Watry’s Live WWE Raw Review In Milwaukee

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Backstory

As most know, I attended WWE RAW with four other people on Monday night. Met up for some food/drinks before the event and then headed over to the arena around 6pm. An hour before the live broadcast on USA Network and thirty minutes before Main Event. Let’s get right down to MY reactions and then the live crowd as well…

WWE RAW REVIEW Live In Person

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— Justin Watry (@JustinWatry) March 6, 2018

Quick Hits – As promised, my phone was put away for 99% of the show. I like to actually experience events and not just be living through a screen for them. I snapped a couple of quick photos in between (as seen above). Plus, I recorded the final 20 seconds of the Roman Reigns/Kane post show match. View was really – first row of the second level, seats 1 and 2. Good people around us who were alright to talk to and converse with. Shout out to the dude who kept chanting for The Undertaker all night, as nobody ever joined in. Not a full sold out crowd but definitely filled up, besides two sections behind the hard camera up top. Nice attendance, as this was the final RAW here in the building. New arena coming soon baby!

Ronda Rousey Opening – I loved it. This is what I was jacked up for. I’m glad WWE cut right to the chase and gave us a response from last week. Everybody was on their A-Game and right when I saw what Stephanie McMahon was wearing, I knew we were in for a fight. Not sure what the early backlash is about because Ronda Rousey got a great reaction and was cheered heavily. Big props to Kurt Angle and Triple H here. I felt they carried this. A little stunned to see Steph laid out now and not at WrestleMania 34. However, the arm bar still awaits.

Asuka/Nia Jax – Good match. I was (again) worried that Nia Jax was going to inexplicably win over Asuka which should not even be an option. The crowd was into it. Asuka is just so cool to see live. Has all the charisma and charm to be a face for a long time. Dude behind us LOVED her. Can’t argue that. Felt like a face turn for Nia (especially later on) as she got to her feet afterwards.

The Revival/The Bar – Surprisingly solid stuff. Weird dynamic with the heel/heel thing going on. Not much of a reaction for The Revival at all. This is the first part of the show where Milwaukee looked for drinks and a chance to use the restroom. My guess still remains that an outside team is coming for The Bar at WrestleMania 34. Would the Dudleyz do it for their big weekend? Maybe Authors Of Pain? We’ll see. Certainly won’t be The Revival.

Production – I will take a moment to give props to the production crew. Carrying instruments, changing aprons, moving items, setting up the camera shots, etc. In between commercials and behind the camera, these folks are busting their butts. Every time I go to a WWE event, they are giving it 100% and get little recognition. Good on you all. Makes the entire machine run. No beach balls to bug security with, but I did see one sign confiscated early. No idea what it said.

John Cena – Big reaction to come out. Everybody stood up, one of the rare moments that happened all night. Then fans immediately sat down when he mentioned Smackdown LIVE. It was pretty funny. From there, it was just a FastLane plug. Nobody cared and just felt like heckling him. Fine. Whatever. It was clearly a ‘filler’ segment. Cena has been the main local advertisement for the past two months, and he really had nothing to do given last week’s story line. Made even more evident by the shocking Goldust confrontation. Again, filler. Goldie’s crowd reaction was more stunned silence than anything. Nobody could figure out what was going on. His rambling promo didn’t help, nor did his swing and a miss attack. Cena won in four minutes, pointed at the WM sign and left. Tough spot for WWE. Had to deliver Cena but not do tooooo much. Two teases for The Undertaker from Cena live for those curious – not sure the camera picked those up or if it was during a commercial.

Bayley/Mandy Rose – Huge kudos to Paige during this bout. As someone remarked by us, the match was secondary to what Paige was doing at ringside. She looked like she was having a ball messing with the fans. If she was not out there, this would have been a terrible ten minutes. With her, it was fun. Still dragged but nobody can accuse Paige of taking it easy outside the ring. Sonya Deville really should have picked up a few lessons in Milwaukee. Bayley predictably won, and we got a Sasha Banks appearance…for nothing. Please stop dragging this on. Get to the heel turn already! Been well over a year of this.

Nia/Alexa Bliss Backstage – I am not going to comment on every backstage segment or hype video shown during commercials. This one I will though. Considering what it rumored to be coming soon, this made sense, I do NOT agree with it for the record. However, if this is what WWE wants to go, this was absolutely the next step to getting there. A fan behind us said something like “This isn’t helping Alexa as a heel; this is just mean spirited.” Another fan yelled “Don’t be a bully, be a star!” I think that is the entire point ladies and gentlemen. Breaking news: Alexa Bliss is playing a bad character on television. That is the entire point. You can’t whine and cry for the Attitude Era to come back and then get upset over THIS! Come on. At first, people were just laughing at the segment’s ridiculousness but by the end, there was sympathy.

Crowd – We saw the usual suspects from The Pro Wrestling Report in the front row. The Brock Lesnar pose fan was there. A few local models I know were in attendance. I saw two separate Alexa Bliss signs from little girls. Kinda surprised me but okay. There was a “Wrestling Is Fake” sign I think. Hopefully, there was part of the sign I missed because that is cringe worthy on so many levels in 2018. Polite applause for the Hillbilly Jim WWE Hall of Fame induction. Lots of compliments on my WWE suit. Definitely were plenty of Bullet Club shirts, not going to lie. John Cena merchandise was the big seller, as was the “This Is My Yard” Roman Reigns shirt. Ironically enough, I saw a female fan wearing that shirt leave the arena just as Paul Heyman was coming out. Oops! Must have wanted to beat the blizzard that was ongoing…

Elias/Braun Strowman – Fans were into Braun and Elias, no question about it. The car stuff was funny and well played. Not sure when that was filmed as the snow was already heavily coming down outside. Beatdown of Elias was brutal. Those guitar shots in person, ouch! I wanted Samoa Joe to come out and attack Braun after the match. Maybe net week? Braun has to do something soon. Mania is right around the corner.

Rhyno/Bray Wyatt – Entrance was splendid in person with all the cell phones. Rhyno and Heath Slater go very little crowd noise. Shame too – didn’t they have a story line going on or something? The Matt Hardy interruption was expected. Big pop for the Ultimate Deletion announcements at the Hardy Compound. It is about freakin’ time we get something! Geez, these two laughing and giggling at each other had been stale for weeks now. Time to bust out the big guns on this feud if it is going to continue. Give me the family, the boat, the drone, everything…except Jeff Hardy. Don’t drag him into this all.

The Mizzies – Groan worthy material to start. Fans kinda took their attention elsewhere in the beginning. Luckily, the awards ceremony was funny and got everybody back on board. The lines about Finn Balor, Seth Rollins, and Kurt Angle were legitimately laugh out loud hilarious. Big crowd pop for Rollins and Balor coming out. Those two are very popular these days and seem to have found their footing on the red brand. The tag match was meh. Miz worked the crowd like the weasel heel he is. Interesting scene at the end with Balor and Rollins each going for the victory. Made sense and was fitting due to the Kurt Angle triple threat WM announcement moments later. Not ideal as all three deserve more but will surely deliver in New Orleans.

Paul Heyman Promo – Believe it or not, a good portion of the audience filed out at this point. Even before Balor and Rollins left the area, people were leaving. Must have assumed this was the main event (as it was almost 10pm) or just didn’t care about Heyman with no advertisement of Brock Lesnar beforehand. My guess is it’s the latter because I kid you not with each passing minute of the Heyman promo dragging on, fans were leaving in droves. I have not watched Raw yet, but wow…fans didn’t care. I know there was a blizzard outside, but welcome to Wisconsin! By the time Roman Reigns came out, there was a big response but not one that would have occurred an hour or two earlier. Big tease for NEXT WEEK never plays well to a live audience. We knew no Brock but still, hyping up something for Detroit isn’t going to go over well in Milwaukee. I did like the segment with the showdown looming and Heyman backing away in fear clutching the Universal Championship.

Off Camera End – Kane immediately came out. Like immediately. He and Roman Reigns had a quick five minute match. An eight person tag was previously announced for the fans but you know, card subject to change and all that junk. Not a big deal. After Reigns pinned Kane (which I recorded), he spoke about how this was the last Raw in this building. Lots of memories for him in the city of Milwaukee (huh?), and he will miss this place. Excited for the new arena though, Roman said. That got a big crowd response because that place is supposedly going to be amazing. He wished us all well and said to get home safely. Kind words as we walked outside to the piles and piles of snow.

SUMMARY: Entertaining show. Bitter sweet this is the final show in this building. No Way Out 2002, Taboo Tuesday 2004, Raw WM Rewind in 2008, Elimination Chamber 2012…I could go on and on. Nice way to go out. Ronda was there, Angle was there, HHH was there, Cena was there, Kane was there, Reigns was there, Miz was there, Braun was there, and we even got to see Curt Hawkins lose to Apollo on Main Event! Oh, and the cruiserweights had a tag match too. Yeah. Joking aside, this was a good time and as always, I highly recommend going to an event near you. Really I do, It is far too easy to sit behind a computer screen and criticize. Actually go to the arena. See the kids, see the fans, see the excitement. There was one family that took a picture by us in which the dad said “I, 2, 3, say Cena Sucks!” Then they did! Little kids and all smiling. A little girl was a “My 1st WWE” sign was so sweet to see. All that stuff is worth it.

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