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...
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
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.