10 Live Observations From Attending WWE Raw Live In Manchester

The joys of being live in attendance for one of the worst segments in Raw history...

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WhatCulture

WWE last night taped both SmackDown and next Monday's Raw from the Manchester Arena, and yours truly was 'lucky' enough to be in attendance for the full five hours or so of WWE content. There were a few noteworthy live notes from being there in-person for what was an extremely mixed night of action.

First and foremost, there will obviously be some major **SPOILERS** for this coming Monday's outing for the WWE's red brand. Don't say we didn't warn you.

To run down the card and results of Raw, expect to see the following on Monday night:

- The Kabuki Warriors retain the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship against Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair - complete with appearances by NXT Women's Champion Shayna Baszler and SmackDown Women's Champion Bayley.

- Drew McIntyre defeats Sin Cara

- An odd No Contest match between 24/7 Champion R-Truth and The Bollywood Boyz

- Seth Rollins makes an open challenge that's answered by NXT United Kingdom Champion WALTER

- WALTER vs. Rollins ends in a DQ after Imperium interfere, leading to...

- Rollins, Kevin Owens, and The Street Profits defeat Imperium

- Andrade defeats Cedric Alexander

- Lana, Rusev, and Lashley angle hits a new low

- Erick Rowan defeats an enhancement talent

- Raw Tag Team Champions The Viking Raiders defeat Mark Andrews and Flash Morgan Webster

- Randy Orton, Ricochet, and Humberto Carrillo defeat The OC - followed by The Fiend laying out The OC.

Besides the results, what else did we notice from watching WWE live this weekend? Let's find out...

10. Fans Want Something New And Fresh

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WhatCulture

It's no surprise that some of the biggest crowd reactions on Raw were for NXT Women's Champion Shayna Baszler (pictured in the crowd) and NXT United Kingdom Champion WALTER and his Imperium buddies.

After months of what has felt like stagnated, dull, and often head-scratching episodes of Raw and SmackDown, it was clear from being in attendance on Friday night that WWE fans are craving something new, something fresh, and something that has a genuine sense of excitement to it.

To further reiterate this point, the audience were white-hot in how they reacted to Baszler and Imperium during Raw - even though they'd already seen both of these acts appear just an hour or so prior during the SmackDown taping. There was no diminished return to the Raw reactions for these superstars, and that can be put down to how the decision of dropping in NXT and NXT UK wrestlers to the other brands is clearly working and drumming up a sense of change.

The demand for new and fresh is always going to remain amongst WWE fans, although it obviously remains to be seen if WWE can keep this sense of freshness to its main roster product once this month's Survivor Series PPV is out of the way.

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Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.