RAW IS WAR (WWE Raw)

Member Name: adambrown400

Product:	WWE Raw
Date:	14/07/09 (25 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Some good moments

Disadvantages: too much drivel and adverts

WWE Raw is World Wrestling Entertainment's flagship show and can be currently seen on Sky Sports 3. It's a two hour show that sets up the various feuds between the wrestling 'stars' so that they can deck each other in steel cages or with large bats at pay per view shows. Raw is apparently the longest running serial show on American television and is on every week.

The format of the show is basically the same every week. The stars of the day come out into the ring at whatever sports stadium they happen to be at that week and they either berate their opponent or the audience. Their 'enemy' then comes out onto the stage and taunts them further, usually leading to fisticuffs before a fight is officially announced by Vince McMahon or another official.

From then on, several wrestling matches take place. These could be women's wrestling, tag team bouts, or more comic fighting - depending on who it is. The announce team - at the moment fronted by Jerry the King Lawler and Michael Cole call the matches and bring us up to date of the feuds - as well as plugging the various WWE merchandise such as the website or upcoming pay per views. The show is also segmented by behind the scenes vignettes with the stars or interviews with oily muscley men. The main event is usually a match between the two guys that started the show off. Nearly always there is a surprise ending to the show so that you watch next week.

Because Raw is a supposed live show, the two hours generally overrun and some things do go wrong. Wrestling as we all know is a scripted event with everything including all the moves staged for dramatic effect. This realisation when it 'came out' in the early 80's didn't dampen the WWE's spirits or audience and in recent years has seen a massive interest in its product. It's a massive money making machine that primarily is aimed at young boys, but has a huge following across the board with women and older people enjoying the show.

Quite a lot of the programme can be fast forwarded - especially if you have Sky+. There is, after you forward the adverts and the boring stuff, about an hour of show to watch. I enjoy both brands of the WWE product - this and Smackdown. There really isn't very much to distinguish between them. However, I hate John Cena! In all, I know wrestling is fake, but 'great' wrestlers like Bret Hart, Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit did have a real showmanship about them. It looked real and painful - but Cena is the worst wrestler ever and relies too much on his rapper gimmick. Technically he really is rubbish - I usually forward anything with Cena in it.

The announcing by Jerry the King is usually entertaining, but Michael Cole can be a little drab. If you want to see Raw properly, then record the live version instead of watching the edited version that is show during the day. If you do, you will get to see the chair shots and the more risky moves that are usually cut out of the edited version.

It's hard to recommend Raw to anyone. Unless you enjoy wrestling - then you probably watch it anyway. There are some genuinely good matches to watch on Raw - and Santino makes me laugh. So give it a go!

Summary: A good flagship show