WWE returned from their European tour this week and gave us an okay Raw on the road to WWE Payback. Even though the matches were good on paper, the results were predictable.
The in-ring debut of Anderson and Gallows was good and the AJ-Reigns storyline is a breath of fresh air. The tag team tournament final situation is in an interesting one too. The Vaudevillains have been given mic time recently, and its given them a chance to show more of their characters.
The crowd at Hartford, CT started off hot, but they got quieter as the night went along, which isn’t what WWE wants. The fans were more into promos than matches, which I found a little surprising. They did have some great signs though, and those are always a pleasure. With that being said, I’m back once again this week to compile the top 10 fan signs from Raw.
10: Say hello, to the Cesaro Section
If you’ve read any of my earlier ‘fan signs’ articles, you must have noticed that the Cesaro Section sign has appeared. I’m a huge Cesaro fan, so I’ll defend this by pointing out that there were too many Cesaro Section signs to ignore. The fans just love him. Whatever ‘it’ is, Cesaro has it. And the fans know it. Cesaro was born to wrestle, and he makes it look so easy.
WWE’s mini-push for him since the night after Wrestlemania has been very refreshing and fans are once again getting behind Cesaro in droves. The Cesaro Section is here to stay, and this time WWE know it too.
9: Booty-Os advertise themselves
Let’s be honest, if Booty-Os were ever a real product, they would sell themselves. Who needs to advertise Booty-Os when they already sponsor WWE #1 contender’s tournaments and half the New Day signs in the crowd refer to them. Every week when I write this column, I have to choose between 5 Booty-Os signs to choose which one to put on the post.
This week’s customary Booty-Os post is very simple and to the point. I finally know why I haven’t ever been cool, I’ve never had my Booty-Os.
8: This isn’t 1999
Check out the sign in front of the “YES!” sign. What do those 4 letters spell? Is that an “X-Pac” sign? In 2016? Why? Sean ‘X-Pac’ Waltman hasn’t been relevant, in a wrestling sense, since the dying days of the Attitude Era. I have no idea why this fan decided to dedicate his fan to X-Pac, maybe it was ironic?
He should have just gotten a ‘Roman Sucks’ sign like everyone else.
7: Wordplay!
Samy Zayn is slowly showing the main roster what he’s made of. He’s getting bigger crowd reactions every week and his match with Owens at Payback will be a clinic. Zayn is the closest thing to a fan favourite pure babyface that the WWE have had since Daniel Bryan. He’s wrestled across the world on the independent scene and is highly respected by fans. He’s also one of the best workers the WWE has right now, as his Takeover match with Shinsuke Nakamura proved.
This fan paid tribute to Samy Zayn and Dean Ambrose with a bit of wordplay. InZayn Asylum indeed.
6: Realest guys in the room
It’s crazy how over Enzo and Cass are with fans on the main roster. Every time their music hits the crowd explodes and screams Enzo’s intro promo with him. It’s as close to an Attitude Era pop you can get in the PG era environment. They only ones more popular with fans is probably The New Day. Imagine when these two teams face off against each other, the crowd is going to be raucous and the match is going to be great.
We’ve seen some great Enzo and Cass signs since their main roster debut and this week we see another. This group of fans definitely were definitely excited when the ‘realest guys in the room’ came out.
5: The days of the demon are here?
Finn Balor once again teased debuting on Raw this week. Once again, he played us. Although I’m sure that Balor will debut soon, I was still disappointed. Fans have been waiting for Balor’s main roster debut since Anderson and Gallows signed with WWE earlier this year.
This fan in attendance at Hartford looked all ready for Balor’s debut too, with a ‘Finn Balor has risen’ sign. Sorry to disappoint you mate, but he hasn’t. Yet.
4: Watch out Renee!
This was one of the best signs in the crowd this week. It caught my attention as soon as Ambrose came out and I found it hilarious. The sign said “Watch out Renee, I’m Dean Ambrose’s future wife”.
Well, at least this fan has conviction and knows what she wants. I can’t say either about myself. Renee Young however can breathe easy knowing that WWE aren’t coming back to Hartford anytime soon.
Side note: Even though Ambrose has been booked into the ground recently despite good performances, fans are absolutely nuts for him. I don’t know why WWE don’t pull the trigger on him. They’re probably afraid his popularity will upstage Roman.
3: A house divided
Is it fair to say that Roman Reigns is polarizing? Either you love him or you hate him, or at least that’s what it seems like. Every time he comes out he’s met with cheers drowned out by a tsunami of boos. I was genuinely surprised at how unpopular Roman was last Monday night. His promo with The Uso’s even got chants of “We can’t hear you”.
However, as I said, Roman definitely has his share of fans, and they aren’t afraid to show it. This fan made it clear that the main reason she came to see Raw was to be part of the Roman Empire.
2: That’s hilarious!
These two signs caught my eye as Roman was entering the ring and they had me in stitches. They were absolute gold. They asked an obvious question but I’m sure we’ve wondered the same at some point. Why is Roman’s hair so wet? Does he shampoo before coming out?
All jokes apart, Roman looks like the hatred of the crowd is slowly getting to him. Roman is a hard worker and a company guy, but he doesn’t know how to handle the tidal wave of boos.
1: Legends never die
Earlier this week, news broke that Chyna had passed away. The whole world of professional wrestling entered into a mourning period, remembering one of the industry’s trailblazers. Even though Chyna had a very turbulent relationship with WWE, she always had a special place in fans’ hearts.
While it was nice to see that WWE had put together a video recognizing her career, it was even nicer to see the many signs in the crowd remembering Chyna. As this fan correctly points out, Chyna IS DX, forever.
