With RAW Underground A Real Thing..for now

[brettappedout (BLM)]

who and what fights you want to see especially if they start to go longer?

First I traded Dolph back to SD for Riddle. Cause Riddle needs this stuff not Corbin.

Lashley/Riddle
Riddle/Shelton
Black/Lashley
Black/Riddle

[TWERKIN' MAGGLE]

This was immediately mocked online, it's going to go the way of "Gritty 3rd Hour of RAW".

[Deleted]

I'm guessing there'll be more of it next week since they taped both shows together then the week after it'll never be mentioned again.

[ppl591]

I wonder what the point is. Is it going to make people watch? Will it lead to a big ppv? Is anyone actually going to get over from it? I think the answer to all of these is no

[Xxcjb01xX [PIECE OF: SH-]]

I honestly dont see this going anywhere, and I don't even see the match formats even going longer. Just seems like a more convoluted way ot doing squashes with guys who already haven't mattered or have no bearing

This reminds me of the CHIKARA Crucible angle too much, and what a CHIKARA storyline to take since it was the last angle they did before the company shut down...

[Deleted]

Black returning with an eye-patch and wasting everyone, please. Then he challenges Murphy to fight him in the warehouse and they have one last epic battle.

[BatPunk]

I would have marked for real if while Shane is screaming “Who’s next? Who want to come in next?”

Lesnar steps in the ring.

And straight up merc’d fools.

[Deleted]

I'm all in trading Ziggler for Riddle. He's probably made from the same poison that made Montez pass out.

[Deleted]

WWE in 2020, everyone!

[Deleted]

It's going to be fun if they continue it couple weeks. Some rookies surprising folks and MVP giving props to 'em. Lashley needs to be the big bad over there, 'til Riddle or Lesnar shows up in the club! If I was the bookerman, I'd book The Vikings tough as nails here! Make all the smaller things a bit silly, then build couple more serious segments for those epic battles. MVP is perfectly good at selling the fake stuff as real!

[Chiral]

It's got me thinking about what a like 2008 WWE MMA style brand would be like as a response to Brock getting big. Like I know UFC's still big now (right?) but there felt like a pretty sizeable group of wrestling fans who bailed to MMA around 08 and it'd be interesting to see how WWE could make a product to attempt to bring them back. Something not exactly Brawl 4 All but maybe a more shooty work shoot MMA thing like Raw Underground seems to be.

I also found this during my rigorous research for this post:

[Deleted]

Aug 3, 2020 23:29:45 GMT -5 BatPunk said:

I would have marked for real if while Shane is screaming “Who’s next? Who want to come in next?”

Lesnar steps in the ring.

And straight up merc’d fools.

This should be the lead build up for the anticipated Shane O'Mac vs. Brock Lesnar fight contest!

[carp (SPC, Itoh Respect Army)]

When disgraced independent promotion Chikara did this EXACT SAME THING a year ago, the way they made it exciting was they actually made it underground. It happened in the middle of the night. They had jobber dudes on youtube channels talking about it, and finally doing a big expose where they sneaked a camera in like guerrilla journalists. It felt different and dangerous.

The WWE just has a McMahon show up and say "this is a thing we're doing now."

[Deleted]

Aug 3, 2020 23:24:59 GMT -5 @dax said:

Black returning with an eye-patch and wasting everyone, please. Then he challenges Murphy to fight him in the warehouse and they have one last epic battle.

Venom Black.

[Shark]

Aug 3, 2020 23:20:02 GMT -5 TWERKIN' MAGGLE said:

This was immediately mocked online, it's going to go the way of "Gritty 3rd Hour of RAW".

I honestly can't think of the last angle WWE did that was this universally panned. Before they went full whiny troll, this would be Grade A WrestleCrap material. There is no way this will be a thing after this. I can literally see Vince tell Shane "Look pal, you wanted to do this MMA thing years ago, I finally let you do it and it tanked. Now let it go." In fact, if this was what Shane envisioned, thank God Vince told him no all those years ago.

[Deleted]

Aug 4, 2020 0:09:02 GMT -5 Shark said:

Aug 3, 2020 23:20:02 GMT -5 TWERKIN' MAGGLE said:

This was immediately mocked online, it's going to go the way of "Gritty 3rd Hour of RAW".

I honestly can't think of the last angle WWE did that was this universally panned. Before they went full whiny troll, this would be Grade A WrestleCrap material. There is no way this will be a thing after this. I can literally see Vince tell Shane "Look pal, you wanted to do this MMA thing years ago, I finally let you do it and it tanked. Now let it go." In fact, if this was what Shane envisioned, thank God Vince told him no all those years ago.

I can't remember where I read it, but I read a few years ago that Shane's always been a fan of the Russo-style way of doing things. It makes a lot of sense now, even if Raw Underground isn't THAT insane (yet).

[slaughterama]

I'll give it more than 10 minutes before I wonder how we managed to survive it. We want them to try and do different things, and when they do, people are outraged. There's potential if done properly. It was the most threatening MVP/Shelton/Lashley have looked, so that's a start. If it ends up being Shane just yapping in front of strippers while random guys from the roster just toss goobers around every week, then it's a bust. If it breaks up the non-stop segments of guys trying comedy bits backstage and allows them to, ya know, look threatening, then what is the problem?

[Deleted]

Aug 3, 2020 23:22:48 GMT -5 ppl591 said:

I wonder what the point is. Is it going to make people watch? Will it lead to a big ppv? Is anyone actually going to get over from it? I think the answer to all of these is no

That's what I'm interested in finding out. Are these guys just blowing off some steam and fighting each other for fun? Is there going to be a belt? Are we supposed to like Shane now?

[Deleted]

Of note there doesn't seem to be nearly as much of a curiosity bump for this on Youtube as you would expect. The initial video is one of the more watched things from Raw tonight (the MVP and co. one, not really) but it's beaten by stuff like the Seth segments and Apollo vs. MVP and is just barely beating out stuff like the Nia segment.

Usually when you get a dumpster fire segment like this there's at least some initial gawk at the car wreck flavor to it but in this case that doesn't seem to be happening.

[ssdrivin]

Aug 4, 2020 0:33:04 GMT -5 @dax said:

Aug 3, 2020 23:22:48 GMT -5 ppl591 said:

I wonder what the point is. Is it going to make people watch? Will it lead to a big ppv? Is anyone actually going to get over from it? I think the answer to all of these is no

That's what I'm interested in finding out. Are these guys just blowing off some steam and fighting each other for fun? Is there going to be a belt? Are we supposed to like Shane now?

Thinking about similar questions myself. They didn't really seem interested in giving any context, which seems pretty important.

I thought the "WWE Cinematic Universe Match" type styling was interesting, given I liked the WrestleMania cinematic matches and thought they could do more with it down the line. I like that they tried something new, I liked that it involved Shane in a way that was easy going and casual like Shane has always felt like he should be, instead of randomly being inserted into matches or being "basically Vince the Boss Jr.", I liked that it was a different take on combat sports but in the WWE style. A lot of potential good stuff in it, if it's handled well.

But right out of the gate they made it confusing, random, unclear as to its purpose or future, and then bopped it on the head with Hurt Business showing up and wiping everything out, with Shane just sort of... walking away like it didn't matter, even though it's his club?

Also, like you said, what's the actual point of it, in kayfabe? Are there any accolades to be won? Is there a sort of ranking? A winner? Many winners? Does it mean anything for your position in the rest of the WWE? Is it a brand? Is it sanctioned? Is Vince even supposed to know it exists, or is Shane going rogue? What is it?!