How we watch Raw

[Fansince1992]

As the title says i'd like to find out how us as WWE fans watch the main show on Monday Nights.


There are a lot of ways Wrestling Fans will watch it, examples :


- Watching the whole show Live
- Watching just thier favourite Stars and watching something else when thier favourites are not on screen.
- Watching the show after it has aired, Skipping all the adverts and Recaps, and skipping content that they feel is boring or uninteresting.
- Not watching at all and catching up with storylines and fueds by reading up what happened on the Internet.


- Also please list the Wrestlers you like or dislike to watch.


For me, sadly i am forced into watching Raw about 6 hours after the live show. I am working every Monday Night when the show begins, and still working when the show ends. If i was Unemployed or worked different hours i would probably watch it Live. I skip past all the adverts and Wrestlers i find uninteresting. I will watch Recaps if it was a great segment, otherwise i'll skip that aswell. In a way not watching Live is pretty good for me as i can get up to date with the storylines in about an hour and 30 mins, on a Tuesday morning.


In order of The Wrestlers/Authority Figures i watch the most :


I'd never skip content that involves the likes of Cena, Ryback, Punk, Vince, AJ (as she is GM she has a huge part in the main fueds, if she were Wrestling with the Diva's i'd likely skip), Miz, HHH, Brock Lesnar, Paul Heyman, Sheamus, Kane & DB.


I would pretty much skip through everything else. I tend to watch snipets of each match or segment, as i don't find the likes of Randy Orton, Big Show, Alberto, Ziggler etc that interesting, to sit there and watch the whole match. I ALWAYS skip through Vikkie Guerrero speeches, i think i would watch Ziggler without skipping, if he were not paired with her. Her screaming voice just go's through me.


So, how do you watch the Flagship show? be as brief or descriptive as you want.

 

[THE Great GAMMA]

I live in South Africa so we only get an episode of Raw 3 weeks after it airs in the US. But we have a site where we can download the episode the next night to our mobile phones. I usually keep track of things by reading the reports on the net (THANK YOU wrestlezone.com ....sorry tried my hand at a Mick Foley plug)
What I would normally do is watch all the interview segments and the last couple of mins of a match except if the Main Event sounds appealing enough.
My wife doesn’t like wrestling much so i would be sitting with my headphones in watching on my mobile while she watches E entertainment or something.
Faves are Daniel Bryan, Punk, Miz, HHH, VKM and the legends (Roack, Austin, Foley)
Would usually skip a Cena segment unless it involves the above and that’s just a personal preference
The same way I prefer Iron man The Hulk and Wolverine to Captain America or Batman to Superman

 

[Wrestlingfanfromuk]

I use to watch the show on youtube the day after as i am from the uk and dont have sky and would skip most matches and just watch promos and ending of matches but now i have found a streaming site where i watch the whole show live.

My favourite will always be Triple H as iv liked him since he first joined the original dx. I also like Undertaker, HBK, Sheamus, Kofi, R-Truth, Sin Cara, Rey, Kane, Christian and few others.
Im not into Ziggler (always be a spirit squad to me), ADR, PTP, Rhodes, Di Biase, CM Punk.

I enjoy watching Raw as its live and anything can happen on live tv (punk hitting fan) and i also enjoy watching TNA as thats live and anything can happen but i think its been a year now since i last watched smackdown and just come on here to see the results.

 

[tomthebodz]

I sometimes watch it live online using Sky Go (Mods this is 100% legal). Raw starts a 1am here so I very rarely get all the way through.

The morning after I'll read the results and then when I get to work I'll watch the decent segments on wwe.com.

If the Raw sounds particularly good I'll watch the Thursday repeat.

 

[brighamosity]

I was watching it like Option C, where I watch it on a delay and skip through stuff I don't find interesting. However, once the three hour Raws started, I found myself skipping through more and more. I stopped watching all together within a month of three hour Raws. It just felt like a waste of time to me. I do still come to this site daily to keep up. I look at it as like when someone reads the sports section or watches ESPN, even though they might not watch the games themselves. I like wrestling, I just don't find WWE particularly interesting in it's current form.

 

[Slowdude]

To make it seem rather sad for myself for the most part of the past three years I've watched Raw live most weeks, i live in Australia so when its live its a Tuesday 10am (currently) - 1pm.

I tend to skip Diva's & Del Rio. I generally spend the three hours playing something on the ps3 as well or if i'm convinced enough whatever game people force me to play on Steam. Though if a good game has came out in the previous week i'd be more inclined to play that then watch Raw.

If anything if I am not really interested in the show I'll probably tune out until the last 10-20 minutes.

 

[MattRhys20]

I watch the first hour, then V+ (for all you U.K people, that's the Virgin Media equivalent of Sky Plus. For you Americans, it's the same as DVR) the next two hours and watch them over breakfast before I head to University the next morning

 

[info62]

Up until early 2008ish I watched the entire show

Starting later that year I started reading recaps the next day and looking for segments/matches involving people I care about. I'll go on youtube and just skip to those segments or matches.

There's absolutely no way I would be able to sit through 3 hours every week, I just don't have enough time to devote to it, and I'm significantly less interested in wrestling as a whole on top of that. Like brighamosity said it just feels like a waste of time.
As for people I wouldn't skip, in current WWE, there aren't many people left. A Riley, Christian, ADR. If they appear on RAW I'll watch them, otherwise I generally don't watch RAW at all anymore. If I see Wade I'll watch his stuff too but I don't go actively searching for his matches so I don't generally see him.

I still usually skim over the entire recaps, but that's mostly for SD.

I don't really Insta-Skip anybody, except I generally refuse to watch AJ or Vickie. Vickie should have left after the Edge/Undertaker storyline. She is the exact same character since 2008 except even more useless.

 

[Deoxyribonucleic A.C.I.D.]

I'm from Greece. Here, we usually get to see RAW 2 or 3 weeks after it's aired, but not the entire episode, only 45 minutes of it. So I catch up with the storylines from the Internet. I check some segments or matches on WWE.com or on Youtube and I feel just fine. There's no reason for me to stay up all night watching RAW form a livestream.

 

[HillBilly]

I used to record it and watch the next day, fast forwarding through commercials but now I don't do that even. I watch the first and last segments only and watch Monday Night Football instead. The 3 hour format is too much and last time I watched the entire episode I felt that way too much time was spent recapping things I had just seen or recapping their recaps.

 

[Bring_Back_Evolution]

I live in England so I record it live on Sky during the early hours of Tuesday morning and watch it right after work the same day.
I watch SmackDown on Friday nights and record NXT and watch it if I have a spare hour.
TNA gets recorded and watched a bit at a time... really isn't gripping me.

Like: CM Punk, Randy Orton, Wade Barrett, Cody Rhodes and Daniel Bryan, Dolph Ziggler. Kane, Christian and Ryback

Dislike: Santino, Brodus Clay, Jinder Mahal, Lil' Jimmy and JOHN CENA

 

[Dagger Dias]

From the initial episode of Raw up until I got married in 2010 I would watch it was on tv, usually while enjoying pizza, especially while I was in college. There were a couple of semesters where my roomies and I would take turns paying for a stuffed crust peperoni lovers from Pizza Hut weekly for Raw. I never missed it, my friends used to joke that you could set your clock by it, by 8PM I would be watching Raw no matter what was going on. The main reason being that I did not have a DVR at the time. My tv I used up until I got married was so old that it still used VHS for recording and I was too lazy to use those tapes to record something.

Then after I got married I began having to DVR it, which I still do. Real life comes first and the wifey obviously takes priority over a tv show regardless of my fandom of it. She watches with me sometimes. I skip every single commercial but as for Raw itself I watch just about the entire episode unless there is a match where I do not care about any of the contenders in it, which is pretty rare. Lately I have found myself skipping if I hear Vickie's EXCUSE ME sometimes, I've gotten a bit sick of her, and divas more often than not are my chance to go grab a snack without fear of missing anything important.

 

[Dr. Mantis Toboggan, M.D.]

I usually watch most of it live, but there are times where I don't have the patients to sit on my couch for 3 hours if it's a bad episode. I will say the wrestlers I don't like to watch and will change the cvhannel when they are on are Dolph Ziggler, The Miz, Zach Ryder, and David Otunga. They bore me to death. I will watch divas matches if Layla is involved tho

 

[HeenanGorilla]

I try to catch the opening each week. After that, I watch something else with Raw in the back of my mind. When "something else" goes to commercial or has a lull, I will check in on RAW. I was about to type "I always make sure to go back for the ending." But, that isn't the case anymore. They hype a main event all night and then start that hyped match 10 minutes before the show ends. When I do give the "main event" a chance, I'm not watching to see Cena's spotfest or hoping for a masterpiece. I am thinking "I hope some swerve occurs and quick so I don't miss more of 'something else'." Heyman being the driver = cool, Lesnar return/crowd reaction = cool, Punk acting like death was staring him in the face, only for Ryback to be shown = not cool. (Not a shot at Ryback and that angle, just not an ending that had me looking forward to next week.)

To me, RAW doesn't give itself enough time to evolve. It's been on forever; but, am I to believe they have so few storylines that are worthy of their patience? Tensai is an example here. Everyone knew it was Albert, but they knew everyone would know it was Albert. So, when you decide to make him a monster heel, don't then kill it and make him "just anyone else" only a few months later. Patience, writers! Or moreso, patience Vince! I think they have an old school thinking that storylines must begin and end between pay-per-views. That is fine when there are 4 a year. When you have monthly pay-per-views---which are $50 RAWs for the most part---that thinking ties your hands. Yes, monthly PPVs are not going away...so use them better! Use the other 8 as storyline boosters, not killers. Then, have the big 4 for climaxes and such.

To answer your question, I really enjoy Sandow. I like Brodus' entrance and love his dancers. I enjoy Ziggler. I enjoy Punk. I was trying to think of more, but if I have to think, they can't be THAT good. I will say that Kofi has been wasted for far too long. And to be honest, the Kane/Bryan angle is funny. "I'm the tag team champions." haha!

Come on WWE, give RAW and its storylines a chance to work. I know there won't be another Mega Powers year-long storyline with partnerships, rough sailing, reconciliation and then explosion. That was gold! But, try to not panic with your ideas. Let them play out. You may find a good one in the heap.

 

[JaylisJayP]

I've tried a couple times since it went to 3 hours, but it's virtually impossible to watch Raw live, and I don't even really care about MNF. I'm on central time and I DVR it. If I start watching any earlier than 9:15, I end up catching up to live TV too quickly and it's painful to sit through the rest until the main event.

My viewing habits, as well, are geared more toward getting enjoyment out of the storylines and not the mostly crappy wrestling on the show, and I'm not going to apologize for that, either. That's what I like watching. So taking that into account, I'm sure I watch no more than 25 total minutes of the show each week.

Up until last month I used to do the same thing with Smackdown but I just don't even bother anymore.

 

[Fisheatppl]

3 hours is quite long nowadays. This past Raw I kept checking my phone for the time, and I'd go "9:20? There's no way." I usually tend to watch it live but flip back and forth between it and Monday Night Football, and I'll watch anything I find entertaining. Unless the Redskins are playing then I won't watch Raw live.

I keep it on for pretty much anything involving the WWE Championship and for John Cena (like most others I wish he would change, but the fact is the top story usually revolves around him so I feel like I'd be missing out if I didn't watch for him). Can't miss Team Hell No (I prefered Goat Fire but there were no write ins), usually the Miz, and now Ryback. I used to skip Ryback because I didn't care about another squash match, but since he's being used I won't miss him. I usually won't skip it for Kofi, because he's always entertaining, and depending on the circumstances I won't flip away from Dolph, but recently he hasn't done anything so there's nothing to miss. Not his fault, it would be like if Stone Cold or the Rock came out and just stood there, you don't want to miss them, but in essence you're watching a person not move, and football is on.

Everything else is pretty much hit and miss. If it is interesting I'll stay on, but I usually flip the channel away for Santino (its always the same), and for the Divas.

After football is over I usually just watch the whole thing through, unless there is a movie or something on, but Monday's from 10-11 is dead TV anyway.

 

[thebowtiekiller]

im also in england it used to start at two am live on sky sports but now its three hours its one am i sometimes stay up and watch it if im not busy the next day if not i tape it it used to also show on the following friday night followed by smackdown on the satday night think its differant now but i used to watch it then but im too tempted to look up the results during the week now which ruins it a bit for me lol i like team hell no at the moment but i usually cant be bothered to watch the divas big show mark henry the miz and dolph ziggler dont entertain me much either

 

[boywithbluehanger]

I normally watch the entire show as it airs every week. Then I hate myself for it a minute after its off. Even for a great movie, 3 hrs is just way too long. And movies are the epitome of filmed entertainment (in my opinion). So you can imagine how awful 3 hrs can be for a wrestling show. Its one of those cases where no one asked for it because no one wanted it. Many times, 2 hrs of RAW felt too long with the lack of crowd-grabbing guys. But now that we have the extra hr, it often feels stretched way too thin.

I say, cut about 10 guys from the roster, take RAW back to 2 hrs, and keep the start time at 8pm (Eastern time).

 

[RD_21]

I have a DVR so I watch the opening segment, then I will pause the TV and go play my PS3. I then comeback an hour later or two and start fast forwarding (slow or real fast depending on the segments) and I watch some segments that interest me.

Superstars that interest me;
- CM Punk
- Dolph Ziggler
- Bryan and Kane
- Antonio Cesaro (slow fast forward or watch)
- Ryback
- Miz

Superstars that get skip completly unless they are with one of my favorites;
- John Cena (and when he speak and does his stupid pandering he usually get skip until the other talk)
- Tag team matches (medium fast forward, they destroyed the division too much for too long for me to care all of the sudden, they have to prove me wrong first)

Superstars that get an automatic skip no matter what
- Sheamus
- Kofi Kingston

 

[jungledeano]

I live in the UK so RAW usually airs too late for me to watch it live. Usually I just tape and watch the next day. Which is good, because I can skip all of the nonsense I don't want to watch. Stuff I skip being:

-Anything with Alberto Del Rio
-Anything with Sheamus (you can imagine how bored I was with that feud.)
-Anything with divas in it (unless it's with Beth, Natalia or Layla. You know, divas that can actually wrestle)
-Most tag team matches, although as of late I've gotten more interested in it.
-Any attempts at comedy which are unbearable.

Stuff I like to watch.
-Cena (yep, that's right.)
-Punk
-Vince McMahon
-Ryback
-Paul Heyman
-Lesnar when he's around.
-Damien Sandow (especially promo work and in singles action. Not overtly keen on the Rhodes Scholars teaming)
-Kane and DB. Although I liked DB when he was a singles guy too. I'm a huge mark for the yes/no chants.
-Ziggler, and I would be even more interested if WWE would let Vicky sod off and let him breath on his own for once.

I usually have no problem with the three hour format, I just feel that three hours (2.15 if you count ads, etc) is just too long. I just don't have time to watch three hours. The longer RAW episodes have made me want to watch wrestling less if anything because I, along with most people, feel that they don't have enough going on to fill the show time. I can say I pretty much only watch about an hour to an hour and a half based on what is going on. Which is pretty much the same content as a two hour raw (again, taking ads into consideration.) At the moment, if you asked me to sit through the entire thing without skipping, I would find it a struggle. Which I'm sure is not the feeling WWE want their audience to have.

 

[akathelaw]

Lately, I DVR the whole 3 hour show and fast forward through commercials and uninteresting segments. I used to enjoy the whole show but 3 hours makes things spread out a lot more.

I never miss anything Daniel Bryan is involved in. He makes everything he does count, not one bad match in his WWE career so far.

Other guys I like to follow right now are The Miz, Rhodes Scholars, PrimeTime Players, Ryback, Cesaro, and CM Punk.

I am becoming bored with Ziggler, Ryder, Big Show and Del Rio.

 

[suleman09]

I'm crazy about the WWE so for me...

I make sure I am home by 7:50pm, either home from shool, work or the gym and I make sure I have my dinner in hand and teh volume up high and I love watching it live!! I get mad if i don't get to watch it live and something happens forcing me to watch it later lol My family knows on monday nights to leave the main floor's tv alone! lol

But most of the family sits and watches anyways so its all good lol

I love watching what CM Punk is going to do every week because he is entertaining on the mic and in the ring

I'm actually beginning to WANT to see Dolph Ziggler compete, like this past monday i was waiting, then I was upset that it was that kind of match

Daniel Bryan and Kane are very entertaining to me so i love watching their stuff

AJ is interesting so i enjoy watching her too (pleasant to the eyes too) lol

 

[Leakee]

I watch it the next tuesday on YouTube due to the fact it is on at 1am in UK. I also watch iMPACT and Smackdown on YouTube too. I normally just watch the segments and main events on Smackdown as I find the edited in pops extremely annonying and Smackdown isn't amazing. I also watch stream pay-per-views. Obviously I won't disclose the link

Edit: Oops, forgot to add who I like to watch!

I love watching all of Raw as I'm crazy about the show, especially Cena, the reason being he puts all of the emotion in...
Favourite Faces: Ryback, Cena, Kofi (That kick on Miz was amazing by the way!) ***
Favourite Heels: The ONE MAN BAAAAND, Damien Sandow, Zigzag, CM Punk
Guys I can't stand: Otunga, Epico+Primo, Pretty much every diva :')

***Honourable Mention to Tyson Kidd!

 

[Superman's Erection]

I watch Raw the old fashioned way while its on live to avoid facebook/twitter spoilers. I go to Monday night football or a local sports game when something I don't like is on. My favorites to watch right now are (1) CM Punk (2) Daniel Bryan (3) Damien Sandow (4) Kofi Kingston

 

[Boourns]

I live in the UK and stream all the WWE shows the day after they air and technically skip through the adverts (they're already taken out.) and re-caps. I also skip divas matches and if I'm trying to save time because I have stuff to do I'll skip through entrances and matches that don't really interest me off the cuff. I like watching almost everyone, I never watch Ryback's entrances though, it's so lame. I like his matches though, not a fan of "Feed Me More!" either though, it sounds stupid. I love watching Daniel Bryan and Damien Sandow. Everyone else are fine with me, there's other obvious people who I love watching but, they're just that. I forgot to add, I always skip stuff like the Suzie G Kolmenn bits, the troops in the crowd and in the past two/three weeks the Jerry Lawler re-caps. (any point after he did his first interview after the heart attack.)

Edit: Titus O'Neil is another one I love watching, his ring work and mic work are both great and I absolutely love his trash talking in the ring and stuff he does for WWE online, he's hilarious, confident and talented. Just like Sandow and Bryan...