10 Live Observations From Attending WWE Raw Live In Manchester

5. Lana's Go Away Heat

Raw Rusev Lana
WhatCulture

Really, where to begin with this?

*Deep breath*

Upon Lana coming out to the ring on Raw, she informed the watching audience that she first had sex with Lashley seven weeks ago, is nine weeks pregnant, and that Rusev is indeed the baby's daddy.

Just when you thought this whole angle couldn't get any worse, right? This whole Rusev/Lana/Lashley love triangle has been a bust since day one, and it somehow seems to manage to outdo itself with each passing week. And man oh man, did the Manchester crowd just dump all over this segment.

Rusev came out to confront Lana, which was then followed by Lashley leaving the Bulgarian Brute laying, but nobody cared a jot as the crowd just booed and booed and booed their way through all of this. When Lana was talking, it got to a point where you couldn't even hear what she was saying - such was the negative crowd response.

A negative crowd response should be exactly what a heel is looking for, of course, yet this was pure, unequivocal 'go away' heat for the sort of segment that you change the channel during. And those who weren't booing this angle out of the building had decided to take a toilet break, grab a hotdog, go on a beer run, or just do anything else rather than sit through this atrocity of a segment.

Being brutally honest, this could well be one of the worst segments in the 26-year history of Raw.

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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.