4 Ups & 10 Downs From WWE Raw (Oct 4)

7. Backstage Reactions

One of the areas where WWE really struggles is channelling real emotion – or at least making scripted action feel like real emotion.

We saw this repeatedly during the draft when the camera cut backstage after a superstar was picked to get their reaction. We got shots of them randomly staring at nothing – none of them were watching a monitor to see Adam Pearce or Sonya Deville call their names – and smiling or looking pumped. It was just very odd and forced. You can almost imagine Bruce Prichard behind the camera telling them, “Act happy! You’re on the red brand now!”

The only ones who really leaned into it properly were the Street Profits, who treated it as a gag and gave an over-the-top reaction like an NFL draftee being surprise-selected by a team. King Nakamura and Rick Boogs screaming was a close second. But everything else felt extremely forced.

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Contributor
Contributor

Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.