10 Totally Bizarre WWE Moments You'd Never Remember Without This Article!

2. RAW Underground's Exotic Dancers

RAW Underground
WWE

Once again, you have to admire the sheer, transparent gumption of WWE here. Picturing the production meeting and the thought process behind it is simply really, really funny.

What happened is that WWE's dreadful Performance Center residency was a ratings disaster.

Something had to be done.

In response, the broad and madcap WWE did everything - and that "everything" was a laser-focused assault on the Affliction Clothing-clad 18-49 male demographic. And thus, RAW Underground was born.

It was a nausea-inducing nightmare of camera cuts literally every second that barely captured a long-forgotten Fight Club zeitgeist. Worked-shoot matches hosted by Shane McMahon, who screamed "Sickohohthat'ssick" at every piss-poor whiffed strike and loose grappling application.

A total dirge overload of aspirational bro energy, it was also really funny given how little thought went into it.

"Let's do UFC mixed with, like, a Fight Club vibe. Put Shane in there. Make it seem cool and underground. Actually, call it Underground. It needs to look chaotic, so don't linger on anything. For more than a second. That way, people will think it's really cray-cray."

"Hmmm," Kevin Dunn said, surveying the vat of frantic ideas.

"Needs more titsssssssssssss."

And thus, the RAW Underground dancers were born - before several fans pointed out that it somewhat undid all of Stephanie McMahon's bullsh*t rhetoric, and they were scrapped.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!