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

[The Gaffer]

It's the inclusion of Reigns - who isn't bigger than the company or anything but you'd imagine is protected and spotlighted in a way nobody else his generation is - which makes it baffling. 

Swap him out for anybody else and it becomes that 'workhorse match' thing they've definitely done a few times over the years where if it's a triple threat or it's halfway through the show it doesn't matter because - look - we put all your internet favourites on WrestleMania for you! And yeah, those kinds of matches never feel like a big deal. It's always a bit "Gee, thanks." Nearly better to not have a match and get a meaningful main event run in, instead. 

Edit: Not counting the Edge/Bryan/Reigns match which had an air of fresh novelty since the actual main event of that year was being able to take it out of the Thunderdome and just get back to a sense of normality. 

Edited February 5, 2025 by The Gaffer

[air_raid]

16 hours ago, Supremo said:

Cody vs. CM Punk

Jey Uso vs. Gunther

Roman vs. Seth

Cena vs. Logan Paul

Sami vs. Kevin

That would do me. Rhea vs Io too.

8 hours ago, Supremo said:

CM Punk v Roman Reigns v Seth Rollins is the current plan for WrestleMania 41.

(via PWlnsider)

PWInsider, take that with more salt than the entire careers of Mr Fuji, the Orient Express, Yokozuna and that Salt Bae thing.

[The King of Old School]

Triple threat matches should only ever be for a title.

Cena for me doesn't need to go for the title at Mania when they have all year to tell that story, really hoping they re-create last years EC angle where Logan gets eliminated and he just smacks Cena one so someone pins him too.

Cody vs Punk

Gunther vs Jey

Rollins vs Reigns

Paul vs Cena

Sami vs Owens

Perfect top end of the card right there. (Although I would still like to see Jey go after Cody)

[air_raid]

1 hour ago, The King of Old School said:

Triple threat matches should only ever be for a title.

Why?

[TheScarlettChad]

2 minutes ago, air_raid said:

Why?

They can work without a beit but at Mania? Come on. Needs the belt. 

[The King of Old School]

5 minutes ago, air_raid said:

Why?

Who on earth wants to see a random triple threat match in the middle of a show with no stakes on it?

[d-d-d-dAz]

I agree with this.

Triple Threats are for when number one contenders can't be separated, or a sneaky Champion is being punished by an authority figure.

3 lads just going 'be a laugh, won't it?' doesn't make sense to me. Why do they hate two people equally and are willing to fight them at the same time? Who's agreeing to that? Wouldn't they just prefer a series of singles matches? 

Without a title, how can an authority figure compel them to take part?

It's just a shitty premise. Boo.

[air_raid]

45 minutes ago, The King of Old School said:

Who on earth wants to see a random triple threat match in the middle of a show with no stakes on it?

Aren't ALL matches without a title for "no stakes" unless explicitly stated to be contention matches?

8 minutes ago, d-d-d-dAz said:

I agree with this.

Triple Threats are for when number one contenders can't be separated,

EDIT - I misunderstood. How about triple threats to separate strong contenders?

I think there's a serious lack of imagination if we think a three way rivalry can't be strong enough that a match needs to happen between all three. Punk vs Rollins vs McIntyre in the summer, as a recent example. But then, I'm just playing devil's advocate, the formula of non-elimination multiman clusterfucks is such that they're usually rubbish and the good ones are by exception.

Personally... I hate non-eliminator multi-person matches for titles passionately because they mean a champion can lose the title without getting pinned. Which I think is an utter cop-out and I hate it almost as much as beating champions in non-title matches.

Edited February 5, 2025 by air_raid
three, is the magic number

[DavidB6937]

Seth hates Punk. Seth hates Roman.

Punk isn't exactly fond of Seth.

Roman has long term issues with Seth, and recent stuff with Punk.

With the way they're all intertwined, it's hard to argue there's not enough reason for the match to take place without a title.

It's about as big and meaningful a non-title triple threat they could put on.

[mim731]

It would take a lot of crowbarring and it's very convoluted and would I guess involve "the favour", but if they absolutely have to do the triple threat, I wouldn't be against those three fighting on night one, and the winner getting the shot at Cody (presuming Cena is off with Logan Paul or someone) on night two if that's the direction of travel.  

[d-d-d-dAz]

3 minutes ago, DavidB6937 said:

Seth hates Punk. Seth hates Roman.

Punk isn't exactly fond of Seth.

Roman has long term issues with Seth, and recent stuff with Punk.

With the way they're all intertwined, it's hard to argue there's not enough reason for the match to take place without a title.

It's about as big and meaningful a non-title triple threat they could put on.

But, right... if I hated someone, I'd want to punch them in the face. If I hated someone else, I'd want to punch them in the face as part of a separate transaction. There'd need to be a real reason for me to take the extra risk of having a 3 way punch fest.

I GUESS they could do it as an explicit number one contenders match, I guess that makes sense. But I don't love it.

Plus, the underlying story is needlessly convoluted.

Punk hates Rollins because he hates everyone but has already beat him; Rollins hates Punk because he left the company; Punk doesn't hate Roman but maybe Heyman will do him a favour; Rollins hates Roman because The Shield; Roman hates Rollins because The Shield; Roman doesn't hate Punk but Heyman might have done Punk a favour he doesn't like.

Great, now fight over the chance to face a champion in the future.

It's a mess. The number one contender element binds it a bit but meh. 

Also, the Rollins/Drew/Punk is a great example of everything I hate about this new idea. Completely needless, bent themselves into a pretzel to accommodate Rollins and everyone was just excited for the future when he'd fuck off and they could just have Punk/Drew.

So, in short, if Rollins fucks off it'll be better.

[The King of Old School]

25 minutes ago, air_raid said:

I think there's a serious lack of imagination if we think a three way rivalry can't be strong enough that a match needs to happen between all three. Punk vs Rollins vs McIntyre in the summer, as a recent example. But then, I'm just playing devil's advocate, the formula of non-elimination multiman clusterfucks is such that they're usually rubbish and the good ones are by exception.

Worked fine for Punk/Rollins/McIntyre in the summer, because they didn't have a fucking triple threat match during it all. That would have been shite too.

17 minutes ago, mim731 said:

It would take a lot of crowbarring and it's very convoluted and would I guess involve "the favour", but if they absolutely have to do the triple threat, I wouldn't be against those three fighting on night one, and the winner getting the shot at Cody (presuming Cena is off with Logan Paul or someone) on night two if that's the direction of travel.  

At an absolute push, that could work I suppose.

Edited February 5, 2025 by The King of Old School

[d-d-d-dAz]

27 minutes ago, The King of Old School said:

Worked fine for Punk/Rollins/McIntyre in the summer, because they didn't have a fucking triple threat match during it all. That would have been shite too.

Did they not? I thought they did? Or am I confusing that with him being a ref?

Either way. Rollins wasn't needed.

Rollins is never needed.

[The King of Old School]

22 minutes ago, d-d-d-dAz said:

Did they not? I thought they did? Or am I confusing that with him being a ref?

Either way. Rollins wasn't needed.

Rollins is never needed.

Yeah Seth was guest ref at Summerslam.

There, if we must go down the route of them all being in the same match at Mania, make Punk ref.

Rollins/Reigns feels like a big match to me, with all there history, plus the great angle at the Rumble.

Punk/Rollins doesn't need to happen again, and Punk/Reigns could do with a longer term story being built.

Summerslam being two nights needs a huge match to hook it for me, I think Punk/Reigns is that match, hopefully with the WWE title on the line.

Edited February 5, 2025 by The King of Old School

[MVP RULZ]

I can't really think of the last triple threat match that didn't have something specifically on it stakes wise

Do we really have to go back all the way to Orton vs Cody vs DiBiasie at Wrestlemania 26 for the last one?

Is that the only Triple Threat in Wrestlemania history that wasn't for a title?

I know they did the throwaway "Wrestlemania showcase Fatal 4 Way" Tag Matches with nothing on the line at 39 but in terms of high profile Single competitor matches It's quite a rare thing especially for a big event.