10 Live Observations From Attending WWE Raw Live In Manchester

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.

Authored by Andrew Pollard

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 day job, 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/Saints, Jamie Hayter, 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. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.

First Posted On: 9th Nov 2019

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