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

[BomberPat]

I don't think the behind-the-scenes documentaries existing is a problem, but not delineating whether they exist in the universe of the TV show or not is a problem.

To lead from @SwayWays's example - you wouldn't expect Bryan Cranston to interrupt an episode of Breaking Bad to tell you to watch a making-of documentary, but you wouldn't object to the existence of a making-of documentary. In WWE, one minute Michael Cole is a character on the TV show, the next minute he's on that TV show telling you to watch a documentary about how the TV show gets made.

 

It sounds like the broader problems are all natural outcomes of stuff Triple H and Cody Rhodes and others have said for years, though, about how "there's no such things as heels or faces". It's the sort of thing people in wrestling say to try and sound smart, that it's not just goodies and baddies, that of course real stories are more complex than that. But then the crowd start cheering and booing who they like rather than who they should be booing, because they haven't made it clear enough who the goodies and baddies actually are, and that's when you realise, oh right, yeah, there are heels and faces, and they're really important to how wrestling works. 

 

[wordsfromlee]

The jacket that Seth Rollins wore cost £10,000.

https://rastah.co/products/long-coat-6?srsltid=AfmBOoodM0pA1tmutfpRG9lBKQ82blQW85iDe-zw21bqqGm2_cJdhCBH

Seems like money really can't buy you taste.

[Arch Stanton]

5 minutes ago, wordsfromlee said:

The jacket that Seth Rollins wore cost £10,000.

https://rastah.co/products/long-coat-6?srsltid=AfmBOoodM0pA1tmutfpRG9lBKQ82blQW85iDe-zw21bqqGm2_cJdhCBH

Seems like money really can't buy you taste.

Spoilers for next week's episode...

 

[thatvinylgeek]

4 hours ago, Duke said:

This is undervalued, I think. I just watched back when Kyle Fletcher turned on Will Osprey, the fans were booing loud. That was absolutely the story that was well built , but I also think some of it was not doing a spectacular "one more time" style spot to do it.  I partly blame Brock for this, but heels in the WWE keep turning by just hitting their finish, and then when people call for one more time they do it one more time. If you want to get Bronn Brekker booed, have him do the massive run up, but then instead of spearing someone, keep running whilst flipping off the fans. Don't give them what they want.

You've pretty much said word for word what I did a couple of posts before...this is by no means a dig, I'm just impressed with our telepathy...I was going to post the Jericho bit as well but thought that might stretch the good graces of the UKFF a bit too far...

Get out of my head!! ?

[air_raid]

2 hours ago, SwayWays said:

As much credit as trips has gotten, wasn't a lot of the cody finishing his story arch started under Vince? 

By the time Vince got back they’d already made the plan for Cody to win the Rumble when The Rock let them know he wasn’t going to be ready for 39 (this is all according to Meltzer) and Vince persuaded them to hold off on crowning Cody against Hunters preference, to build a redemption story at 40. So on the face of it, he plotted it. But I wouldn’t put it past the loopy old cunt to put such a big loss on Cody because he didn’t really want him as champion and wanted to make him look weak to the fans and/or buy time for fans to bore/sour/give up on Cody, with the knowledge that Rock vs Reigns would roll back round again - which of course, it did. Even though McMahon wasn’t removed again until January 24, we do know from Gewirtz’ account that by the time of the big decision-makers meeting of December 23 where they planned Day 1 Raw, the only voices that mattered were Hunter, Nick Khan, Dwayne and himself. So… Vince had final say on not going with Cody at 39 and was already staring at the exit door when others stuck their eyebrow in and threatened to ruin Cody’s story.

[Callum1993]

12 hours ago, Supremo said:

“Seth, we know you’re a complete dullard as a shoot, so always feel the need to dress like a whacky student on Freshers Week, to pretend you have a personality. But this is a big one. We’re making you the head of the company’s big heel faction. Don’t undermine it by looking too much like a dickhead, okay?”

Fucking clown.

All I could think of when watching this was:

 

[digforvictory]

That Backlash card really is looking absolutely honking. 

Imagine you've paid $600 for a seat on the back row and that's the match lineup you've been given. 

[Pinc]

14 hours ago, digforvictory said:

For a good 2 or 3 years the WWE audiences have generally cheered all the babyfaces and booed all the heels but in the last few weeks something has changed.

It's just the dark spirits summoned by the Cena heel turn. Heel John was never meant to exist and the cosmos is restless until balance is restored.

[OzExile]

9 hours ago, digforvictory said:

That Backlash card really is looking absolutely honking. 

Imagine you've paid $600 for a seat on the back row and that's the match lineup you've been given. 

If you could watch Orton v Cena in 2x speed then the card is shaping up good I think. 

[HarmonicGenerator]

42 minutes ago, OzExile said:

If you could watch Orton v Cena in 2x speed then the card is shaping up good I think. 

Netflix does allow this option as long as you’re not watching live!

[Guest]

12 hours ago, thatvinylgeek said:

You've pretty much said word for word what I did a couple of posts before...this is by no means a dig, I'm just impressed with our telepathy...I was going to post the Jericho bit as well but thought that might stretch the good graces of the UKFF a bit too far...

Get out of my head!! ?

*Goes back a few pages*

*puts on glasses*

*Mumbles whilst reading*

Whoops. I clearly did not read what you'd said properly. Sorry!

 

[tiger_rick]

17 hours ago, DavidB6937 said:

The behind the scenes stuff shouldn't be an issue, whether it's social media or documentaries or whatever. We all know it's not real anyway. Who cares?

I don't agree with that and never have. It's mixed messaging. Right back to Vince Russo doing his "It's all fake, bro" stuff, through to wrestlers using social media to be in and out of character to the weird press conferences that are neither fact nor fiction to this stuff, it's just messy and avoidable.

Whatever you're doing in wrestling, creating characters, telling stories, building a brand, promoting a PPV, etc, once you lose the consistency of your approach, you create a problem. 

When you have momentum, you get away with a lot - which is what you've said, in fairness. Vince Russo's nonsense wasn't an issue in 1999 WWF. AEW PPV builds weren't an issue in 2021. WWE completely fucking the Cody story and doing an almighty U-Turn wasn't an issue in 2024. When the cracks appear all too regularly and people start thinking about stuff more, the stuff you're doing that isn't on-message gets more and more attention. 

Things are always going to change in wrestling because it's a business that fluctuates all the time when something starts to work or comes to an end but it feels from the outside like they've prematurely cooled off a bit because they still think they're making movies or whatever and need to show the world how awfully clever they are(n't).

Edited April 30, 2025 by tiger_rick

[Supremo]

14 minutes ago, tiger_rick said:

Things are always going to change in wrestling because it's a business that fluctuates all the time when something starts to work or comes to an end but it feels from the outside like they've prematurely cooled off a bit because they still think they're making movies or whatever and need to show the world how awfully clever they are(n't).

This was the best one in a while. We don’t cater to the internet, and I hate the spotlight, but make sure you publish that video on Twitter where I’m shown bestowing such wisdom as, “how to remove a mask,” “how to do a selfie,” and, “how to get out of a car.”

I’ve concluded the Backlash card is a daft, petty response to the Wrestlemania criticism. Slag off multi-man matches, will you? Piss and moan that you want more singles matches? Well here’s a bunch of delicious singles matches for you and your friend called mark to enjoy! Bon Appetit!

[TheScarlettChad]

Good to see WWE bashing is back. It honestly felt weird praising them. Like WWE and good in the same sentence shouldn't be a thing 

[Devon Malcolm]

.

Edited May 1, 2025 by Devon Malcolm
nah