10 Things We Learned From WWE Raw In The UK (May 8)

3. PoocHHHie

The Miz Maryse Dean Ambrose
WWE.com

Of all the ways WWE's content overload impacts modern philosophies within the company, surely the biggest issue is the fascination with using a full-blooded match to build to an identical contest at a later date.

So to Samoa Joe and Seth Rollins then, as Monday Night Raw houses two of the most talented all-rounders in the industry and appears content to just let them wrestle ad nauseum in lieu of any particular reason beyond increasingly tenuous links to the still-slayed Triple H.

Back when The Simpsons was a culturally relevant enterprise, an episode featured the insertion of 'Poochie' alongside Itchy and Scratchy to boost the show's flagging ratings. When the transparent ploy predictably failed, Homer posited that when the irritating third wheel wasn't around, other characters should be talking about him in order to build importance. The imbecilic suggestion was intentionally positioned as a flawed and stupid attempt to keep the character alive.

20 years later, and Triple H is Poochie.

Robbed of motivation beyond constantly talking about, slaying, defending or fighting over 'The Game's honour, Samoa Joe and Seth Rollins will just keep having matches while engaging in a slap-fight of who's doing a better job in their side-project with Triple H. Who was supposedly vanquished back at WrestleMania anyway.

In The Simpsons, Poochie was 'sent back to his home planet' in a hilariously aggressive write-off. In WWE's canon, defeat at the 'Show of Shows' has somehow involved 'The King of Kings' even more.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 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. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, 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