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

[AndyUK]

It was a good show that got better as it went on. The Rock's appearance at the start was a bit jarring. I don't know what they were doing there with the hugging Cody stuff, you could even have still had him act more corporate but have a brief awkward moment with Cody at ringside as he's hugging all the execs etc. Unless he genuinely has no plans of wrestling again any time soon and that's why they've dropped it at all, but it's a shame. 

Roman v Solo was definitely a slow burner but I enjoyed the chaos at the end, especially Owens sticking his nose in. It does seem that is the new formula for these Bloodline matches after the success of the Mania 40 main event.

Thought the Cena promo was tremendous and they've got a potentially brilliant story staring them in the face with this last year and his hunt for the 17th title if they tell it right. 

Rhea v Liv was a good match to end their feud and will be interesting to see what she does with the title at Mania now. I think she's faced everyone but Iyo and Bianca on the main roster.

Drew v Jey was fine too, and then I loved Punk/Rollins to be fair. Top match. Cena going for the title and Punk getting his Main main event clearly should be your big stories this year and it just depends what they decide to go with. Cena/Cody and Punk/Reigns? Cena/Cody and Punk/Gunther? Punk/Cody and Cena/Gunther? I don't think I'd be dissatisfied with any of those. 

[tiger_rick]

5 minutes ago, TheScarlettChad said:

If SmackDown is bad, WWE have fucked it. They had a good shot of turning the ship around but if last night is any indication, they're going back to their old habits. 

Do you live in an alternative universe?

[TheScarlettChad]

1 minute ago, tiger_rick said:

Do you live in an alternative universe?

Most posts here are shitting on it. 

[Hannibal Scorch]

Unsolicited thoughts of the episode.

Spoiler

I thought the actual production was spectacular. It really made you realise how low rent other wrestling feels in their presentation. Picked a great venue for the debut show. I’ve no idea how they managed to break a gate record when it felt like the majority of seats were given away to celeb fans or Netflix stars, they would have been comped surely?

Of course HHH had to be the first guy in the ring. For a company that brags about storytelling The Rock suddenly no longer being the Final Boss and everything they had been setting up thrown out so he could do some un-humble brags and Moana catchphrases was baffling. Not finishing the story eh Dwayne? Just thought it was weird to throw out all those stories they started a year ago. I’m assuming there’s Fast 11 starting soon or Moana reshoots booked.

33 minutes from show start to first match I thought with everything considered, wasn’t to bad. I thought the match was fine, despite Solos awful dialogue. Then it hit the clusterfuck of interference I hate, but it was the right result.

Cena’s promo was decent. Predictable he was going to be in the Rumble, but that’s not a bad thing and it reminded me whilst I was never a fan of his in ring stuff, he’s a GOAT talker. Good for him.

AEW has too much wrestling at times, absolutely. But there being almost 60 minutes from the start of Roman/Solo to match number 2? Insanity! Match was average. I don’t think Liv Morgan is particularly great in ring, and Rhea is better but they have better women and to not have them featured is not great. And Taker doing that?!? for what reason?

i can’t believe how much padding there was on this show. Yes, great you have so many Netflix execs, celebs and wrestlers in the crowd, but going back to them for minutes upon minutes at a time.

Highlight was definitely Hogan getting booed. I just went to bed at this point, but thought I’d just check out the reaction he’d get, or see if he was in his Maga shirt and was delighted by the warm hospitality shown by the LA fans. He looked livid!

So yeah, I thought it was a bit of a pig in lipstick scenario. Mission accomplished in making it look big time, brash and loud. It will be interesting to see how Raw looks when they start hitting smaller venues again. And there was nothing to make me rethink I’m missing out.

Last night I realised who Michael Cole and Pat Mcavee remind me of.

 

Anyway, a whole hour between matches? Not for me thanks.

[tiger_rick]

Just now, TheScarlettChad said:

Most posts here are shitting on it. 

I know, and that's fair enough, people can like or dislike what they want. But what on earth does "turning the ship around" mean when talking about a company that is the most profitable it's ever been? Also, what old habits? This show seems as in-step with their last two years as anything.

[TheScarlettChad]

STATE of those ref shirts 

[TheScarlettChad]

1 minute ago, tiger_rick said:

I know, and that's fair enough, people can like or dislike what they want. But what on earth does "turning the ship around" mean when talking about a company that is the most profitable it's ever been? Also, what old habits? This show seems as in-step with their last two years as anything.

Vinceisms. 

[Hannibal Scorch]

1 minute ago, tiger_rick said:

I know, and that's fair enough, people can like or dislike what they want. But what on earth does "turning the ship around" mean when talking about a company that is the most profitable it's ever been? Also, what old habits? This show seems as in-step with their last two years as anything.

Also ignoring the fact Smackdown has nothing to do with Netflix in its biggest market, the USA, so not sure what the point they were trying to make was.

[TheScarlettChad]

2 minutes ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

Also ignoring the fact Smackdown has nothing to do with Netflix in its biggest market, the USA, so not sure what the point they were trying to make was.

Well I assumed it was on Netflix like RAW is, sorry I don't follow WWE as closely as you do, obviously. 

[RedTwoster]

2 minutes ago, TheScarlettChad said:

Most posts here are shitting on it. 

Yes, but it’s one show. At the moment, Sheamus is on the run if his life as far as match quality is concerned. If he were to have a stinker next week, you wouldn’t suddenly turn around and say ‘it’s over, he’s back to 2008-Sheamus, he may as well retire!’ - you’d treat it for what it was, a one-off.

It’s clear, I think, that they wanted to produce a show aimed primarily at new viewers to show what it is they’re all about - I think they failed at that, but in the grand scheme of things, that doesn’t mean d huge amount. They’ll likely continue with the good stuff next week, and all will be fine. All it means is that they missed an opportunity to hook new fans, not that the sky is suddenly falling.

[OzExile]

I watched the whole show live and have thought about it a lot since. On the one hand I was gripped because it was stacked with star power. But mostly I thought this was a huge miss and an outlier because the weekly shows are generally very good at the moment. I'm fine with Netflix related razzmatazz but the celebrities and wrestlers sat in the crowd annoyed the shit out of me. The first lot of material they gave the new day stunk.  They Completely discarded the final boss storyline. High 5s to Executives. Slow burn matches. Jey Uso hitting the ropes like Stephanie McMahon. No major swerves. Even Punk and Rollins was sloppy in places. The drone was cool but looks pixelated 25fps. Everything dragged out. This was built to try and win new fans and they went about it totally the wrong way for me.  Aside from the fan reaction to Hogan the best thing on this show was Karrion Kross! 

Edited January 7, 2025 by OzExile

[DCW]

22 minutes ago, TheScarlettChad said:

Most posts here are shitting on it. 

They are shitting on the shit parts of it, not the whole thing. Y'know, like every wrestling show ever. They aren't giving it the hysterical 'game is gone ' type eejitry you are. Get a grip!

[Lion_of_the_Midlands]

26 minutes ago, tiger_rick said:

Do you live in an alternative universe?

Unfortunately he/she/they don't. 

[AndyUK]

Must admit as much as I enjoy The Rock, his inability to commit to things regularly is clearly a crutch in their storytelling and has caused issues.  I'm pretty sure the only reason Roman held the title so long was because they were waiting for the chance to do Roman  v Rock for the belt. Everyone wanted to see it but then that completely lost momentum with him first pulling out of the Hollywood match, and the knock on effect of that seemed to be Cody losing at 39 and then obviously the whole Final Boss u-turn. They then had a lot of momentum for a Rock v Cody match last year that is obviously now out of the window too. 

Was even considering going to Vegas for Mania and a big reason would've been to see him wrestle live but I'm glad I held off now to be fair, because you just don't know with him.  

Edited January 7, 2025 by AndyUK

[TheScarlettChad]

10 minutes ago, DCW said:

They are shitting on the shit parts of it, not the whole thing. Y'know, like every wrestling show ever. They aren't giving it the hysterical 'game is gone ' type eejitry you are. Get a grip!

Fair enough, you know, I had high expectations, My bad lads.