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

[JLM]

I was not at the show and I don’t remember if happening. I don’t remember seeing The Dart or Hannibal Scorch there either, come to think of it. 

[air_raid]

9 minutes ago, TildeGuy~! said:

Probably the only way the booking team thought it could happen with Belair winning the Chamber and Rhea taking her rematch clause.

Ugh. Awful, lazy trope. Never makes sense to be a "thing" anyway since it never pops up when it would be logical e.g. Reigns hasn't demanded his rematch with Cody despite coming to work a few times since losing the title. Apropos to Ripley, her winning the title back from Liv was decisively the last match in their feud too so there was no "rematch clause" for the dethroned champ there either.

I'd much prefer Ripley blaming Belair and Io forcing Pearce to add Ripley to the match to prove she's a tough champion and didn't need Bianca's "help." Or Rhea challenging Belair to defend her Mania challenger status then a non-finish because of interference from baddies and/or Io, and/or Naomi and/or Jade depending on how that plays out. Anything but "rematch clause."

[DavidB6937]

41 minutes ago, The Dart said:

Well I was at that show and I don't remember that happening.

Yeah I must admit I was there and don't remember it either.

I remember some vague thing about Vince and no wrestling during commercials during that random thing about multiple falls, but that was years ago.

And I'm sure there was something floating around from the pandemic where they did literally stop. But that's all I remember.

[Snitsky's back acne]

47 minutes ago, The Dart said:

Well I was at that show and I don't remember that happening.

Yeah I've never seen them switch the lights off during a match at a TV taping. Between matches, yes, and while they might sit in a hold while the show is at break I have never seen them just stop. 

[MVP RULZ]

57 minutes ago, The Dart said:

Well I was at that show and I don't remember that happening.

I was at the show as well and can confirm that definitely didn't happen

[Supremo]

3 hours ago, Statto said:

I'll be honest, I was kinda expecting Judgement Day to cost her the title and them to do the Rhea vs Dom intergender match at Mania. 

An amazing shout. The type of great idea I read on here that’s going to annoy me when what they actually do isn’t anywhere near as good. I’d much prefer Iyo vs. Bianca and Dom vs. Rhea than the inevitable Triple Threat!

It won’t happen though. It’s never been clearer. This year, we’re getting Wrestlemania 2000 ⁽ᵃⁿᵈ ᵗʷᵉⁿᵗʸ ᶠⁱᵛᵉ⁾. Multi-person matches all over the shop. Punk vs. Seth vs. Roman. Iyo vs. Rhea vs. Bianca. Some random multi-man Intercontinental Title match with Finn, Sheamus, Breakker, most likely. Bet there’ll be a multi-person ladder match.

However, now the big angle has happened and the dust has settled, I can at least understand the logic. Why waste big matches like Rhea vs. Bianca, Roman vs. Punk, or even Seth vs. Roman, when you’ve got something as hot and as big as HEEL JOHN CENA vs. Cody Rhodes. It makes sense to hold back and save some of that for the rest of the year. If nothing else, we’ll probably get a Backlash 2000 ⁽ᵃⁿᵈ ᵗʷᵉⁿᵗʸ ᶠⁱᵛᵉ⁾, and that’ll be the show with all the best singles matches we should have had at Mania. See if any of the Work Rate Era can reach the heights of Dean Malenko vs. Scotty Too Hotty.

Can’t fault CM Punk for trying though. It seemed obvious he’d been told the Triple Threat was happening, and it was up to him to make it feel big and important enough to headline over Jey Uso vs. Gunther, and fuck me did he give it his best shot on this show. Promo of the year. Incredible brawl. I think they’re going to do it. By the time Roman turns up next week and does that cool spot where he closes the cage door behind him? This will feel like the Wrestlemania Night 1 Main Event.

Well, provided Becky Lynch doesn’t ruin the whole thing. What a fucking idiotic thing for her to do. Guaranteed there’s a snide WhatsApp chat between Punk and Roman where they’re considering using that Tweet from Becky in one last attempt to politic Seth out of this match.

Ironically, if I wanted them to pivot away from any proposed Mania matches, it wouldn’t be one of the multi-person matches. It’d be AJ Styles vs. Logan Paul. Absolutely cannot be arsed with yet another disappointing two-a-half-star Mania match from AJ. History has taught us that the only worthwhile thing AJ can do at Wrestlemania is a silly Cinematic Match. And it was on this show that such a match revealed itself. Hair Salon Scrap against the two most beautifully conditioned barnets in the company!

“L’Oréal?”

”Because I’m worth it!”

Loved the Lucha Underground-inspired vignettes on this show. LWO’s promo from inside a bar was shot amazingly and I adored Chad Gable’s Luchadore Adventures. It’ll be a shame if that’s just a one-off. He’s got the chops to have made that a weekly series. I predict Chad gets a Mogwai out of that box, accidentally gets it wet, and it turns into Rey Fenix.

Definitely the right call not having either Cena, Rock or Cody appear. An angle that big, you need to let people process it. Let everyone else talk about it. Perfectly done all night long. I wouldn’t even show R-Truth’s reaction until next week at the earliest, never mind the rest of them!

On that subject, one of my favourite things in pro-wrestling is mad visuals that - if you sent them back five or ten years - everyone’s heads would explode. This is a cracking example. What a graphic! Cody Rhodes vs. Vigo from Ghostbusters 2.

Main takeaway from this show is that I’m sick to death of Pat McAfee. He’s completed the Mauro Ranallo arc. Comes in and rides this huge wave of goodwill by just being ridiculously enthusiastic. But at some point, the novelty wears off and they become absolutely intolerable.

What’s the deal with Pat? Doesn’t he have to fuck off to do American Football or something? Is that season starting soon? I hope so.

”People wanted me to lose my job because I love America.” Being utterly shit at your job probably plays a part too, you annoying prick.

Edited March 4, 2025 by Supremo

[RedTwoster]

41 minutes ago, Supremo said:

Main takeaway from this show is that I’m sick to death of Pat McAfee. He’s completed the Mauro Ranallo arc. Comes in and rides this huge wave of goodwill by just being ridiculously enthusiastic. But at some point, the novelty wears off and they become absolutely intolerable.

Yeah, I agree. I thought the announcing was pretty poor during Cena’s heel turn the night before, and McAfee was really grating on me last night.

I don’t dislike Wade Barrett as much as some do on here - especially when the alternative is Graves - but his weaknesses have become all too apparent over time. I generally enjoy the WWE product, but outside of Tessitore, the announcing has been a real weak point recently.

[Lion_of_the_Midlands]

47 minutes ago, Supremo said:

What’s the deal with Pat? Doesn’t he have to fuck off to do American Football or something? Is that season starting soon? I hope so.

Unfortunately for you Supes it finished in February and doesn't start until August. 

[Chili]

McAfee was a complete blind spot to me except for some clips where his enthusiasm was endearing, but then I think a few of his podcasts got posted around here when he was having that Wrestlemania match and realised oh Christ, he's one of those cunts.

[The King of Old School]

Amazing how Roman Reigns has ended up so insignificant to this years Mania.

Him coming back now improves nothing, after that Punk/Rollins segment I would happily watch them pair feud up until Mania now, and have Roman return on the Raw after.

[DavidB6937]

7 minutes ago, The King of Old School said:

Amazing how Roman Reigns has ended up so insignificant to this years Mania.

Him coming back now improves nothing, after that Punk/Rollins segment I would happily watch them pair feud up until Mania now, and have Roman return on the Raw after.

Exactly what they need though. The fear after such a lengthy title run was always that they'd struggle without him. Same with the end of the Bloodline stuff. The importance was always in making sure others came out of it elevated or at least hot enough to carry the company on. Luckily Jey definitely has. We've got the future in Jacob. Cody is on top.

The general popularity of the business itself means that other talents have been over too, so luckily they've got guys like Punk, Drew, Seth (sorry), KO, Sami etc to rely on as well.

So even though they've got Rock and Cena involved at the moment, the roster is still strong enough that they'll be set up for quite some time hopefully.

[d-d-d-dAz]

How long until they overplay their hand with swearing, it gets tedious and wrestlers get told to stop it?

I'm going two weeks, tops.

Edited March 4, 2025 by d-d-d-dAz

[Hannibal Scorch]

4 hours ago, Snitsky's back acne said:

Yeah I've never seen them switch the lights off during a match at a TV taping. Between matches, yes, and while they might sit in a hold while the show is at break I have never seen them just stop. 

I went and asked the guy I was with, he said yes, lasted about a minute or so and they went to different corners, then carried on. I tried to find a clip and all I could find was a fan cam of the match with a cut during the match. He thought it was Charlotte/Asuka.

Still, that was 2023, and you know, time passes and things get blurred. If only someone had made reference to it happening at the time...

 

On 6/30/2023 at 10:52 PM, Hannibal Scorch said:

Other then fans of LA Knight proving to be the worst wrestling fans in History (must have heard the word Yeah shouted out 1000 times over the course of a few hours), I thought it was a decent Smackdown. That said I thought the entrance looked naff in real life (just the venue not being set up for it) and it’s the polar opposite of Dynamite. Few matches, more video packages and in ring promos. And the going to adverts pre/mid match is weird because everything grounds to a halt.

An arena singing along to Sami’s theme was magical though. Great stuff. The women’s title match looked sloppy, hope it comes off better on TV. Also the Austin Theory match was odd, a finish that looked shit and came out of nowhere.

The Bloodline segment to end was fantastic, crowd fully invested, Usos being over like rover. MitB should be superb tomorrow.

 

 

 

Edited March 4, 2025 by Hannibal Scorch
Duff Nuts

[DavidB6937]

You finding that post to prove a point was probably more of a waste of time than what they did.

[Hannibal Scorch]

1 minute ago, DavidB6937 said:

You finding that post to prove a point was probably more of a waste of time than what they did.

Undeniably.