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

[wordsfromlee]

To me, the WHC currently feels like what the IC Title should be, and the US and IC Titles are basically both like the old European belt.

Like, in theory, Cody could now go after Jey Uso to win that belt because on paper that belt and the WWE Title are supposed to be on the same level of prestige. In reality that would never happen as the WHC is just a glorified IC Title these days.

They know that booking that angle would be a step down for Cody, so surely that should ring alarm bells that you're not booking an apparent World Title belt correctly as ideally they'd be presented as equal belts.

[air_raid]

Time was it so they could have two completely separate rosters with distinct identities on the road full time. Now they can’t even be bothered running house shows for a week out of the month or even just non PLE weekend double shots unless they’re banking foreign currency.

[AndyUK]

Best RAW after Mania in years that. Everything had a purpose.

Very pleased that they're getting Breaker involved with Heyman, Rollins, Roman and Punk. It'll make him a star.  

And now we've actually got to the point where Cena is champion, we might actually get some good telly. The countdown stuff is great. Not sure if a Cena v Orton match is gonna be any good in 2025 but it had to be done. 

 

[The King of Old School]

27 dates left for Cena, wonder how many matches will be in that?

At a guess, I think Backlash, May SNME, MITB, Summerslam, Clash in Paris, TakeOver Australia, Survivor Series & then one in December? 

[Statto]

10 hours ago, AndyUK said:

Very pleased that they're getting Breaker involved with Heyman, Rollins, Roman and Punk. It'll make him a star.  

I hope so, but I think they need to be careful to present Breakker as Rollins' equal from here on. He could very easily fall into the perception of being the muscle/lackey to the real main eventer.

The hit-rate of "Paul Heyman Guy" as a vehicle for a push out the midcard isn't the greatest either...

[RedTwoster]

14 minutes ago, Statto said:

I hope so, but I think they need to be careful to present Breakker as Rollins' equal from here on. He could very easily fall into the perception of being the muscle/lackey to the real main eventer.

The hit-rate of "Paul Heyman Guy" as a vehicle for a push out the midcard isn't the greatest either...

There’s something about this that reeks to me of Cesaro, Ryback and Curtis Axel becoming ‘Paul Heyman guys’. That’s not to diminish Breakker who is excellent; but I’m not optimistic about this.

As you point out, Heyman’s track record when it comes to working with emerging talents isn’t good. Outside of Lesnar, his successes in WWE have come through working with people who were already established. 

[thatvinylgeek]

From what Rock has said it seems he was never going to make Mania due to "other commitments"...but they did what they at the Chamber because they got a very cool clip of Rock and Cena that they could plaster everywhere online. 

It's more about "what can we stick online to get eyes on the product" rather than "let's make sure the product delivers when the eyes are on it" 

It's starting to feel like one of those Instagram ads for the best smart watch you've ever seen, it suckers you in even though you know it just looks shiny...but when it turns up it's been drop shipped from Temu and looks like it cost 50p, you convince yourself it might still be good, and it's "ok" for a day, then you realise half the features are missing or misold so you chuck it in the drawer and forget about it. A week later you're on Insta again...ooooh this one looks much better!

Ad infinitum

[d-d-d-dAz]

3 minutes ago, thatvinylgeek said:

From what Rock has said it seems he was never going to make Mania due to "other commitments"...but they did what they at the Chamber because they got a very cool clip of Rock and Cena that they could plaster everywhere online. 

It's more about "what can we stick online to get eyes on the product" rather than "let's make sure the product delivers when the eyes are on it" 

It's starting to feel like one of those Instagram ads for the best smart watch you've ever seen, it suckers you in even though you know it just looks shiny...but when it turns up it's been drop shipped from Temu and looks like it cost 50p, you convince yourself it might still be good, and it's "ok" for a day, then you realise half the features are missing or misold so you chuck it in the drawer and forget about it. A week later you're on Insta again...ooooh this one looks much better!

Ad infinitum

I think it's defused me a little bit, to be honest.

I was very annoyed thinking about it because it felt very dishonest, that they'd talk about long term storytelling and loving wrestling but then book primarily for viral moments and Instagram Reels.

Hearing someone senior come out and basically say that's the business model? Can't really argue with that. It won't be for me most of the time I'm sure, but at least they're being honest that they're essentially a social content publisher first and foremost.

Whatever. I'm zen.

Edited April 23, 2025 by d-d-d-dAz

[thatvinylgeek]

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

Hearing someone senior come out and basically say that's the business model? Can't really argue with that.

Yep agree 

They've told us now, very very clearly. You either listen, or continue to be disappointed and bitter. 

[tiger_rick]

That's been obvious for so long. I remember hearing someone refer to it as TikTok Wrestling a couple of years ago and it made so much sense.

I don't think they're wrong for it either, it's clearly been working. Absolutely not for me but I find anything I see of their whole product to be short attention span crap anyway. It just doesn't really fit the stuff their foot-soldiers like to spout about "telling stories" and particularly about how the other company doesn't or can't "tell stories". That Cody "finish the story" stuff has got a lot to answer for. 

1 hour ago, The King of Old School said:

27 dates left for Cena, wonder how many matches will be in that?

At a guess, I think Backlash, May SNME, MITB, Summerslam, Clash in Paris, TakeOver Australia, Survivor Series & then one in December? 

That's a lot of matches. When was his last good singles match? I haven't seen one since the AJ match in 2017 that was great. The Covid Mania one is highly rated on Cage Match but that's a load of nonsense that absolutely isn't a match.

[The King of Old School]

3 minutes ago, tiger_rick said:

That's a lot of matches. When was his last good singles match? I haven't seen one since the AJ match in 2017 that was great. The Covid Mania one is highly rated on Cage Match but that's a load of nonsense that absolutely isn't a match.

One a month isn't it. Maybe that is too many, but I would like to think out of 27 dates left we would get at least that.

Could see one or two being tag matches maybe?

Yeah I don't see the rest of his matches being particularly great, full of short cuts I imagine.

[d-d-d-dAz]

9 minutes ago, tiger_rick said:

That's been obvious for so long. I remember hearing someone refer to it as TikTok Wrestling a couple of years ago and it made so much sense.

I don't think they're wrong for it either, it's clearly been working. Absolutely not for me but I find anything I see of their whole product to be short attention span crap anyway. It just doesn't really fit the stuff their foot-soldiers like to spout about "telling stories" and particularly about how the other company doesn't or can't "tell stories". That Cody "finish the story" stuff has got a lot to answer for. 

I think you're right with Cody's story, but also the Bloodline. Maybe even moreso with The Bloodline, actually. But I think it's been possible to see long term storytelling where you wanted to for a few years, whereas this is the first year - for me anyway - when it's really been noticeable that nothing else matters, it's just for likes and if there's no follow up we're expected to not be nerds and not care.

I forget who said it on here, but The Bloodline has covered a lot of sins and concealed the true nature of the new regime. It was easy to convince yourself that things were better now, but the minute The Bloodline stopped (something that the new regime didn't create, either) I think it became much clearer what the future looks like; short termist, social first content designed to create viral moments and big numbers they can show off about.

 

[air_raid]

Let's not forget that the fantastic pay-off to the much-lauded Bloodline "arc" and crowning of Cody only came about as a knee-jerk reaction to fan backlash to the original plan they'd decided upon in December 23. As good as people think the story was, the original direction for WM40 was equivalent to King Bran in terms of fan disservice.

[d-d-d-dAz]

23 minutes ago, air_raid said:

Let's not forget that the fantastic pay-off to the much-lauded Bloodline "arc" and crowning of Cody only came about as a knee-jerk reaction to fan backlash to the original plan they'd decided upon in December 23. As good as people think the story was, the original direction for WM40 was equivalent to King Bran in terms of fan disservice.

I'm wary of making another post taking aim at The Rock, but I think there was two pivots in there. There was the turn to The Rock, and then back again.

I still think when Cody won the Rumble and they made a big fuss of him pointing at Roman, at that point they hadn't factored in The Rock as the main event properly. Or at least we're trying to push back against The Rock if he had already floated it.

 

[tiger_rick]

I'm not slating the Bloodline "story" because I have watched the super-cut on YouTube and there is plenty of good and funny stuff between them that I can see why people really took to it but wasn't there a huge element of making it up as it went along? The endgame for the Bloodline was never anything to do with Cody as a big example, because he wasn't there. A huge chunk of it took place under Vince. Solo Sikoa was a nobody for a big part of it. It retrofits as some great story but a good section of it was just Roman always winning and Jey Uso pissing about because Jimmy was dead or they'd had another DUI or whatever and then when Sammy Zayn joined and Cody arrived, it all sort of came together. And even then, the end goal was still clearly Roman/Rock.

It's excellent use of what you have and adapting as a booker but it's not brilliant story telling.