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

[TheScarlettChad]

1 hour ago, Dr. Alan Grant said:

Oh god, really? I haven’t seen Raw for a few weeks so I’ve missed all the Pentagon teases. I was hoping he’d come in and immediately start mixing it up with Cody, Priest, Orton, Sami and the other top people. I never watched Lucha Underground, so haven’t seen the brutal Pentagon that people on here talk about. Seems a waste to stick him in a group. Evil, murdering Lucha man isn’t something I’ve ever seen in WWE. 

He'll show them how good he is, and get a solo push. This is current WWE, we don't need to worry. 

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Dr. Alan Grant said:

Oh god, really? I haven’t seen Raw for a few weeks so I’ve missed all the Pentagon teases. I was hoping he’d come in and immediately start mixing it up with Cody, Priest, Orton, Sami and the other top people. I never watched Lucha Underground, so haven’t seen the brutal Pentagon that people on here talk about. Seems a waste to stick him in a group. Evil, murdering Lucha man isn’t something I’ve ever seen in WWE. 

Well, Rey has a mystery partner for a match next week, so there's a bit of 2+2=4 I think.

I wouldn't put it past current WWE to do a bait and switch, have it be Dragon Lee with Rey and debut Penta much later in the show though. 

[Callum1993]

Could also maybe see him teaming with Rey but then turning on him straight after the match. Could be a big opening programme between those 2. 

[DavidB6937]

Personally I hope they drop a disco ball and he comes out as the Pentasaurus.

 

... would still be better than him being involved in LWO.

[Guest]

The obvious hope is that they've managed to do some subtle and keep it from leaking and Rey's partner is Fenix. Or, more likely, it's Dragon Lee.

[DavidB6937]

The funnier thing is most of the audience probably wouldn't know the difference between Dragon Lee and Fenix anyway.

[Hannibal Scorch]

If an up for it Penta shows up on Raw, we  could see a generational run. If it's petty Penta, it will be awful. The main concern I have with him, as we have seen with the likes of Balor and Ricochet before, is how much of their shit are they going to let them get away with before it gets toned down to fit the house style?

I am sure the grifting WWE fans on twitter will absolutely loath Penta and his 20 Canadian destroyers a match and complain about the flippy floppy style of gymnastics he has, and how its not wrestling.

Joke aside, more then anything, Penta could be a big deal and should be a big deal in any promotion. WWE historically have been pretty crappy when it comes to Mexican wrestlers and pushing them over the last decade or so. I hope this is the start of a change. 

[Lorne Malvo]

Saw the Rollins/Punk promo. Punk was really labouring the point trying to get that 'arrows in my back' thing over. What on earth was he going on about? 

The delivery was fine (with Punk it always is, he knows how to deliver a line) but the actual content of the promo was piss.

[DavidB6937]

Bad arrows.

[d-d-d-dAz]

1 hour ago, Lorne Malvo said:

Saw the Rollins/Punk promo. Punk was really labouring the point trying to get that 'arrows in my back' thing over. What on earth was he going on about? 

The delivery was fine (with Punk it always is, he knows how to deliver a line) but the actual content of the promo was piss.

I've watched it back, and I agree with this.

Well, not so much the 'arrows in the back' thing specifically as that is a fairly common phrase in the US that I heard a bunch at work when I was out there. I think the full saying is something like 'pioneers die with arrows in their back, whilst those that follow enjoy the land'. The point being that those that do things first, take risks and challenge people's assumptions often have to handle a backlash, but once they're proven right other people will follow them into the space they've created and enjoy what the pioneers suffered to create.

Thinking about it, I think Punk's even used it before. It's a bit cringe, but whatever - i get the point his character was trying to make; being the alternative, small 'ROH guy' with the big mouth and outsized confidence was a really fucking hard sell until CM Punk sold it, and he made it easy for Tyler Black to become Seth Rollins (I'm not saying this is true or not, I'm just living the kayfabe bro).

But the delivery point is bang on. That's what was good, if anything. Watching it back the content is incomprehensible junk. And they're pulling against one another; Rollins is doing some mad meta shit and trying to land 'you've not got kids' as a burn, whilst Punk is trying to pull it back to WWE TV in a way that doesn't make sense when your opponent isn't working with you.

It was like watching a character argue with an actor. Utterly, utterly mental bullshit based on the lazy assumption that 'real' is always better or that people really care about the off stage bollocks that turns on a small percentage of morons.

Just be wrestlers, tell wrestling stories and then have wrestling matches.

Fuck sake.

*EDIT* I forgot how much I hated Seth's 'learnt it in Papa H's NXT' sign off for the promo. He suddenly became really dramatic and verbose (EYES OF RAGE, HEART OF FURY, BUNS OF STEEL) as he remembered he had to get the lines in for the Netflix promo video.

Edited December 31, 2024 by d-d-d-dAz

[Gooner]

Really enjoyable back and forth between Punk & Rollins on this episode. Next Monday night all-round should be fantastic, one I need to be making sure I stay up for and watch live. 

[Guest]

1 hour ago, d-d-d-dAz said:

*EDIT* I forgot how much I hated Seth's 'learnt it in Papa H's NXT' sign off for the promo. He suddenly became really dramatic and verbose (EYES OF RAGE, HEART OF FURY, BUNS OF STEEL) as he remembered he had to get the lines in for the Netflix promo video.

Oh, yes, that was absolutely horrible writing. I'm known at work for the odd purple patch now and again, but that was way too far even for me. Didn't fit the rest of the promo, didn't ound like something a human would say, and sounded like something out of a livejournal. All to find a way to fit the line from his song in, just as unnaturally. Woeful stuff. Bet he wrote it himself.

[Devon Malcolm]

Another really enjoyable, swift Raw that, where almost everything worked.

The absolute nuclear heat for Kingston and Woods is spectacular. And now they have something to do, first of all by beating LWO, presumably, and then potentially by doing something with Jey Uso. Contrasting Jey's pop with the Boo Day's was terrific work.

No idea why they waited so long to do Otis vs Gable now but it was a really good match. Where they go now, fuck knows, but it was a cracker in isolation, which is better than nothing.

Zoey Stark vs Dakota Kai was a good match as well, as they were all night. Both of them are great in the ring but like almost all women's wrestling in both companies, there are no stories or characters at all. It's just matches. Fucking write them an angle or two.

Enjoyed the six man tag as well. War Raiders are a great laugh to watch, just put them on every week and they'll always deliver. JD McDonough, though. If he went away would anyone notice. How is he on this show every week.

My pick for D-Mal Got Me Over on UKFF for 2025, Ludwig Kaiser, cuts a good promo and now we're going to get him and Sheamus in another match. Fucking ace. He needs to win it, though.

The backstage stuff between Woods/Kingston and LWO was pretty funny, and even more so because Zelina Vega was the only one who stepped forward. I genuinely can't remember the name of the one who isn't Dragon Lee. I'll just call him Hat Guy from now on. ECdub! ECdub!

Lyra Valkyria then dragged Iyo Sky to possibly the best match I've ever seen her in. Lyra is GREAT - but see the above. I am pleased the quote/unquote 'Genius of the Sky' will not be winning this title as she is still cack. Match of the night though.

And I think you've all lost your mind. Rollins comes out, dressed like flock wallpaper, does his usual bollocks. Punk comes out and immediately makes it serious. Like @d-d-d-dAz, I'm less bothered about this than I probably should be and I think WWE know they just need to get this out of the way, so they're just going through the lazy work-shoot motions.

That being said, Rollins' line about raising a kid was a dickhead line on several levels and there's no way that he comes out the better man after grabbing for the lowest imaginable fruit. Who fucking okayed that line? If it was improvised then Rollins is a stupid cunt. Hate that shit and it just leaves a sour taste.

Not Punk's best work but it doesn't have to be. He was still engaging and off-the-beaten-path. Let's just get this over with, though.

[hallicks]

22 hours ago, Supremo said:

The montage of Raw on the USA Network was mostly notable for how obvious they were cutting around anything involving Vince. Benoit’d the shit out of him.

When during the show was this? Curious to see if it’s on Netflix. 

[TheScarlettChad]

According to srs, Penta is gonna be managed by Mark Henry. How ranco