During this week's episode of Figure Four Daily, Lance Storm took a number of questions from fans, and was asked to share his thoughts on RAW Underground. The controversial, and poorly received, new RAW segment features what are billed as legit fights between Superstars.
However, as Storm notes, there could be some real issues with this concept moving forward. "To me, the issue is you debuted it with what I would consider a UFC knockout highlight real where there were 4 matches in under 2 minutes. That’s less than 30 seconds a fight. If this gets over, they are in real trouble because the suddenness and the violence of a 30 second first-round KO is great, but you have a 3-hour show to fill."
"If Dolph Ziggler does a great amateur takedown, a go behind, chokes this guy out, you say, Ziggler looked awesome," Storm continues. "Yeah, he did, but if he has to do a pro wrestling match on RAW next week and go 12 minutes, I think there is the real fear of what happened to badass Dolph that can beat a guy in 30 seconds? So, I think the double edge sword is if RAW Underground doesn’t get over, then it’s a failed concept and it doesn’t get over. If it gets over, what do you do? You can’t do a 3-hour show with 30-second fights."
Storm went on to explain that there are arguably better ways to handle RAW Underground. "If you would have debuted with Chad Gable and Matt Riddle in there and done more of the Josh Barnett Bloodsport match where they had a more realistic, more violent, 8-minute match, then if it gets over, you start doing more of that. When you start with the greatest knockout reel of all time with 20-second finishes, I think you run the risk of anything else is going to seem long, slow, and dull."
It's impossible to argue with anything here, and RAW Underground backfiring on WWE seems like a certainty. Then again, WWE have surprised us many times in the past, and there is a chance these segments could eventually get over with fans.
We'll just have to wait and see.