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

[BomberPat]

yeah, they felt that Tenta had lost too much weight to convincingly portray Earthquake any more, so came up with Golga. 

There were meant to be lumps and bumps under his mask to get over that he was a disfigured sideshow freak, though you'd think that if he were in a sideshow, they wouldn't be hiding that. By the time he turned babyface with the Cartman doll, it was just them recycling the George Steele gimmick with "Mine", his stuffed animal mascot thing.

I've always got a soft spot for a Freak Show gimmick, and I'm surprised more attempts haven't been made at it, it was also something I threw together in EWR/TEW games.

 

Quote

I think it's a more modern thing because the mid-2000s were brutal for bringing in guys and them being shit-canned before their feet had touched the mat. Sometimes not their own fault but they seemed to have plenty like Mordecai and Kizarny and the Heartbreakers and most of the Spirit Squad who came and went and we hardly knew ye.

The mid-2000s tag division was an absolute treasure trove for it - the Bashams, the Heartbreakers, the Dicks, the Highlanders, Deuce & Domino, The Dudebusters, Jamie Noble and Kid Kash as The Pitbulls, Jindrak & Cade, Cade & Murdoch, The Gymini....

[Chili]

Always felt bad that Cade & Murdoch came around at that time, Lance Cade was a bit of a slow learner but was finding himself a bit before he died tragically young. Trevor Murdoch had a fantastic look, as in absolute shit but exactly what a mid card heel should have been in that gimmick.

[Dr. Alan Grant]

28 minutes ago, BomberPat said:

yeah, they felt that Tenta had lost too much weight to convincingly portray Earthquake any more, so came up with Golga. 

They could have repackaged him as another, less serious natural phenomenon. 

Gust

Drizzle

Sleet

Nippy

Possible catchphrase “You better take your jacket off when Gust is around, or you won’t feel the benefit”.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, RedTwoster said:

I’m intrigued by who Dom has referred Chad Gable to, to help deal with his luchador problem. It can’t be as simple as it being someone like Santos Escobar or Andrade, can it? Well, it can, but I’m assuming it won’t be. 

 

I'm hoping it's a really deep lucha underground cut and it's *checks wiki to see if he's still alive* Vampiro.

OR just Dominic in a mask. 

[RedTwoster]

25 minutes ago, Duke said:

I'm hoping it's a really deep lucha underground cut and it's *checks wiki to see if he's still alive* Vampiro.

OR just Dominic in a mask. 

He said he was referring him to someone to learn ‘the dark arts of Lucha Libre’ which suggests to me that they may be planning a series of skits. I’d imagine it’ll be someone like Chavo Guerrero or even Vickie Guerrero. It’s not like WWE has a rich pool of Lucha legends to tap into. 

[Hannibal Scorch]

1 minute ago, RedTwoster said:

He said he was referring him to someone to learn ‘the dark arts of Lucha Libre’ which suggests to me that they may be planning a series of skits. I’d imagine it’ll be someone like Chavo Guerrero or even Vickie Guerrero. It’s not like WWE has a rich pool of Lucha legends to tap into. 

It's going to be Alistair Black isn't it.

[Mr Butternut Squash]

Penta/Dunne was decent enough. I think Penta is awful so having low expectations probably helped. The important thing is that he looks cool and is getting over and he didn't need that dork in Mickey Mouse gloves and pyjamas dancing at ringside to do it. Get him some decent music and pyro and the package is complete.

I do find it funny how utterly desperate they are for Pete Dunne to get some kind of crowd response. Even resorted to banging you over the head with the old I.R.S "IRWIN!!" schtick. 

I like Sami but these big emotional promos are a bit exhausting. It would be fine if he still had that groundswell of support behind him, but that moment has passed and he can sound a bit whiny. Him and KO finally coming together didn't feel like the big moment it was supposed to, although the crowd were fairly shit all night to be fair.

I really like the addition of the crowd side interviews throughout the show. They help with the shows pacing and building storylines and feel more natural than the backstage stuff. Punk's interview was great. Even sanitised good-boy Punk still has those memorable, killer lines in him.

Fuck me, I think I'm starting to like Karrion Kross!! Very funny turn of events. The daft, silly sod.

Nia will be shat on but I can see why she's in the spot. A WWE women's wrestler with an actual character that gets heat? A miracle. The worrying thing is how they've done absolutely nothing to build up heels for Rhea to knock down. Now that she's not attached to Dom and Judgement Day they're going to have to actually invest in some women's storylines or there'll be a big cooldown.  

Edited January 21, 2025 by Mr Butternut Squash

[air_raid]

1 hour ago, BomberPat said:

The mid-2000s tag division was an absolute treasure trove for it - the Bashams, the Heartbreakers, the Dicks, the Highlanders, Deuce & Domino, The Dudebusters, Jamie Noble and Kid Kash as The Pitbulls, Jindrak & Cade, Cade & Murdoch, The Gymini....

Should have gone further than losing to London & Kendrick every week. "Deuce Shade, Dice Domino and Cherry Pie" was a fabulous act.

[RedTwoster]

4 minutes ago, Mr Butternut Squash said:

Get him some decent music 

You could say that about the vast majority of the WWE roster these days. For all of the improvements there has been in WWE post-McMahon, from a theme song perspective things are worse than I can ever remember. They could have an episode of Raw in which they played the wrong theme song for every wrestler, and I genuinely don’t think I’d notice, outside of a handful of obvious exceptions. 

[Mr Butternut Squash]

Just now, RedTwoster said:

You could say that about the vast majority of the WWE roster these days. For all of the improvements there has been in WWE post-McMahon, from a theme song perspective things are worse than I can ever remember. They could have an episode of Raw in which they played the wrong theme song for every wrestler, and I genuinely don’t think I’d notice, outside of a handful of obvious exceptions. 

The last few Rumbles have been terrible for this. Really kills the excitment of the entrance pop.

[DavidB6937]

14 minutes ago, Mr Butternut Squash said:

The last few Rumbles have been terrible for this. Really kills the excitment of the entrance pop.

Yeah completely agree. I watch most weeks and I still didn't know who was coming out half the time.

[ReturnOfTheMack]

Did they cut off Pete Dunns promo on every broadcast? ? 

Nia Jax, she's bad, and that's being generous. Wow. 

[RedTwoster]

On another note, the should absolutely move Chad Gable to Smackdown and have him win the US title. Nakamura is fine, but a relatively bland champion and you just know Gable would make the most of his run with the belt, having fantastic matches and just generally being entertaining. Although I could just as easily see Sheamus beat Bron Breakker and Gable eventually beating Sheamus on the Raw brand.

1 hour ago, Mr Butternut Squash said:

I do find it funny how utterly desperate they are for Pete Dunne to get some kind of crowd response. Even resorted to banging you over the head with the old I.R.S "IRWIN!!" schtick. 

I quite liked Pete Dunne in NXT and NXT UK, but this current character is pretty dire. Karrion Kross and Dominik Mysterio are perfect examples of why you shouldn’t write someone off, but I’m perfectly happy to write his current persona off.

[Mr Butternut Squash]

The silliest thing about this Pete Dunne/Butch stuff is that the initial 'Butch' character was the best thing Pete ever did in WWE and it was starting to get over before they started stripping back on the more wild and out of control Scrappy Doo element of it that made it unique. It was a cartoony gimmick for sure, but I don't think that was a bad thing in this case. 

[The Gaffer]

1 hour ago, RedTwoster said:

You could say that about the vast majority of the WWE roster these days. For all of the improvements there has been in WWE post-McMahon, from a theme song perspective things are worse than I can ever remember. They could have an episode of Raw in which they played the wrong theme song for every wrestler, and I genuinely don’t think I’d notice, outside of a handful of obvious exceptions. 

Yeah what is it with this? Should be such an easy thing to get right. There's thousands of artists across virtually all genres out there who grew up on music and wrestling, and would intuitively have a very good grasp on writing a tune to fit the character and be immediately recognisable. 

Their themed seemed to have a purple patch when CFO$ were doing them and NXT was hitting big. Bobby Roode, Styles, Nakamura etc all seemed to hit like already legendary themes upon arrival but I do think it paved the way for themes needing to be self-consciously 'epic' and/or having forced cues in them along with the whole Triple H choreographed way the entrances are shot and 'performed' now which has come full circle to the point where all the themes now seem really busy and cinematic but I can't tell any of them apart. It's become generic rubbish, for the most part.