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

[tiger_rick]

1 hour ago, Supremo said:

generational Raw 

[Supremo]

Trying to think what would be the shittest, funniest thing they could do with Iyo/Rhea/Bianca made me realise. There's a genuine chance they put the belt back on Rhea, isn’t there? Then Iyo’s rematch can create the Triple Threat it was always going to be. Either way, I’m sure it’ll be a well thought out, logical, satisfying bit of business, that doesn’t undermine or sabotage any of the characters involved.

If this is truly the last TV appearance for John Cena before Mania, then they need something big. We can’t have another week of him moaning about crowd reactions from twelve years ago and then sulking away when Cody slags him off.

”You love John Cena, do you Truth? Well he’s got a Make a Wish gift just for you.”

[DavidB6937]

2 hours ago, Supremo said:

Trying to think what would be the shittest, funniest thing they could do with Iyo/Rhea/Bianca made me realise. There's a genuine chance they put the belt back on Rhea, isn’t there? Then Iyo’s rematch can create the Triple Threat it was always going to be. Either way, I’m sure it’ll be a well thought out, logical, satisfying bit of business, that doesn’t undermine or sabotage any of the characters involved.

 

The annoying thing is the most interesting thing is Bianca's stuff with Naomi and Jade, so why she's pissing about with Iyo and a directionless Rhea I have no idea.

Rhea vs Dom

Bianca vs Naomi vs Jade

Iyo vs catering

Simple.

[d-d-d-dAz]

Strange, strange show. And I'm conflicted.

Cena/Cody was something else.

It started off making my eyes roll when Cena kept using the phrase 'bury' and pronouncing words like 'chaffeur' in a real strange pantomime way. At one pointed he accused Cody Rhodes of sounding scripted and suddenly I felt like I was watching black pots and kettles everywhere.

But at some point in the segment, a switch was turned and it started feeling nasty and intense and personal. I was responding to each barb like it was a big right hand in a title fight. It was utterly thrilling. Cena got on a roll and his hamminess melted away and he was just spitting viciousness and fire.

By the time he finished Cody looked to be on the ropes. The crowd had turned. And as much as I'd loved it in the moment, I'd started to wobble, thinking it can't be good that they've got Cody booed.

Plenty of people have been in this situation with Cena and absolutely melted. I think somewhere along the way John and the WWE have started to see these battles as a rite of passage but they're usually massively self defeating. I was worried... but then Cody roared right back off the ropes. Verbal rights and lefts. He sounded more normal than usual, and he turned the crowd around. Thrilling. Then Cena came back AGAIN, before Cody dealt the final killer blow.

In the moment? Absolutely incredible. It felt nasty and mean and real and I wanted them to just start whacking each other.

And yet. Now the adrenaline has started to drain away, I'm back to wondering whether it's actually good in the long run to be pointing out Cody's flaws, or Cena's history of 'you can't wrestle', or mentioning Vince or taking shots at AEW.

Probably not. It's the sort of thing I usually despise, it was just - after a bumpy start - performed so well. And you started to see an understandable motive from Cena... he's furious that his time is gone, and he's been replaced by a kid who use to lace his boots. So yeah, in the moment thrilling and moved the feud into a much better place but probably not something lesser hands should ever try and repeat or learn something from.

The Jey/Gunther thing didn't work half as well in the arena as it seems to have done on the TV.

At least the section I was in, it was flat as fuck. People had just wanted to YEET and party with Jey, and didn't get it. It also went on forever and the gap for the TV ad break was excruciatingly slow.

The match between Jimmy/Gunther was utterly ice cold too.

I'll need to watch it back as people seem to have loved it, and I'm glad they've decided to make that feud a bit more serious, but I wasn't feeling it in the arena at all.

[RedTwoster]

I thought Raw was a decent show, but it still doesn’t feel like the Wrestlemania build-up has moved out of second gear.

I liked the Cena/Cody segment, but if that was Cena’s final appearance before Wrestlemania, what an odd way to end things. A war of words is all well and good, but there needed to be something extra. I’m hoping Cena makes an appearance in the coming weeks to hear this up a little bit more, as it still feels a little undercooked in spite of the efforts of both men tonight.

The main event was really good, even if this finish was weak, and made Sky look like a bit of a joke once again. I enjoyed the match, but Iyo simply should not be in the world title match at Wrestlemania. And the knock-on effect of this programme is that fans seem to be souring on both Bianca and Rhea.

Jey/Gunther…it wasn’t a bad angle, but I just can’t bring myself to care about this match. If they were going to treat Gunther as a secondary champ on his own show, they should have simply traded him for Cody during the transfer window. Smackdown would still have had a very strong roster, with Reigns, Fatu, Priest, Owens, Orton, McIntyre and others…if you’re going to have two world titles, at least pretend they both matter.

Finally, the lack of Sami Zayn continues to sadden me. I hope he’s taking a planned break, and hasn’t simply been sidelined because there are no plans to include him on the Wrestlemania card.

 

[Daaaaaad!]

Fair's fair, when they opened with Cena for the third straight RAW in Europe I thought 'here we go, same again for a third week'. So it was nice to shake it up a bit when Cody cut Cena off from talking and I enjoyed their promo battle. It kept just the right side of shooty bollocks for me, although I could understand if some didn't like it. And they finally acknowledged Ketty Dwayne! Good to see a bit of physicality too - no word given on whether this really is his last appearance before the big show itself.

New Catch Republic is such a shit name that it completely detracts from the fact that I quite like Tyler Bate. He almost makes Pete 'Mum's Swimming Costume' Dunne seem interesting simply by association, albeit not enough to get a win on their first match back together. I am amused that he's such a non-factor that nobody was even interested in pointing out that he's now inexplicably a face.

The Jey/Gunther angle was great. Must admit I kept expecting the zip tie to break at some point, but the visual of Gunther smeared in Jimmy's blood was terrific. This feud needed a kick up the arse with the triple threat being confirmed as closing Night 1, and this was a good way to do it. I'm holding out hope that Jey breaks out a new move to beat Gunther - something a bit akin to SummerSlam 2013 when Daniel Bryan debuted the knee strike to pin Cena and win the title. The persistent superkicks and the rubbish spear ain't gonna cut it for this one, uce.

As expected, main event was schmozzy and messy. It will surely end up in a triple threat, despite Cole trying to claim at the end that it's now Bianca vs. Iyo one on one for the title. Don't care enough to be mad about it.

[d-d-d-dAz]

1 minute ago, RedTwoster said:

 

Finally, the lack of Sami Zayn continues to sadden me. I hope he’s taking a planned break, and hasn’t simply been sidelined because there are no plans to include him on the Wrestlemania card.

 

I'm fairly sure he said somewhere that he requested time off after they said he wasn't going to work his own programme going into Mania.

Absolute insanity. In a Mania full of bullshit multi man matches, he's on of the very few people you could actually add to a singles match and improve it.

[air_raid]

Was Cody wearing a Blue Peter badge?

[d-d-d-dAz]

11 minutes ago, air_raid said:

Was Cody wearing a Blue Peter badge?

He absolutely was.

[Supremo]

1 hour ago, air_raid said:

Was Cody wearing a Blue Peter badge?

Proper babyface.

[DavidB6937]

I mostly enjoyed that. The reasonable start time and the mostly hot crowd definitely helped.

Both Cena/Cody and Jey/Gunther had strong steps in the right direction so that's all I hoped for really.

The New Day could be a hot heel act if they hadn't been subject to mostly terrible booking since the turn. Plus they're in a fairly meaningless division anyway.

Tyler Bate is a guy I always think has a lot of potential but I'm not sure I should still be thinking that this many years later.

The womens stuff at the end was a mess. It just seems to be killing time week on week until the inevitable.

[The King of Old School]

Best I have ever heard Cody on the mic this week.

Cena was superb too at points, especially when he very nearly turned the crowd back on his side before Cody's super come back.

Good stuff from both.

Nice to see Jey/Gunther heated up slightly too. 

Do we think we're going to actually get a straight up tag title match between War Raiders and New Day at Mania? Surely they won't be able to resist throwing a few more teams into that one?!

Wish Balor and Dom would go off and have there own feud while we got a Breaker/Penta one on one rematch at Mania.

Women's title triple threat stuff a complete mess.

Been quite novel watching these Raw's live over the past few weeks, no idea who you lot do it who stay up until 3am to watch it though.

[Hannibal Scorch]

Cody/Cena 3 was the best one and still left me angry at the end. At least they finally seemed to switch the focus from the fans to themselves. But the shots at Vince and AEW were grim and unnecessary in my opinion. That’s at least 5 AEW references in a week across WWE programming. 
 

THEY DID THE ROCKY THING WITH USO/GUNTHER!!!! Still don’t care for the match, but they at least raised the drive Jay needs for the feud.

That was a good Women’s main event ruined by shit booking.

[d-d-d-dAz]

8 minutes ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

Cody/Cena 3 was the best one and still left me angry at the end. At least they finally seemed to switch the focus from the fans to themselves. But the shots at Vince and AEW were grim and unnecessary in my opinion. That’s at least 5 AEW references in a week across WWE programming. 
 

I do agree with the thrust of this (as I mentioned earlier); but I think the weird thing is that they probably aren't 'unnecessary', but they are unhelpful in the grander scheme of things.

If you're going to shoot (cowboy) with Cody, how do you avoid AEW? It's basically his origin story AND I don't think it's actually a negative story anyway, as he left a joke and was rehabbed by AEW. And Cena being Vinnie Mac's chosen hobby horse is equally probably Cena's defining characteristic from a haters perspective.

It's just... yeah... I think the general rule should be to not do shite like this, and the only thing that made anyway acceptable is that it was in the hands of probably their two best performers. Or at least 2 of the 4 best performers they have.

[Hannibal Scorch]

@d-d-d-dAz I agree that AEW shouldn’t have been a no go zone, I just thought there could have been a better zinger then what Cena used (also Cody once again claiming to have created AEW is hilarious and shit). But I think any reference to Vince that can only be taken as a reference to him is not needed and not because I’m a sensitive sally, just there’s so much you can throw at Cena without it.