10 Live Observations From WWE Raw After WrestleMania 35

4. High And Dry

Ricochet Aleister Black
WWE.com

For the third time in four nights, WWE fans found themselves in the preeminent presence of Ricochet and Aleister Black.

The recent NXT graduates were the workhorses of the WWE weekend - credit to them for nearly killing themselves against The War Raiders Friday Night when they were expected to still be putting a shift in against Bobby Roode and Chad Gable 72 hours later - but enough was decidedly enough for Brooklyn as the duo were quietly quelled by Raw’s drab second hour.

It speaks to their popularity the fans came alive for their comeback at all, not least after the first signs of a self-directed protest appeared to form with the bored instigations of a Mexican Wave. Ricochet is a potentially beautiful addition to the main roster, and his powers were at play here - the Brooklyn audience tried a couple of times to keep the wave alive, but the ‘One And Only’ was fittingly the only one to curb this irritating lack of enthusiasm.

The match, pragmatically speaking, wasn’t really what the audience wanted by the time they were offered it, but the wrestlers tried hard to make it so. Bobby Roode’s post-match attack generated a modicum of heat too, but unless he was the one with his finger on the dreaded spotlight’s off switch, he had no chance being actually despised.

 
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Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation for nearly 10 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett