We live in the era of the cash cow and the franchise. Whether it's the Reality shows being dragged out for hours every Saturday night or cinemas promoting Marvel movie number 13 or the latest PG 13 installment of a book to film series. WWE in many ways has kept up with the times: ADD camera work, cleaner and swifter choreography, aimed at the family, over over produced sets etc. Plus YouTube and DVR has changed the game and they've taken advantage of it.

The corporate directors running this (I'm sort of convinced Vince and HHH are going through the motions) are taking inspiration from The Voice, Michael Bay productions, Dancing with the Stars etc rather than Game of Thrones and Walking Dead.

So Raw and Smackdown in Glasgow has been confirmed. That'll be one hell of an atmosphere.

Some suspecting that it's a bit of a kick out at ICW as they're performing there 2 weeks after... Highly doubt that lol.

Gives me a perfect excuse for my first ever trip to sunny Scotland

Whilst we are on the subject of continuity in WWE why on earth were Becky Lynch and Natalie on the same team as Paige during that 8 Woman tag match didn't she turn on them or am I missing the point? Surely Becky and Nattie should never trust Paige with a barge pole.

But should WWE be trying to keep up with the culture?

In every decade there is culture and there is counter culture. You had New Kids on the Block and Boyzone at the same time as Nirvana. You had South Park at the same time as Friends. Attitude Era was counter culture, there is no doubt about that.

It's just a sad indictment on the world we live in that counter culture hardly exists anymore.

Plus you might meet a certain VR lover on this thread who is from those neck of the woods it probably be best to head for the hills whenever you see him.

For me it is not the fact it is PG that is the problem but the biggest problem I have that I find 90% of Raw and the PPVs boring.

3 hours is way to long, we all agree on that. I have only watched maybe 3/4 full Raw shows without skipping forward in about 3 years now I would guess.

The build up to Wrestlemaina this year was one of the worse we have seen, which just continued the trend from the past 12 months of lazy writing.

The roster as well is maybe to stacked right now as well. That would not be a problem if we had a good creative team of writers but we don't. Instead we have a number of very talented guys/girls being wasted.

I dread to think how bad it will be around October - December time.

Oh thanks for ruining it already!

Could you do a major wrestling show in Glasgow today without him ?

A bit like running New Orleans in 1980 without Junkyard Dog at this point I'd imagine.

To be fair it's probably high-brow by this Morning's standards.

WWE doing far better on promotion in the UK than usual I've noticed. This Morning, 5 Live (an extended Ric Flair interview especially for Hollie) and also Radio 1 later this week with WWE fan Greg James.
Add in the usual SSN interview I'm sure and that's a good mix.



'How much of it is real'?

To be fair Ruth was much better than Philip must be said. Even though one of her questions was 'How hard was the match', she seemed to know what she was talking about - or at least her son had gave her some info.
He on the other hand did not have a sodding clue.

Well done Paige though. Honestly dealt well with the incredibly inane questions and I'm sort of warming to her.

Not heard much from Raw apart from reading that Shane was GM again for the third week in a row. I get continuity isn't always possible but come on now, they might as well have not bothered having the Mania match at this point.

Shane's been on Raw more since Mania than before it FFS.

Yeah I seen it was confirmed earlier. You need to be one of these SSE customers to get in with the presales for Glasgow so i'm sure the touts will buy all the good seats and whatever is left on Saturday the rest will try and fight each other for.

It's unlikely Smackdown will sell instantly, sales on the second day when they do both tapings at the same venue are always weaker, it's the reason why there's usually a special attraction like Undertaker on the second day.

Anyway, I just booked the CitizenM for the Tuesday, you tell 'em I'm coming Hazy!

Luckily enough or not whichever way you look at it there hasn't been a WWE superstar interview on SSN although Sheamus was a guest on Soccer AM this past weekend.

This must happen.

What do you think of these presales? You think all the good seats will go in them and there will be nothing left on Saturday? It's a bit soon aswell isn't it for them to be going onsale this week and everywhere else is 3 weeks away.

I'll let them know you're coming! Maybe we'll get a couple of those NXT birds and show them a good time.

Oh there will be. If WWE personnel are appearing on Radio 5 Live, they'll surely be appearing on Sky Sports News.

Goodness there have been some cringy SSN interviews over the year. Though to be fair there at least the presenters at least have vaguely make an effort to pretend they know what they're talking about.

Haven't watched Soccer AM in years. And that'd have given me even more of a reason not to watch.

Well it is a tad disrespectful from fans shouting boring when he talks.

Thats alright ill come to your workplace and boo you and see how you like it.

Unlike his job, wrestling is a pantomime

The worst part WWE has done with Reigns was making him lose cleanly because they think he will get over with fans if he loses. Not a chance if they are thick headed towards booking they wont change.

WWE even did the same thing with Cena years ago, its pretty pointless really.

While it didnt happen this week but Naomi screaming this is my house during a match is so laughable. I really cant take her seriously from being a funkette to this attitude just doesnt work for her. I know shes supposed to be a heel and a pretty bad one but it just look so fake with her.

Maryse has only been back two weeks now and Id wish she'd piss off already. Cant say id missed her at all and I forgot about her to be honest.

I will say this and I have been very critical of current WWE for years but really enjoyed Raw, and have done for the past 3 shows since mania. Im liking the new guys that have debuted on Raw & Smackdown recently, not so much Corbin but I enjoyed the Duds/Enzo/Cass match and hope they do well in WWE, I really should check out their NXT stuff some time.

Apollo Crews is a great talent, the way he has alot of energy and does some amazing stuff, I could see him becoming a really big star one day in WWE, deffinately a future Main Eventer. The Vaude-Villains yeah thats a nice entrance they have and from the two matches they have had on the main roster yeah been impressed with it.

If WWE ever bring in more NXT guys like this it would be great for the main roster, kinda wish they would and get rid of some of the guys there who ve been there a while that havent impressed me. As long as we dont get any interference in the tag match it could be a great one.

I see Conor McGregor has retired from the UFC tonight (out of the blue) and over the last few weeks he has started to following a lot of wrestlers. Maybe coming over to the WWE? He would be awesome at promos!

Maybe him being ringside last week at the MMA event in Dublin where the fighter died days later after the fight put things in perspective for him

If you believe they aren't connected, well, Jeff Jarrett has some gold to sell you.

Not a bad swap then, UFC get CM Punk, WWE get Conor!

Oh and Rhonda for the Diva.......sorry Women's division!