The audio from the UK WWE Raw crowd was heavily edited for last night's show from Manchester, Dave Meltzer reports on Wrestling Observer Radio. Live reports that Meltzer received said the atmosphere was actually loud and buoyant. However, on television, it seemed like the crowd was dead. WWE had a few hours after the taping, in which they clearly did some serious audio editing before the transmission at 8 pm eastern time. One notable edit was during the opening Triple H and Roman Reigns segment. Hunter offered Reigns a spot on The Authority, and the UK crowd then booed Reigns when he turned it down. When the segment aired on television, WWE had piped in cheers, in order to better fulfil their storyline aim. It isn't unusual for editing like this to take place. It has gone on for years with Smackdown tapings. WWE were smart to take the opportunity to edit Raw, ultimately giving television viewers a more positive perception of Reigns. The editing was also likely provoked by last year's Liverpool Raw crowd, which was merciless in doing everything that the company didn't want. This time WWE came prepared, carefully booking the show and then producing it in a way that avoided giving the fans too many opportunities to go into business for themselves.
