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

[tiger_rick]

6 minutes ago, BomberPat said:

I know this is complaining about something that has been a trope in wrestling forever, but was there any attempt to explain why Austin Theory has been under a mask? How has it furthered his or The Vision's goals to disguise his identity until now, and what's changed to make revealing his identity the right move now?

Surely, the aim of an angle like this is to make out like bandits? I've only seen a twitter clip but unmasking after helping Logan Paul beat Rey Mysterio after CM Punk had already made a save seems completely pointless, no? That's without the disappointment of it being Austin Theory.

[thatvinylgeek]

Gunther v AJ could be decent though...

[The King of Old School]

40 minutes ago, thatvinylgeek said:

Gunther v AJ could be decent though...

AJ saying he's retiring this year isn't he?

Another one for Gunther I imagine.

[BarryOVega]

1 hour ago, BomberPat said:

I know this is complaining about something that has been a trope in wrestling forever, but was there any attempt to explain why Austin Theory has been under a mask? How has it furthered his or The Vision's goals to disguise his identity until now, and what's changed to make revealing his identity the right move now?

Further to this, other than when he was a simpleton in The Way, hasn’t his gimmick always been ‘cocky egotistical prick’? 
Surely someone as full of themselves as him would want the world to know it was them interfering in the main event of a big pay per view and costing the World Champion the match?

Cue Heyman next week saying how they outsmarted everyone even though, as stated above, Theory being masked didn’t actually add anything to his actions

[TheScarlettChad]

And weren't they teasing a babyface turn? That went nowhere.

[digforvictory]

They had him and Grayson Waller tease a tag breakup for about 18 months, with Theory clearly being positioned as the babyface, only for them to eventually split up off screen. And then after about 6 months of not being on TV they have Theory return as a heel.

Just utterly fucking dreadful booking.

[Supremo]

The video package they put together of Cena tapping out to open this show spoke volumes.

In the recap, as Cena was smiling like an idiot, they added a montage of his, “career flashing before his eyes,” before he tapped. Which is all well and good, apart from the fact that you run a live event company, that has to work as it’s happening.

They’re so obsessed with creating, “moments,” that look great in the edit that they’ve abandoned the idea that it might also have to work for the live audience, both in the building and watching at home.

Add thinking they’re, “making movies,” to the ever-growing list of Vince-isms this new regime can’t seem to shake. Alongside, “give Austin Theory another chance despite being a useless whopper.”

For what it’s worth, Gunther was an incredible prick on this show, so there’s definitely evidence Cena losing had legs, but maybe come up with ideas that can work both in the moment and in the inevitable video package. Otherwise you’ve just got nineteen thousand people who’ve paid you to be extras. With your starring role going to a terrible actor doing really bad takes.

Look at him though. Spectacular trolling. Probably banked himself a Mania main event. Maybe even Night Two.

Edited December 16, 2025 by Supremo

[The King of Old School]

Best work of Gunthers career so far that, outstanding.

[Lenin]

How many "start of a new era" episodes have we had now where nothing has ever happened?

 

 

[RedTwoster]

Gunther very much channeled Okada with his arseholery on that show, I liked it a lot.

The Theory thing was stupid to the point I thought it couldn’t possibly have been him when his name was thrown about before the reveal. What’s he looking to achieve by operating under a mask? If it’s someone who doesn’t want to get caught - a baby face trying to keep their actions secret - that works. If they’re trying to con the fans into thinking it’s someone else, I guess that’s at least logical; but if that’s your plan, a babyface should be the one to unmask him. Ripping off his own mask makes it a pointless thing to do.

@Supremo previously suggested that Chris Jericho would end up being the reveal, and I’m wondering if that actually was the intention, and they’ve just found out that he’s staying with AEW so quickly changed course to essentially kill the story. If this was the plan all along, bloody hell.

I’m also pretty disappointed that we didn’t get a proper scene farewell speech. When that didn’t happen at SNME, I automatically assumed we’d get it here, but apparently not. Although Cena turned things around from the lows of his heel turn, I feel like they still botched his goodbye. It doesn’t feel as significant as it should, and that’s on them, not him.

I suspect WWE is about to enter some really rough territory, with two three hour shows each week. I hope I’m wrong; even if they are a shitty, Trumpian company; at the very least they can be a shitty, Trumpian company that puts on good programming.

[Snitsky's back acne]

Firstly Jade Cargill slices her eyebrow to the bone hitting the steps and now Raquel Rodriguez gets a massive lump on her head.

I think they need a new class at the performance centre: "Hitting the steps without hurting yourself!

Edited December 16, 2025 by Snitsky's back acne

[Retro Red]

15 hours ago, digforvictory said:

They had him and Grayson Waller tease a tag breakup for about 18 months, with Theory clearly being positioned as the babyface, only for them to eventually split up off screen. And then after about 6 months of not being on TV they have Theory return as a heel.

Just utterly fucking dreadful booking.

Not a fan of Theory but this isn’t as cut and dry as you present it. He was being positioned for a face turn (as far as we were led to believe) but he got injured, off TV for half the year almost so I can understand plans change, the window is lost, they lost a top level heel in Rollins so they pivot Theory back to a heel again. Add to that the injury meant there was no physical act to signify the turn, Waller just announced the injury and hitched his wagon to New Day. Was it well done, not particularly, but the pivot itself wasn’t something that I have an issue with.

[mim731]

14 hours ago, RedTwoster said:

The Theory thing was stupid to the point I thought it couldn’t possibly have been him when his name was thrown about before the reveal. What’s he looking to achieve by operating under a mask? If it’s someone who doesn’t want to get caught - a baby face trying to keep their actions secret - that works. If they’re trying to con the fans into thinking it’s someone else, I guess that’s at least logical; but if that’s your plan, a babyface should be the one to unmask him. Ripping off his own mask makes it a pointless thing to do.

@Supremo previously suggested that Chris Jericho would end up being the reveal, and I’m wondering if that actually was the intention, and they’ve just found out that he’s staying with AEW so quickly changed course to essentially kill the story. If this was the plan all along, bloody hell.

I still wonder if we'll get more masked men, and it'll turn out it wasn't just Theory. Maybe he'll be barred from ringside on Jan 5th and a different masked man costs Punk the title. 

[DavidB6937]

At this rate maybe we'll get a Masked Men vs Americano and Friends stand off.

Still be better than MFTs vs the Wyatts.

[BomberPat]

19 hours ago, Supremo said:

In the recap, as Cena was smiling like an idiot, they added a montage of his, “career flashing before his eyes,” before he tapped. Which is all well and good, apart from the fact that you run a live event company, that has to work as it’s happening.

They’re so obsessed with creating, “moments,” that look great in the edit that they’ve abandoned the idea that it might also have to work for the live audience, both in the building and watching at home.

 

Once you see the extent to which the live crowd are just an accessory to the TV show, you really can't unsee it. I genuinely think that if they could figure out a way to make it more financially viable than running live events, they would go back to heavily edited shows in the Thunderdome in an instant, take the live element and those pesky fans out of the equation altogether.

There was a point during the show where the commentators acted shocked to discover that The Miz was stood in the ring for a promo, as if they (and the entire live audience) wouldn't have seen him walk to the ring right in front of their eyes. But it didn't happen on TV, so it doesn't count. A while back there was a CM Punk run-in, where the commentators were amazed at the reveal it was him when the camera cut to show his face, even though they were looking right at him, right in front of them, and only needed to glance up from their monitors to get a proper look. Not on TV, didn't happen.