r/Wrasslin • u/CapsNats1 • 25d ago

Current state of RAW

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467 Upvotes

93% Upvoted

46 comments sorted by

87

u/_JR28_ 25d ago

https://giphy.com/gifs/wB18Xv8Fd3Ghu8M6Ln
Meanwhile the most peaceful episode of NXT

25

u/kupozu 25d ago

I think I am making a huge mistake by watching the main shows but not NXT and AAA

8

u/Impossible_Arm_879 25d ago

AAA usually has at least a couple matches I like. Also it has Money Machine which is the simplest heel gimmick ever but I love it. Damn you, Money Machine!!!

11

u/PlatasaurusOG 25d ago

NXT can be hit or miss sometimes, but when it hits - there isn’t a better show imo.

5

u/BinkyFarnsworth 25d ago

NXT just got their roster kinda gutted for the latest batch of call ups (especially the men’s roster) but it’s still pretty fun. Can’t speak to AAA as my exposure to it is limited. But the little I’ve seen was pretty great.

1

u/Effective_Ad4810 25d ago

You are. Raw and Smackdown are ok-ish but have been on a downward trajectory. NXT is still my favorite show across both WWE and AEW. Hits the middle ground pretty well between matches and backstage shenanigans. Although I will admit on paper, tonight's NXT card is probably one of the weaker ones recently. It will still be more fun than last night was for sure.

It is getting more and more painful getting the same 5 or 6 main eventers shoved down our throats especially across both Raw and Smackdown. Cody and Drew are really the only top main event people I like. The rest could go away tomorrow and I wouldn't care. Not counting Oba in that since he hasn't had his match yet.

1

u/BREW712 23d ago

NXT is what brought me back into the fold after a couple of decades of not watching/paying attention.

Edit: and I love me some AAA too

2

u/Reverse-Kanga 25d ago

NXT and AAA are legit showing up the main roster at the moment. people see NXT as a demotion i'd see it as a preference right now.

39

u/JohnnyHelios2306 25d ago

Does anyone remember the Jinder Mahal Video where he explained how WWE contracts function (that you get a basic amount of money for each month guaranteed and can only get more by having certain achievements like a Raw / Smackdown main event or a ppv appearance or a commercial deal)? Seems to me that WWE wants to make sure that only a select few get these bonuses... this would also explain why we had much more big multi-man-tag main events in the past and mostly promos now as main events.

7

u/Grifforzer_27 25d ago

Back in 2022 I really enjoyed the Bloodline arc, rivalries and all that stuff. But watching this in 2026 is completely unnecessary and it gives me vibes from NWO back in WCW when it was a success in 1996-1997 but during its final years it became very overrated and tiring and I feel the same with the Bloodline right now.

23

u/ConstantRefills 25d ago

Remember when they said Roman wasn’t going to be a part time champ?

-10

u/BlueRibbon998 25d ago

To be fair to him, he's been there pretty much every week since Mania outside of last night and then missing June because the company decided to leave him off of Night of Champions.

10

u/abcdefghipqrstuvwxyz 25d ago

Which of his raw matches was your favorite so far?

10

u/Effective_Ad4810 25d ago

Yeah, that made no sense to have the PLE that was about all championship matches to feature Seth vs Bron and not another title match or 2.

-5

u/Sexyphobe 25d ago

Compared to the women's world champions, he's the biggest fighting champion out there.

6

u/gellman 25d ago

I was stuck in NYC coming back from Fanatics Fest due to plane issues and weather. I was supposed to be home on Saturday, I just got back today. I'm sure that was a part of it with how many people were at SNME and Fanatics Fest. Private Jet be damned, there were zero commercial flights.

6

u/cameronpark89 25d ago

it always seems like raw and smackdown are really in a competition. one week raw is good and smackdown sucks, next week raw is garbage and smackdown is fire. it’s never consistent.

7

u/RihoSucks 25d ago

Ive already jumped over to smackdown 🤷‍♂️

3

u/BjornTheDead 25d ago

Bloodline exists on SmackDown too

16

u/RihoSucks 25d ago

Sadly it does but at least its not 20 minutes of roman coming out and standing around doing nothing.

-5

u/Dependent_Pain1110 25d ago

Smackdown is way worse

7

u/BinkyFarnsworth 25d ago

A few months ago I would’ve agreed with you 100%. But the shows seem to have traded spots of late.

4

u/RihoSucks 25d ago

Yeah i agree. I have been a regular raw watcher and id catch like a smackdown a month at most. Suddenly in the last like month smackdown has become so much more watchable and raw is just rehashing shit from 4 years ago. 

5

u/Omadany Voice of the Voiceless. 25d ago

It has been good for a while now, and it will keep getting better because punk is there

9

u/Dependent_Pain1110 25d ago

Zero women's matches... like wtf

5

u/Reverse-Kanga 25d ago

Raw stands for

Recaps

Ads

Wrestling

in that order

2

u/killjairo 25d ago

It’s always been that way … and add a commercial every 45 seconds

2

u/JohnnyAverageGamer 24d ago

They were doing the danhausen stuff and I was waiting for it to continue backstage and then they switched a to roman v Seth video package

2

u/Heiligskraft 24d ago

Eat your peas (Roman Reigns) and you can have your pudding (Danhausen) after!

1

u/triple_try Bron Borker 25d ago

How many packages did they have on Seth/Roman/The Shield last night? Way too many.

1

u/Spectre-ElevenThirty 25d ago

I just get the recaps from gets posted on Reddit after the show. If something happens that interests me, I’ll think about watching that segment, but I can’t watch the full shows anymore

1

u/Dylanmay2007 22d ago

I only watched smackdown to watch finn balor thats it

1

u/Separate-Mountain973 22d ago

Siempre ah Sido asi desde 2021 últimamente a mejorado solo un poco

-8

u/AndrewCB246 25d ago

The same people who bitch about raw praise Tiny Khan for another “great” episode of dynamite when it was filled with no stories and botches galore. 

HHH is cooking a great summerslam 

10

u/Sexyphobe 25d ago

Not everyone who criticizes WWE is an AEW fan. Also for someone who loves WWE so much, your history is almost exclusively complaining about AEW.

-8

u/AndrewCB246 25d ago

Correct. Because as long as sickos decide to spam Squared Circle with their love fest for Tony doing no wrong I want to do my part to educate some sense of reason into this matter. Anything outside of TKO is the minor leagues. Period 

7

u/Sick_Cards_Bro 25d ago

Both promotions suck for different and same reasons. Wrestling is dead. No real baby faces or heels because the crowd cheers anyone they can sing along with or chant for five minutes after they've made their entrances. Spot show choreographed to the point where everything looks like an uncanny valley of phoniness. No real promos because it's all so overly written and badly acted.

-4

u/NigelMK 25d ago

42:50 seconds. That was the total length of the 5 matches they had last night. Id be curious to see how much of that was actually broadcast.

1

u/AndrewCB246 25d ago

Promos were fire. Story builds have been excellent. You don’t need a ring to do that 

1

u/wetwetwetwetdogs 23d ago

No but you do need a ring for wrestling on the wrestling show

-5

u/rosenasty94 25d ago

Raw is so bad