I'm a lot happier on RAW. I actually can't overthink how much better I think I am on RAW than I was on Smackdown. And I don't really know the reason why that is. I feel like I look more at home here, and I feel like I look like I belong here. It's pretty obvious that RAW's the place for me.
'SmackDown,' I feel, has more excitement than 'Raw,' even though 'Raw' is always branded as the flagship show.
I just look at like, if I'm doing 200 plus dates a year on the road with Raw or SmackDown, or I'm doing a manageable load of 30 to 50 matches with NXT - I can do four years of that in the time that I do one year on Raw or SmackDown.
I do believe that Raw, SmackDown, and NXT are the three brands, and I think that people can come from Raw or SmackDown to NXT, and I think that people from NXT can go to Raw or SmackDown. It's very interchangeable.
When I was on SmackDown, there wasn't really competition against Raw in our locker room. It was more about how we could build the brand as a whole, not so much against Raw. I think that drove us to show what our women could do.
I was on 'Monday Night Raw' - and nobody realizes this - every time you go from 'Raw' to 'SmackDown' or 'SmackDown' to 'Raw,' it shakes up your career; it shakes up your life.
When I originally debuted in 2011, I was on 'SmackDown.' At the time, they were separate from 'RAW,' so I feel at home on 'SmackDown.'
I think 'Raw' is complacent in the fact that 'Raw's' been the flagship of WWE. 'Smackdown' wants to be number one.
You come to these thresholds in your life where you need to remember why you do what you do, to reconnect with yourself. When I look back at something like 'Raw Like Sushi,' I think I was very much in the right place at the right time.
I enjoy doing scenes where I don't wear make-up and I can be raw. I like that. I feel like it's easier to act. When I have to have make-up on, I feel like I'm expected to look a certain way, and then it's harder to act because I'm more self-conscious.
I say it often, that I feel like I'm just living out the Story Mode in 'Smackdown vs. RAW' that I always used to play.
It's odd to look out there and see a bunch of Mini-Mes," says Williams. "You're wondering what possessed them to do such a thing . . . It sort of does a reverse psychology on you. You'd think you'd be like `Hey, all these people want to look like me. I feel pretty cool.' But actually it makes you feel more self aware and I'm not really fond of that.
I've often tried to describe how memory works. I've suggested this to students, and told them to close their eyes and try to remember what I look like. Then I ask them if they remember what I look like. But when you open your eyes you will be surprised how different what you thought I looked like is to what I actually look like. Because the imagination is a different raw material from actual vision. Memory is very different from the thing itself.
There's a level of exposure that 'Smackdown' and 'Raw' get that other brands like 'NXT,' 'NXT UK,' and '205 Live' do not get. But at the same time, I feel like I would not be who I am without '205 Live.'
I love you in–in every kind of way.’ ‘I feel like that too . . .’ His voice is shocked and raw. ‘It’s – it’s a feeling so big I sometimes think it’s going to swalow me. It’s so strong I feel it could kil me. It keeps growing and I can’t – I don’t know what to do to stop it. But – but we’re not supposed to do this – to love each other like this!
The goal is become the top person on 'Raw,' the example on 'Raw,' the John Cena, the ultimate workhorse of 'Raw.'
I feel like when you do things with such a small budget, it actually makes you be more creative... and allows you to concentrate more on the story and the characters. I think that there is something about dirty, gritty and raw filmmaking that makes it feel a little more natural and makes it easier to connect with the action.