10 Live Observations From WWE Raw After WrestleMania 35
The Post-Show Of Shows.
The post-WrestleMania edition of Monday Night Raw has, for years now, been the final destination for all the bombast and bluster of the company’s biggest week laid bare before the churn of spring begins.
But what was once the hottest ticket in a WrestleMania host town has since cooled thanks to WWE’s forceful claiming of the evening several years ago. P*ssed off with the fans’ hijacking of the night (particularly a 2013 Randy Orton/Sheamus battle that degenerated into abject parody dressed as an audience participation party), the company acknowledged the occasion and thus inadvertently deflated it.
By highlighting the histrionics via hype man Michael Cole, the company - for better and worse - dampened the spirits of those sticking around after all the dust had settled on ‘The Grandest Stage’.
The Raw after WrestleMania instead became a safe space for fans that were still on their wrestling-heavy vacation and still hankering for yet more action.
Your writer was this year part of that very crowd - and, enthusiastically, the one in MetLife Stadium 24 hours earlier - as the show returned to the North East for the first time since the aforementioned Orton/Sheamus sh*tshow...
10. A Light In The Dark
The Raw dark/Main Event/antithesis of a main event matches are ordinarily reserved for the likes of Zack Ryder and Curt Hawkins, but their place on the main show thanks to a streak-busting WrestleMania victory left the curtain-jerking duties to the last action heroes of WWE’s biggest weekend.
Fortunately, excitement for every forgotten superstar is yet another by-product of the ‘Show Of Shows’. Free from the shackles of André The Giant Battle Royal misery, No Way Jose, Jinder Mahal, Heavy Machinery and The Ascension got actual honest-to-goodness reactions for TV taping filler matches ripped from a million house show rehearsals.
The “boo who they’d normally cheer” banter was bullsh*t here at least too. No Way Jose’s arrival was an early Brooklyn boy popper, whilst Otis generated a “Pretty Lady” chant before his warped worm spot brought the house down.
Alll until the interior aesthetic brought the mood down.
As is part of its purpose, Main Event was used to ensure all presentational quirks were ironed out. As they were at at WrestleMania and NXT, those in control of the retina-incinerating spotlights were the biggest heels of the night.