3 Ups & 10 Downs From WWE Raw (Aug 3)
2. RAW Underground: The Idea
And so we arrive at this: the motherload of bad ideas.
Let's focus on RAW Underground's conception before diving into the execution. Here are the key problems:-
1. Having a billionaire trust fund kid who can't even throw a worked punch host an "underground fight club" doesn't work. Shane McMahon was the absolute worst choice for this role because absolutely nothing about him fits the grimy aesthetic WWE were trying to put over here.
2. WWE can't do "gritty." It's impossible. Nothing about this product is in the least bit dangerous or edgy, so it's akin to Disney trying to produce a slasher film.
3. WWE's style is too safe, sanitised, and watered down to pull off convincing shoot-style wrestling. The UWFi this was not.
4. The whole thing was a gigantic ripoff of several old concepts. Nevermind the Brawl For All: this was Matt Riddle/Josh Barnett's Bloodsport, EC3's recent Impact Wrestling vignettes, and Chikara's old Crucible idea (featured on footage sent to WWE for possible Network inclusion not too long ago) rolled into one. Blatant idea theft is bad, is what we're saying.
How could anybody within the promotion have possibly through this was a good idea? Again, new doesn't automatically equal good. The WWE product succeeds when it remembers what it is - flashy, big-theatre Sports Entertainment - and RAW Underground was the antithesis of that.