10 Live Observations From Attending WWE Raw Live In Manchester

2. The Crowd Inevitably Fell Flat

Raw Erick Rowan
WhatCulture

Going into Friday night, it was always going to be a big ask to have the crowd remain lively throughout what was ultimately a long, long night.

With most people getting into the Manchester Arena at around the 5pm mark, two hours of SmackDown began at 6pm, before transitioning into three hours of Raw. And predictably, the crowd began to die off by the time Raw rolled around.

The opening Raw match of The Kabuki Warriors defending the WWE Women's Tag Team Championships against Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair was a lively opener, helped even more by run-ins by Shayna Baszler and then Bayley. Likewise, Drew McIntyre vs. Sin Cara and R-Truth vs. The Bollywood Boyz had fans invested due to both contests being brief and entertaining.

Unfortunately, the Seth Rollins promo and then Lana's pregnancy reveal seemed to by the key moments that saw the in-attendance crowd's energy levels drop. From there, the crowd seemed to just die, with only one or two further moments managing to conjure up a hot reaction from an audience that was worn out - not helped out by the fact that both SmackDown and Raw had some truly abysmal segments dotted throughout them.

It'll be interesting to see how WWE handles the crowd noise when Raw airs on Monday night. Can you say "Bizarro World"?

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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.