10 Things We Learned From Attending WWE Raw After WrestleMania Live
Beach Ball Mania returns the night after WrestleMania 35.
WWE's Raw after WrestleMania has become one of the year's most anticipated wrestling shows over the past few years, with fans conditioned to expect all manner of surprises and shake-ups as the company embarks on its new season of programming following 'The Showcase Of The Immortals.'
Last night's was eventful. The Brooklyn crowd were treated to a shock appearance from the long-absent Undertaker, Lars Sullivan finally arriving on the main roster (to destroy poor old Kurt Angle), an apparent Bobby Roode/Chad Gable heel turn, Sami Zayn's comeback, and an unannounced appearance by new WWE Champion Kofi Kingston and the rest of The New Day. Not the most monumental Raw after 'Mania ever, but a fun one none the less.
Your writer was fortunate enough to be in attendance at the Barclays Center, rounding off a busy WrestleMania weekend that began on Thursday, and took in cult Japanese promotion DDT, NXT TakeOver, the G1 Supercard, and Wrestlemania. Believe it or not, this was also his first ever live set of TV tapings - a consequence of growing up in the wrestling-deprived wilderness of North East Scotland. This list of lessons will therefore be tackled with a broader approach.
Let's dive in...
10. Fan Service Pays Off
WWE were in an uncharacteristically giving mood at WrestleMania 35, serving up three enormous crowd-pleasing victories in Becky Lynch's double title win in the main event, Kofi Kingston's WWE Championship triumph, and Seth Rollins smashing Brock Lesnar in the opener. It was nothing short of euphoric, though it did make this writer wonder how much sh*t the company are going to force us to eat over the next few years in order to balance it out.
Nonetheless, Brooklyn was in a celebratory mood last night. These shows always attract a hot crowd, but the Barclays Center was rapturous early in the show, celebrating Rollins and Kingston's opening segment with fervor. This stretched into the Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder vs. The Revival match and beyond, with the vibe never really cooling, even when it turned negative.
Fan service is a powerful, powerful drug, and this lesson was only enhanced when WWE give the audience exactly what they didn't want with The Bar's awful interruption of Rollins vs. Kingston. Your writer has never heard a building so poisoned.