10 Live Observations From Attending WWE Raw Live In Manchester

by Andrew Pollard

1. Everybody Was Talking About The Fiend

Raw The Fiend Bray Wyatt
WhatCulture

While fans were well aware that Friday's double taping of SmackDown and Raw would not be seeing any sort of even fleeting appearance from Brock Lesnar, there was a constant whisper amongst the audience of a certain Fiend.

From the trains and pubs beforehand, to arriving at the Manchester Arena, throughout the SmackDown taping, during the intermission, and then continuing through Raw, so many of those in attendance were talking about one man: Bray Wyatt.

Going into Friday night, there was a general sense of 'what are we getting ourselves into?' for a lot of those attending the SmackDown and Raw tapings - largely due to the realisation that five hours of the current WWE product may make for a painful experience.

Thankfully, despite the crowd completely dying during Raw, The Fiend would turn up at the end of Raw to reignite some energy amongst the Manchester audience. After AJ Styles yucked it up and derided the fans following The OC's loss to Humberto Carrillo, Randy Orton, and Ricochet, the lights went out and business well and truly picked up as The Fiend emerged to layout The OC, putting P1 down with the Mandible Claw.

In a current WWE landscape that is thin on talent who feel like genuine big deals, 'The Fiend' Bray Wyatt felt extremely special.

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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.