Posted in: Sports, TV, WWE | Tagged: John Cena, Raw, raw underground, wrestling, wwe

John Cena, Who Doesn't Have to Participate, Praises Raw Underground

Published Fri, 07 Aug 2020 18:05:28 -0500

Global entertainment superstar John Cena, who has left WWE behind and no longer has to participate in asinine storylines or ridiculous gimmicks, has come out in favor of WWE's recently-introduced Raw Underground. Cena called the concept an opportunity for WWE's beleaguered superstars and said it's up to them to make the best of it. Cena made the comments in a recent interview with Newsweek.

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"[RAW Underground] is an opportunity," Cena said. "I think any paradigm shift, any big announcement, anything in that world that is ever-changing, constantly-pivoting, there is always a search for growth. It's an opportunity, that's exactly what it is. So, I think it needs a little bit of time to find itself."

Raw Underground debuted on the most recent episode of WWE Monday Night Raw. The concept is that Shane McMahon, the large adult son of WWE CEO Vince McMahon, has set up an underground fight club in a warehouse connected to the WWE Performance Center. In Raw Underground, wrestlers compete in a ring with the ropes removed in matches that end when Shane McMahon has declared one competitor has had enough. To accentuate the edgy nature of the concept, three scantily-clad go-go dancers shake their booties to accompanying the fighting.

While Cena did admit that it's possible WWE won't know what to do with the concept, as happens with many concepts, Cena said the onus is on WWE's performers to make it work. "And in all things, if it lacks creative definition from the top, I really hope performers embrace the unknown, and they define it," he said.

Though Raw Underground is meant to be a gritty production, Monday's installment featured over 100 camera cuts across two short segments, a symptom of WWE producer Kevin Dunn's obsession with quick cuts. As a result, some of the grittiness was lost to slick production values. However, despite it all, Raw's rating actually increased with the debut of Raw Underground, so maybe John Cena is onto something after all.

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