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

[LaGoosh]

I think using Vince McMahon as a way to get a babyface promo pop is pretty fucking disgusting really.

[Carbomb]

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

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.

I upvoted for the bold. I haven't been watching any WWE, but on the basis of what I read, I thought I should at least check out the promo, and I have to say that it made me almost want to watch again. I have no issue at all with the stuff they raised. It's worked-shooty, but it's not outright worked-shooty.

EDIT: Ah, I see. Yeh, they could've had Cody simply say "the office wanted you on top, not the fans" - that would probably have worked just as well. 

Edited April 1, 2025 by Carbomb

[Merzbow]

Seeing people chant both parts of "let's go Cena, Cena sucks" gets me unreasonably annoyed.

[Carbomb]

1 minute ago, Merzbow said:

Seeing people chant both parts of "let's go Cena, Cena sucks" gets me unreasonably annoyed.

The wrestling equivalent of this:

[tiger_rick]

I didn't really like it. And not just because of the 86 adverts in a 22 minute video.

I didn't hear any digs at AEW, just mild references. Didn't mind the reference to Vince either, they own that cunt - other than them searching out some pillock with his hands on his head because that's what they do.  

The crowd reactions were incredible. Arena looked great. I wish AEW shows were in front of crowds that big and bright. Genuinely. I was gonna make the point about the "duelling" chants. That's a minor gripe.

I really like how Cody handles the crowd. I really like what he does when he's not talking too. He's very good. His promo work is excellent, I just didn't like the majority of the material from either. Some jabs were good and landed but the tone is just all wrong. It goes back to the Cena/Rock feud for me. That worked in this style, telling a load of home truths about each other. Particularly entertaining from Cena. But ever since, they've decided that's how you do this stuff and it's shit. Cena/Roman was absolutely terrible because of it. Cena burying that Theory fella is hilarious but acheives nothing.

This just didn't explain Cena's motivation well, it didn't sell the title well and it didn't sell that Cody is the absolute fucking best well either.

A shame because in that atmosphere, this should have been electric. 

[Mr Kennedy]

27 minutes ago, Merzbow said:

Seeing people chant both parts of "let's go Cena, Cena sucks" gets me unreasonably annoyed.

There was a guy wearing Cena’s UK farewell tour t-shirt chanting “piece of shit.”

Huge fan of Gunther being covered in Jimmy’s blood calling a hand cuffed Jey a pussy by the way. Proper heel shit.

[d-d-d-dAz]

7 minutes ago, Mr Kennedy said:

There was a guy wearing Cena’s UK farewell tour t-shirt chanting “piece of shit.”

Huge fan of Gunther being covered in Jimmy’s blood calling a hand cuffed Jey a pussy by the way. Proper heel shit.

There was a lot of this.

There's a performative element to the fan based, where they're 'playing along'. But, compared to the days of performative hijackings, I'm not sure it's a bad thing necessarily.

There was SO many Cena t-shirts (as much as I've ever seen one person dominate the merch wars in an arena), yet they pretty much all booed him.

[Guest]

Logan Paul steals Hangmans moveset, now Cena steals MJFs gimmick. Smh

I didn't hate this, but it just came across as an increasingly standard slightly inside worked shooty promo battle.  Paint by numbers, say stuff that's a little peak behind the curtain to fake real animosity, your turn my turn, yeah boo. The problem is neither of these two are particularly good at sounding like real humans. There's a reason Punk is so good at them, and why his interview with Eddie Kingston holds up so high. That makes it sound like I hated it more than I did, I didn't, it was fine, beyond the Vince reference, as if he had no part in Cody being rehired and pushed to the moon. It's wrestling, so who cares, but I bumped on it. I'd probably have liked it more had they done it weeks ago.

It's also still very strange that so far, the beatdown and betrayal has only led to three promo segments. No fire, no desperate attempt for revenge, Cena tries a cheap shot and Cody calmly hits his move and does nothing else. That angle has dropped off fast.

My major thing is I was suprised that they had Cody just hit him with his finish and stand tall over him to end the segment. I'm sure Cena will get some heat next week, but I don't know why you'd even have Cody lay a finger on him.

 

[digforvictory]

10 minutes ago, Duke said:

Logan Paul steals Hangmans moveset, now Cena steals MJFs gimmick. Smh

I didn't hate this, but it just came across as an increasingly standard slightly inside worked shooty promo battle.  Paint by numbers, say stuff that's a little peak behind the curtain to fake real animosity, your turn my turn, yeah boo. The problem is neither of these two are particularly good at sounding like real humans. There's a reason Punk is so good at them, and why his interview with Eddie Kingston holds up so high. That makes it sound like I hated it more than I did, I didn't, it was fine, beyond the Vince reference, as if he had no part in Cody being rehired and pushed to the moon. It's wrestling, so who cares, but I bumped on it. I'd probably have liked it more had they done it weeks ago.

It's also still very strange that so far, the beatdown and betrayal has only led to three promo segments. No fire, no desperate attempt for revenge, Cena tries a cheap shot and Cody calmly hits his move and does nothing else. That angle has dropped off fast.

My major thing is I was suprised that they had Cody just hit him with his finish and stand tall over him to end the segment. I'm sure Cena will get some heat next week, but I don't know why you'd even have Cody lay a finger on him.

 

Maybe he'll make a surprise  unannounced appearance but as far as I'm aware that was the last scheduled appearance for Cena now until Mania. 

I know the reality is that Rock almost certainly rang HHH at 4am one morning and told him he was turning up at Elimination Chamber and Cena was going to turn heel and that's that. No planning or explanation,  but I still find it bizarre that they've not even tried to explain the Rock's involvement. 

It's been nearly 6 weeks since the Chamber and we have had one passing reference from Cody to it. Cena hasn't said a word about Rock the entire time.  It's just so lazy.

I liked the Gunther and Uso's angle though. A lot of people were predicting Gunther would destroy Jimmy to get to Jey but it was much more violent and brutal than anyone would have expected.  I think it's the first segment since Jey made his entrance the night after the Rumble that the feud has felt a little heated and important. Good stuff all around with that.

The Women's world title stuff is just a convoluted mess. It should have been Rhea vs Bianca in a singles match, simple and easy to book. Instead they've turned into a 3 way where all 3 women look daft each week. 

 

Edited April 1, 2025 by digforvictory

[The Dart]

What's happened to WWE's pyro?  Is it just sound effects now rather than actual explosions?  I wonder if the amount of lawsuits they've had recently from fans losing their hearing has forced them to change.

[Lenin]

Have a funny feeling that Jey goes over Gunther in (almost) record time in the night one opener after watching that segment. 

[Hannibal Scorch]

1 hour ago, Duke said:

I'm sure Cena will get some heat next week, but I don't know why you'd even have Cody lay a finger on him.

 

The heat will be because he’s not there. He’s not expected back until the go home and even then it’s probably Smackdown rather than Raw. You know, the show Cody is actually on the roster for and is the champ of.

[tiger_rick]

2 hours ago, digforvictory said:

Maybe he'll make a surprise  unannounced appearance but as far as I'm aware that was the last scheduled appearance for Cena now until Mania. 

I'm interested by stuff like this. I know they think a lot more now about how to keep stuff secret and they pull the old Vince Russo if they think something is obvious. Part of that involves leaking dribs and drabs of info to work people.

Clearly something has come out about Cena's schedule. I can only see two reasons for that. One is that it's true and they think it's best getting it out there to avoid disappointment from audiences. The other is that it hasn't but leaking it creates a great moment when he turns up. 

Obviously you can't do the latter too often, otherwise people stop believing you can start caveating all reporting with it might not happen, like Meltzer does, or maybe he doesn't or maybe he does or maybe he doesn't and we just think he does or maybe he did and now he doesn't because plans change, pal.

I think it's a long way to Mania based on what they've finished with here. They'll at least need to get some Cena vignettes in the can.

[d-d-d-dAz]

39 minutes ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

the show Cody is actually on the roster for and is the champ of.

This is really interesting, as I think they've started to explicitly acknowledge that he's the overall Champion and the WHC isn't on the same level.

They've slipped the word 'undisputed' in again, and Cena keeps referencing it as the 'real' title.

I think there's a bit of buyers remorse with the WHC, and they're trying to position it as a bridging title between the IC/US and the WWE title.

2 hours ago, The Dart said:

What's happened to WWE's pyro?  Is it just sound effects now rather than actual explosions?  I wonder if the amount of lawsuits they've had recently from fans losing their hearing has forced them to change.

They sell further back on the floor, so you have fans a lot closer to the entrance. So to have pyro they're even building them into the top of the video screens, or when they have fans above/behind the screens they're putting them in the ceiling lighting rigs. But, they very rarely use a wide angle shot of entrances unless they're completely sold out so you don't see them.

[The King of Old School]

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

I think there's a bit of buyers remorse with the WHC, and they're trying to position it as a bridging title between the IC/US and the WWE title.

Just get rid of it, the company doesn't and has never needed two World Champions.

It's beyond stupid.