10 Live Observations From WWE Raw After WrestleMania 35
8. Big Names
A name game during an ad break was, by some distance, more entertaining that half of the over-long television matches on a broadly disappointing post-‘Mania extravaganza.
It spoke to how successful WWE have been with some of their insufferable f*cking nicknames over the past few years that the field was so fertile, even if it brought the Brooklyn crowd closer to a frenzy than the Tag Team Title match it followed.
Even the prizes brought great patter. Young fan Nick scored himself a Finn Bálor t-shirt after a nail biting 11-10 victory. Justin, the plucky loser, got a signed picture of Dean Ambrose. High, high banter from Vince McMahon and the first tell that he’d grown weary of all the nicey nicey sh*t from the night before.
There was a lesson here, and not just that people will eventually forget about Dolph Ziggler, given time. WWE pump A LOT of wrestling through audience veins over WrestleMania weekend - the light relief of a gameshow concept proved to be bizarrely welcome. Action-adventure Raw wasn’t particularly leaving a mark, but this was a shot in the arm.