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

[air_raid]

7 hours ago, AndyUK said:

I mean there's about 4 extra weeks of TV (a month) between the Rumble and Mania and then Mania and Summerslam this year.

It's not much of a difference when you bear in mind there was roughly a 2 month gap between the Rumble and Mania and a 5 month gap between Mania and Summerslam once upon a time.

The numbers don’t lie!

[tiger_rick]

13 hours ago, FUM said:

He’s not made anyone a Roman or Cody level star but that’s never been an easy task for any booker. Rhea, you could maybe argue on the womens side.

That's the second time recently I should have clarified I'm talking about men because you're absolutely right, Rhea looked like an absolute star for a while.

13 hours ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

It isn't their presentation. It's beat for almost beat of his AEW presentation (with additional pyro). In AEW he was a judge on a talent show, had a reality show. Since leaving he played himself in the Captain Laserhawk animated series and has a cameo in the new (good/shit delete as appropriate) Naked Gun. And even then, I am being generous because Captain Laserhawk was cast pre WWE.

I know it's the same act, which it should be, but they had the sense to keep everything that worked - which is absolutely against their traditional instincts - and crucially, you have to look at the presentation in their environment, with big, hot crowds, singing along. The pyro, the lights. The spots they put him in on TV. The matches they put him over in. I love AEW but they can rarely do anything that feels as big time as what WWE do every week. It was perfect presentation of a hero that their audience were desperate to find. For all the bells and whistles in AEW, the outside work and the great matches, they had an audience who didn't even like the guy. He's perfect in the WWE environment and they present him very well. Even in those dreadfully disappointing segments with Cena, the best bits are the entrances, which feel like megastars have arrived.  

[Supremo]

I think the handling of Rhea is where you can really see how much they’ve taken their eye off the ball. Less than six months ago, she was the female Stone Cold Steve Austin. Booked as the toughest, smartest, hardest babyface, with crowd reactions to match. She could lose. Her boyfriend could cheat on her. But they always took care of that character. She was never stupid. Anything bad that happened to her was never due to a flaw in her character.

In the space of weeks it’s all been flushed down the toilet. She’s now a dumb, petulant child. Allowing herself to get distracted, costing herself the title. Crying and moaning when it was all her own fault. Trying to sign a contract that didn’t have her name on it, like a moron. Acting shocked that attacking a special guest referee might result in a DQ. Adam Pearce talking to her like a child, giving her the Mania match just to shut her up, and she still smugly celebrated it.

Look at this man. Like a school teacher who can’t be fucked with any of them anymore. Bunch of annoying children. Detention for the lot of you!

Between Iyo, Bianca and Rhea doing Grange Hill and Charlotte and Tiffy doing Jeremy Kyle, with each passing week Becky Lycnh feels like a genius for skipping this Mania season. Her stock is rising by the second.

[Kfogg1991]

Agreed with a lot of points about the lead up this year. I was thinking last night and it's not really something that can be excused every man/woman/child knows wrestlemania is the biggest thing in our calendar but it's so disjointed and so underwhelming. 

Will matches deliver most likely but last year we were culminating one of the deepest cornerstones of work for the last decade and now we're getting false promises for the stipulations in the royal rumble.....the rock completely flat lining the major title story yet again and conclusions still not clear and setup for the reset after Mania which is most worrying because Christ this is what there doing in there most important time as a company what are we getting when it's over moving forward.

[Devon Malcolm]

At least Karrion and Scarlett were on.

[Vamp]

I quite liked the Jey/Gunther segment this week. Gunther realising that he fucked up by beating the snot out of Jey's father adds a twist I wasn't really expecting. That's the only storyline where it's felt like things have ramped up. 

[MVP RULZ]

5 minutes ago, Vamp said:

I quite liked the Jey/Gunther segment this week. Gunther realising that he fucked up by beating the snot out of Jey's father adds a twist I wasn't really expecting. That's the only storyline where it's felt like things have ramped up. 

Is that a typo? And you mean Brother or did I miss Gunther attacking Rikishi somewhere as well as Jimmy on Raw?

[Vamp]

Shit, sorry, spoilers for next week...

[mim731]

Will have more thoughts after watching the whole show later I'm sure, but saw a clip of Karrion Kross coming out to his old music and God that's so much better than the am-dram cringe version they did in NXT. Scarlett was definitely told to rein it in a bit which makes it seem far less hokey. 

[Lion_of_the_Midlands]

I did enjoy the sign behind Jey Uso as he stood on the desk doing the promo that said "This financially ruined me" 

I didn't enjoy Liv Morgan been such a short arse that Raquel couldn't get her foot to the ropes to break up the pin and that the ref virtually saw her with Liv's foot in her hand holding it to the rope. Amateur stuff. 

I did enjoy the loaded mask gimmick. Getting that over in 2025 is remarkable. Though I do doubt that the American having to beat the Latino's by cheating is something the ultimate WWE booker Donald Trump likes as a story. 

Having Fenix on Smacky-D has really highlighted for me how shite Penta is. Fenix looks a million dollars and Penta looks a million pesos. Penta looks all wobbly bobbly whenever he does any of the lucha stuff and Fenix looks as sure footed as a cat. 

Seth made good points in his promo, but they were undermined by him been all Seth Rollins about it. Roman pie facing Heyman and Punk running in like a soccer mom whose kid has been bullied was hilarious though. 

Let's finish on a high though. Bron's double spear looked the nuts. Have him triple spear everyone else in the 4 way and pin all of them. That lad is money. 

[FLips]

Tried giving this a watch as it was the go-home show but ended up fast forwarding most of it.
I wouldn’t ever accuse WWE of being subtle but I remember the Bloodline stuff at least treating us with a little bit of respect. Michael Cole screaming “IT’S THE SHIELD CHAIR, IT’S REMINISCENT OF THE CHAIR TO THE BACK THAT ENDED THE SHIELD” is just bottom of the barrel, treat your viewers like thickos shit.

[Lion_of_the_Midlands]

4 minutes ago, FLips said:

treat your viewers like thickos shit.

The thing is though Flipper that the American audience is as thick as mince. If you watch any of their stuff it's a recap every 5 minutes, a recap before the break, a recap after. They have to be constantly reminded of stuff to get them to pay any attention, and first and foremost for all its global ambition WWE is an American TV product. 

[Daaaaaad!]

5 minutes ago, FLips said:

Michael Cole screaming “IT’S THE SHIELD CHAIR

The first time I heard it I just thought he'd said 'THE STEEL CHAIR'... having seen it back, yeah. Christ.

[air_raid]

19 minutes ago, Lion_of_the_Midlands said:

I didn't enjoy Liv Morgan .. arse

He lies.

[Lion_of_the_Midlands]

8 minutes ago, air_raid said:

He lies.

Guilty as charged your honour.