. Kofi Kingston's promo voice is exactly the same whether he's been serious, silly, angry, whatever. Xavier Woods grimacing like a 5 year old who shit themselves the whole time. And the goal of the segment I guess is setting up New Day as a super serious heel tag team which I don't have any interest in.

- In the past week I've watched two Smackdowns and one Raw - Gunther/Mysterio was the only match I've genuinely enjoyed. Clear characters and they actually incorporated character into the match.. Far too short though. I would be keen to watch a 15 minute bout with these two. This match was the only time I felt like I was watching a real wrestling show rather than some weird AI generated impression of a wrestling show. Why were the audience chanting for Dom? Isn't he the heel?

- Finn Balor in his big t-shirt and trousers looked about 14 years old. He's so rubbish.

- Speaking of rubbish - R-Truth and Pete Dunne. R-Truth being on Raw in 2024 is ridiculous. Pete Dunne being on a major wrestling promotion is ridiculous. This whole match and story felt like an insult.

- A vignette for Karion Kross and the Wyatt Sicks is more of the spooky nonsense that I hate. Why are people in wrestling so desperate to make "movies"? Either go make actual real movies or just make wrestling because this stuff is always cringe and terrible.

- A point on Adam Pearce - he sucks. We're a long way from Commissioner Foley or Regal who added so much to the shows. Like Aldis he's just the blandest charisma black hole.

- if WWE has such great production values and is making cinema why is every segment the characters standing side by side facing directly in front of the camera? Shoot actual different camera angles please I'm begging you! (this goes for all wrestling promotions)

- bonkers that a 2006 PWG ass match is main eventing Raw with Tyler Black vs El Generico. The match itself was very, very average with no clear heel/face or reason for them to fight. If you were unsure about how they felt at the end don't worry, both characters yelled their thoughts directly into the camera multiple times then the commentators confirmed it. Perfectly decent return angle to end a show on and we're done.

Overall thoughts: yeah WWE is not for me at all. I can see the appeal with the long term storylines and the way they are connecting different stories and dots from the past is cool but the awful production, presentation and quality of promos, acting and the drizzling shits matches...I just don't get it. This doesn't feel like wrestling to me at all. It's like this weird, inhuman, baby brained "sports entertainment" soap opera totally absent from reality. I'm glad you're all enjoying it but yeah, you can keep it. Watching WWE again has been a fun experiment but if AEW doesn't turn their shitty TV around then I'll be done with wrestling I think as I'll never enjoy whatever this is supposed to be. I might check out the odd YouTube clip of the big Bloodnline angles I suppose.

[d-d-d-dAz]

1 hour ago, LaGoosh said:

I might check out the odd YouTube clip of the big Bloodnline angles I suppose.

Seriously, this is entirely how I watch wrestling 99% of the time and it's absolutely fine. I watch the clips of the angles I care about, watch the particular matches I care about come PPV time and it's much better than trying to sit for three hours through a show where you only like SOME of the talent.

[DavidB6937]

2 hours ago, LaGoosh said:

R-Truth being on Raw in 2024 is ridiculous.

Sorry, I can just about handle most of the criticism but leave him alone. He's more entertaining than most of the roster and deserves his spot damnit.

[Merzbow]

He gets a lifetime pass because of that one smoking angle.

[Snitsky's back acne]

Random question, sort of related to wrestlers on Raw but, does anybody hear the beeping some electric cars make when they are reversing and think the Wyatt Family are going to emerge or is it just me? 

[LaGoosh]

Accurate.

 

[Supremo]

The heat for Kofi and Xavier on this show was brilliant. Thoroughly deserved. Pair of horrible bastards.

If Big E’s music hits in the Royal Rumble you’ll be able to hear my squeal of delight from space.

[DavidB6937]

They were bloody brilliant. Great crowd reaction too.

And then you've got Seth bitching that he got ghosted. I'd ghost him too if he was wearing that.

[mim731]

Maybe if we all collectively as wrestling fans unite to ghost Rollins, he'll get in a huff and fuck off for a bit. 

[RedTwoster]

3 hours ago, DavidB6937 said:

And then you've got Seth bitching that he got ghosted. I'd ghost him too if he was wearing that.

I really like the prospect of Seth and Drew forming an alliance over their hatred on Punk and Reigns, if that’s where they’re going with this. If they actually do jump to Smackdown they should add Owens to the mix. That would be a fantastic heel faction to lead the brand, heading into 2025.

[Chili]

Gave that Xavier/Kofi promo a mooch. Good stuff, Xavier Woods has always had that potential to be a gobshite in him and was great. Kofi looked sharp in his Cat from Red Dwarf jacket too. Lovely stuff, it'd be great if Big E did get back one day, but if he just popped back just to give them that extra juice for their heel turn, that's a lovely bit of work too. Have them go back Smackdown and beat Trips & Shawn's foster kids for the tag belts.

Edited December 10, 2024 by Chili

[TildeGuy~!]

The best heels are always the ones who believe that everything they do is justifiable.

Looking forward to see where this New Day angle goes.