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

[air_raid]

10 hours ago, RedTwoster said:

I don’t think that reasoning works, at least not for me. I was a new viewer at the time and genuinely ignorant to the workings of wrestling. To me, it felt like a fake title because of this decision; and it never really gained the credibility you’d want it to have.

That’s a big factor there, to be fair. To regular viewers it may not be that much of an issue because the next hero has to beat Triple H, a five time WWF Champion, to win that new belt. Whereas to you it would have been “why has this big nosed creep just been given a title” much like how in 1991 nobody who’d only watched WWF telly could understand why a little bloke who looked like your nana’s mate from bingo could buy a fake belt and call himself the “Real Worlds Champion” and why top fighters like Roddy Piper or our dearly departed Hulkster would give Ethel the time of day much less be intimidated at the thought of wrestling her.

Knowing what we know now, we weren’t being fair to Flair.

Edited July 25, 2025 by air_raid
Diamonds are forever, and so is Ric Flair.

[RedTwoster]

1 hour ago, air_raid said:

That’s a big factor there, to be fair. To regular viewers it may not be that much of an issue because the next hero has to beat Triple H, a five time WWF Champion, to win that new belt. Whereas to you it would have been “why has this big nosed creep just been given a title” much like how in 1991 nobody who’d only watched WWF telly could understand why a little bloke who looked like your nana’s mate from bingo could buy a fake belt and call himself the “Real Worlds Champion” and why top fighters like Roddy Piper or our dearly departed Hulkster would give Ethel the time of day much less be intimidated at the thought of wrestling her.

Hard to say for sure. I definitely know who Triple H was before I started watching wrestling, and the way that the announcers spoke about him placed an extra emphasis on how big a deal he was supposed to be. I also had a bias towards Smackdown since I could only watch Raw in highlight form, whereas Smackdown aired in full on Sky One. I felt like the World Heavyweight title didn’t matter, and never really shifted from that view.

I felt similarly about the Universal title and about the new World Heavyweight belt. It doesn’t feel like Kevin Owens, Finn Balor or Gunther have ever legitimately been world champions in WWE, even though they absolutely have.

[Supremo]

What the fuck do I know. Maybe CM Punk is truly happy in WWE in 2025. Maybe he didn’t consider the John Cena feud a Saudi Humiliation Tour. Maybe he loves working Seth Rollins for literal years. Maybe Punk and Hulk Hogan became great friends recently.

All I’m saying is that if he wasn’t happy, and if he was losing his mind as he kept finding himself in these mad situations, like being front and centre, paying tribute to a self-confessed racist?

He’d probably pull this face, wouldn’t he?

Edited July 29, 2025 by Supremo

[Arch Stanton]

If you crop the pic he actually looks very solemn

 

[LEGIT]

2 hours ago, Supremo said:

All I’m saying is that if he wasn’t happy, and if he was losing his mind as he kept finding himself in these mad situations, like being front and centre, paying tribute to a self-confessed racist?

He’d probably pull this face, wouldn’t he?

It's a bit petty over analysing a guys facial expression during a minutes silence/tribute. Of all the criticisms one could have against Punk, I think that's clutching at straws a bit 

[LaGoosh]

He's joking. Jesus Christ.

[Supremo]

It was a good night for CM Punk memes. One of the reasons why he should end up running NXT. The man has an incredible ability to always draw your eye and be the focus of attention, whether it’s non-blinking, Clockwork Orange eyes during a ten bell salute, or hilariously leaving the ring similar to how Santino used to eliminate himself from Battle Royals later on in the night.

Maybe I’m a cynical prick, but repeating what we saw on Smackdown and doing the second-straight ten-bell salute for Hogan did make my mind wander and have me noticing things I wouldn’t have previously. Like The New Day seemingly not being on the stage at the beginning. Probably intentional. Or them sneaking in a photo of Hulk and Vince together in the montage.

Whole thing just left me wondering what they’ll do when Vince eventually dies. You suspect it’ll be similar to this, where they ignore everything else and REMEMBER THE ARTIST.

Stephanie-led, “thank you Vince,” chants don’t seem out of the question.

It was a solid show overall.

Roxanne buying Dirty Dom a Nintendo Switch 2 is WWE plot point of the year. A quick go of the new Donkey Kong and Dom will have no choice but to start shagging her.

Fun All-Star Women’s Tag. They should have made it for two hundred thousand dollars.

Fair play to them for at least trying to push Bronson and Bronson (sung to the song, “Marley and Marley,” from The Muppets Christmas Carol). The whole thing still feels like a huge step down for Roman Reigns, but at least they went hard trying to get some heat on The Brons. Bron Breakker really stepped up. I particularly enjoyed when he called the fans, “fat-asses.” Sounded exactly like Scott. He’s always at his best when he goes full Steiner. I don’t know what they’re waiting for. Change his name to Bron Steiner already. Get some chain mail on his head. Hire a tiger for him to walk down the ring with.

Edited July 29, 2025 by Supremo

[RedTwoster]

10 minutes ago, Supremo said:

Whole thing just left me wondering what they’ll do when Vince eventually dies. You suspect it’ll be similar to this, where they ignore everything else and REMEMBER THE ARTIST.

I’ve been wondering the same thing. The lack of criminal convictions probably means it’ll be similar, with the most fleeting of references to him being a ‘complicated man’. Even though there’s a lawsuit against him, the lack of consequences for McMahon really stick in the throat. Some of the allegations against him would result in a very, very, very significant jail sentence for someone with less money in the bank. 

[The Gaffer]

I've never seen money go to somebody's eye bags as much as Punk. 

[thatvinylgeek]

Bron looked liked a beast and I loved his off mic "this is all mine now" promo, it reminded me of something from a movie or tv show but I can't remember which at the moment.

Also Bronson stole Roman's trainers...no idea

[tiger_rick]

41 minutes ago, The Gaffer said:

I've never seen money go to somebody's eye bags as much as Punk. 

They certainly are something. Is the poor bastard alright?

[Kfogg1991]

It really tickled me when jay opened the show after the ten bell salute, having to sprint round the building to come through the crowd "I'm blown up useee" and still was blown up after Paul heyman did his side of the promo 

[TheScarlettChad]

1 hour ago, tiger_rick said:

They certainly are something. Is the poor bastard alright?

Is he gonna blow up yet? He's been two years almost without acting the mad man 

[The King of Old School]

I'm guessing that's Reigns out until Survivor Series, where he comes back as the 5th man on Punk's team for War Games against Seth & goons.

[Supremo]

It speaks to what a dark cloud they created bringing Brock back that no-one seems arsed watching Raw.

I haven’t bothered watching Night Two of Summerslam yet, and who knows if I’ll ever be get around watching Raw. It completely killed whatever enthusiasm I had left for this company.

To make it worse, I saw this photo on my socials! Pentagon in funny hats is one of my favourite genres and I still can’t be bothered catching up. For shame, WWE. For shame.

Edited August 5, 2025 by Supremo