Shane McMahon Debuts WWE RAW Underground Fight Club
The Brawl For all is BACK! Sort of...
Last night's WWE RAW saw the returning Shane McMahon debut a new fight club concept, RAW Underground, which appears to be the promotion's take on no holds bar fighting.
The segments were prevalent throughout RAW's backend. McMahon acted as a host and compere, providing running commentary on intended shoot-style bouts featuring the likes of Erik, Dolph Ziggler, and Dabba-Kato, who previously wrestled as Babatunde in the 2018 Greatest Royal Rumble. Rather than being presented as traditional pro-wrestling matches, these "fights" were intended to be more realistic and MMA influenced, though Battlarts this thing most certainly was not.
Production tweaks saw RAW Underground broadcast from a cluttered basement with podium dancers, a sepia-like filter, quick cuts, and shaky-handed footage. A repetitive hip-hop beat played over the background of every segment.
Underground's final segment saw The Hurt Business invade the basement. MVP claimed Underground was under new management before Bobby Lashley hit the ring and destroyed a goober, with his stable eventually mauling everybody gathered around ringside. Shane said The Hurt Business could return whenever they wanted, hyping next week's segments.
As pointed out by journalist David Bixenspan, RAW Underground was ostensibly a ripoff of the Crucible concept indie group Chikara once presented to WWE as part of a Network pilot.