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I'm sure you've had a tremendous influx of questions and comments with RAW moving to Netflix. I have plenty of my own, but hopefully this will be a different take than what you've gotten already, so here goes. I had a friend message me who was also a lapsed fan. He started watching in the Attitude era and didn't keep up with the product for the most part for quite some time. He was catching up with some of the content on Netflix prior to Jan 6th and RAW. He had some interesting observations which I felt were noteworthy given he's getting back up to speed, WWE wise. My friend is in his 30's, for reference. Definitely in the key demo.
1. He was very impressed with how the women's division has improved, and he thought Rhea Ripley was an absolute standout. I think this reflects well on the overall state of the women in WWE, as well as he was able to zero in on who the top star is. Thoughts?
I agree with him. Rhea is a breakout star with the it factor but beyond that, the level of talent in the women’s division is an embarrassment of riches. They have that because of the effort they have put in to signing and developing talent, and the same holds true for the men. The creative team does an amazing job. I am so glad Vince McMahon was out to pasture, where he belongs.
2. As far as the men, he didn't understand the popularity of Jey Uso, but thought Drew McIntyre is awesome. Again, I thought it was interesting that he pointed to Drew, who is also a top guy. I think this speaks to the overall presentation of top acts by WWE as they are made to feel special for the most part, and he saw that. What say you?
He liked Rhea. He liked Drew. They both look like the prototypical top stars due to their awesome looks. With Jey, he missed all of the trials and tribulations that Jey went through to get where he is today. It’s kind of like coming in at the end of a TV show or movie. You won’t understand why certain things are happening because you didn’t take the whole ride.
3. And of course, he was amazed by the production values. He wasn't keen on the ring mat, though.
The production has gotten so much better under Lee Fitting, that’s for sure. I can see why he was surprised by the advertising on the mat since that didn’t happen back in his day but this ain’t Vince McMahon’s WWE anymore (thank God). TKO is all about the Benjamins.
Do we know what the internal WWE/TKO reaction to Hogan's reception was? And do we know if it's given them pause on doing anything more with Hogan, the beer deal notwithstanding?
All I can say is that the people I spoke with told me that they heard the reaction and were surprised by it. Obviously, if they knew what was going to happen they wouldn’t have sent Hogan out there as he was the only pimple on the entire night. What that means going forward, I can’t say, but it wouldn’t surprise me they choose to pre-tape any future appearances.
Jon Moxley called out anyone in the back who doesn't like "what we're trying to do here". Maybe I missed it, but what exactly is it they're trying to do?
I wish I could answer that because I don’t know what the direction of AEW actually is. To me it just comes off as badly booked stories, undefined characters and a lot of moves. I would love for it to be more than that but as long as Tony Khan is in charge, it doesn’t seem like that will happen. I don’t know what Mox means because they are doing what Tony wants them to do.
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