Heat, ECW, Talent Exchange...???

[AnthonyMango/NoFate007]

Breaking News: Major WWE Changes Coming Soon
05/23/2008 by Ryan Clark

According to a new report by PWInsider, WWE will be pulling the plug on the Heat series that airs every week on WWE.com and will be bringing ECW on Sci Fi tapings to the Raw brand starting this June after a company tour of Australia.

The plan at this point is to have the ECW brand performers at the Raw tapings as a way to increase interest and ratings for ECW on Tuesday night, making it now taped one day earlier on Monday night's before the live broadcast of Raw.

With the company making this move it has been assumed that all ECW talent will join up with Raw house show events as well, but this hasn't been confirmed. As a result, the Smackdown brand would become stand-alone TV taping and house show events.

WWE has informed TV affiliates that a "WWE Classics" series utilizing old footage would be replacing Heat very soon.

Didn't think this fit on any of the specific brand forums, but if mods think so, feel free to move it.

So what are your feelings about this?

Personally, I don't see why they're doing it. Heat isn't anything amazing, but it did mean more wrestling (just on WWE.com and for the audience to watch). Any fans of the people that are normally relegated to Heat don't get to see them as much anymore.

At the same time, one of the weird things has always been that they taped Smackdown before ECW, so you'd have spoilers for things that haven't happened yet. Now we've got things going on for ECW before we even have the flagship show telling us what's brand new. What about the upcoming 3 hour show? Are they going to film an hour of ECW, then 3 hours of live Raw, all on one night?

Also, does this mean that the Smackdown/ECW talent exchange won't happen anymore? That's a shame if that's true, because Raw doesn't have enough time for its own roster, let alone ECW's. The S/E exchange was one of the best things to happen to both brands in my opinion.

Your thoughts, concerns, cheers, boos?

[TheOneBigWill]

This is the world's biggest mistake. Raw is their flagship show, it doesn't need to have E.C.W. combined with them.

While I understand this is more to boost E.C.W. ratings than Raw ratings, because the spoiler would be out a day ahead of time and people would tune in, (or it'll backfire and more people WON'T tune in) overall this is hurting the Smackdown brand greatly.

Whether you liked it or not, seeing guys like John Morrison & The Miz v. Smackdown Tag Teams. Shelton Benjamin v. Matt Hardy, even (forbid) C.M. Punk v. Edge.. all of those matches will never happen now.. and instead we'll get Morrison/Miz v. Cryme Tyme or Rhodes/Holly? Benjamin v. Jericho?! FORBID - Punk v. any Main Eventer on Raw.

Honestly, I don't like this move one bit. Because its going to hurt the overall popularity of Smackdown, since it'll cut back on the Superstars they use. Afterall, Raw is stacked with talent already and likely wouldn't use E.C.W. stars to begin with. Smackdown/E.C.W.'s talent exchange worked perfectly, as it gave us something new and it gave us great matches.

I give this through the Summer before the W.W.E. realizes its bombing bigtime for not only E.C.W. (still) but it'll begin to show effects on harming Smackdown. The truly hilarious thing would be if they used E.C.W. guys more often on Raw, that started getting people to tune OUT of watching Raw.

Of course to end on a 'happy note' the flip side could show more Raw guys wrestling on E.C.W., which SHOULD improve their ratings greatly. So I suppose we'll see how this works in July more than likely.

[incrediblesim]

I think this is the biggest indication yet that a draft is coming. This is a stupid move for three reasons-

1. So if ECW is taped before RAW then the Talent Exchange with SmackDown has to end. IMO this is a bad move. Slowly as new ECW guys came to the fore SmackDown's Roster would have filled out again and we would get some good programming going on there. Now SmackDown is back to its thin Roster and if any one of the Undertaker, Edge or Batista gets injured then what happens to SmackDown will not be good.

2. RAW doesn't need ECW. This more for ECW then it is for RAW. But to boost the Ratings why can't you just improve the product. I think even the WWE will agree that they aren't utilizing ECW like they could.

3. This could have an adverse affect on RAW. No doubt this is a move to get more ECW guys on RAW and vice-versa. RAW doesn't have enough time for guys on its own roster. Add Punk, Miz/Morrison, Elijah/Shelton, Kane and Chavo and the programming will suffer of overcrowd.

[The Mark of Zur-En-Arrh]

I think its funny that Kane was forced to leave the Raw roster forever and now he is gonna go back again. Also are Miz and Morrison going to jus hand back the tag titles or stay on Smackdown? The obvious answer is they'll drop the belts the week b4 this happens to Jesse/Festus or Wang Yang/Moore which will suck bcoz they're currently being pushed as dominant tag team champs not jus heels who cheat to win.

The talent exchange is a great idea in general bcoz i don't watch ECW. I only ever see Raw and Smackdown bcoz the repeats are on earlier whereas ECW isn't so i don't bother, but i still get to see ECW guys on Smackdown which is good. But if they're not going to continue that with Raw then that's a lot of exposure being taken away from the talent which won't help them to get over. Bad move WWE, bad move

[OIL]

There is only one good thing that can come from this.

Kelly Kelly and Layla on RAW. =]

But on a more serious note, lol, it could be better for RAW, because it brings all the CM Punk fans to RAW, meaning more viewers, higher ratings ect. (Apparently CM Punk is a hit with the merchendise sales). Plus, it means more Divas can wrestle on ECW, giving them exposure on worldwide television. Someone like Katie Lea, for example.

I suppose the only other benifit, which most probably won't happen, is more hardcore matches on RAW? I know it's a long shot, but it would be something different that can appeal to a wide genre of fans, giving them something different to watch each week, besides matt wrestling.

It also gives more exposure to ECW, with their wrestlers on RAW, meaning higher ratings for ECW hopefully, as the RAW fans will see the ECW guys, and if they like them, they'll tune in.

Downsides are agreed with what was said above, it will hurt SmackDown! like a bitch. I can't see how SmackDown! can continue with their ratings if the big stars get taken off. True, the RAW ratings may increase, but the SmackDown! ratings are going to plummet. The only way this would work is if in the draft, SmackDown! got a few top RAW guys, such as Randy Orton. If HHH wasn't so intent on being on the top brand, his move to SmackDown! would be amazing.

Either way, we're gonna have to wait and see how this affects the WWE.

[AnthonyMango/NoFate007]

Smackdown's ratings are going to take a plunge already with the move from CW to MyNetworkTV...now that they'll have less people to work with, we're going to get Finlay/Palumbo for 5 weeks in a row lol.

The only way this works, I think, is if you force the ECW talent to work both shows. Have them tape before Raw, but still have to show up on Smackdown. Or....and I know this one wouldn't happen...actually balance out Raw and Smackdown. Raw has too many promos and less wrestling, Smackdown has more wrestling and less promos generally, so if you balance them out and give more wrestling to Raw and less to Smackdown, then you can effectively balance out the rosters (where Smackdown doesn't have 4 main event guys - Edge, Taker, Big Show, and Batista while Raw has HHH, HBK, Cena, Orton, Umaga, Hardy, Jericho, Kennedy, and Regal) and give the undercard guys their spots. Otherwise, Raw will just become "Raw's main event talent and ECW's main event talent".

Another note...how is this going to help boost ECW's ratings? Typically, people that watch the WWE watch all the shows, so its not like they'll suddenly go "hey, wait, there's an ECW?" And having the taping on before Raw, that just makes it so the people that were in the live audience for Raw now knows what's going on for ECW, so they don't need to tune in to find out. The people that are watching Raw on TV have no clue what's going on for ECW unless they read spoilers, which the WWE tries to get people away from! And if you read spoilers, you don't feel like you need to watch it as much as you already know what's going to happen lol. This move makes no sense to me. Hurt Smackdown, force your talent to do 4 hour shows instead of 3 hour shows once in a while, possibly put Raw talent off TV, and don't even help ECW anyway. I don't think they're going to have to do this long before they realize that it isn't working and they go back to their normal schedule.

[buddy_z34]

i think they are doing it to boost ECW's ratings. by having some of the RAW superstars compteting in ECW. maybe a Jericho or an Umaga on ECW will boost ratings a bit. plus it gives us more fueds on RAW.

we have been complaining that the feuds on RAW have been repeats so getting new faces in there should change things around.

also this could mean a draft is coming up soon. sending alot of wrestlers to SD.

alot of you guys are bashing the move but it could come out being good when the dust settles.

[Rusty]

For starters, there was no point of Heat other than to get guys like Haas, Super Crazy and Londrick wrestle because they weren't need on Raw. I'm actually surprised they didn't axe it earlier.

I'm convinced the WWE dislikes Smackdown! Remember the draft last year how much Smackdown got screwed. Now they can't use ECW talent which I think worked well as I liked the talent exchange.

Having Raw talent on ECW and vice versa won't gain any ratings in my opinion. Even Tna is getting lower ratings along with Raw and ECW. I personally watch Raw to see Raw superstars, I watch ECW to see ECW superstars and maybe a few from SD and I watch Smackdown mainly to see Smackdown superstars. Its almost like there aren't any brands anymore but just 3 shows a week as guys like CM Punk, Shelton Benjamin etc usually wrestle on two shows.

The only way ECW is going to gain viewers is to have Extreme Rules Matches much more often, draft popular main event superstars to the brand and actually have more storylines. Now that ECW is going to be taped before Raw, I actually think it will backfire as people wont get to see ECW live on T.v so they can therefore read the spoilers a day in advance.

Even if Raw and ECW do gain ratings from this, Smackdown's ratings will probably decline unless we have a draft that we so desperately need right now. Also, like many others have mentioned, Raw barely has enough time to fit all their wrestlers on the show yet alone adding superstars from ECW to it.

The should have kept it this way... Monday- Live Raw Tapings
Tuesday- Smackdown and Live ECW tapings.

I think this move shows that the WWE is getting really really really desperate for ratings.

[Danmen001]

Ya know, I was surprised this thread wasn't titled, "Heat, ECW, No-talent exchange."

My thoughs on title aside I think this is a positive and a negative. There are things about moving ECW that are good and bad, as well as getting rid of heat. Which in Australia btw, is played on TV.

Originally Posted by NoFate007

So what are your feelings about this?

Personally, I don't see why they're doing it. Heat isn't anything amazing, but it did mean more wrestling (just on WWE.com and for the audience to watch). Any fans of the people that are normally relegated to Heat don't get to see them as much anymore.

At the same time, one of the weird things has always been that they taped Smackdown before ECW, so you'd have spoilers for things that haven't happened yet. Now we've got things going on for ECW before we even have the flagship show telling us what's brand new. What about the upcoming 3 hour show? Are they going to film an hour of ECW, then 3 hours of live Raw, all on one night?

Also, does this mean that the Smackdown/ECW talent exchange won't happen anymore? That's a shame if that's true, because Raw doesn't have enough time for its own roster, let alone ECW's. The S/E exchange was one of the best things to happen to both brands in my opinion.

Your thoughts, concerns, cheers, boos?

First of all, on the topic of heat. They are replacing Heat with a classic wrestling tapes program, which I am actually looking forward too. That will be an interesting wathc I reckon, im not entirely sure which era I will be watching, be even though heat was ok I am actually very happy about this decision.

On to the ECW thing. Now my first thing is notice here is that it is now, Raw/ECW talent exchange. I am thinking that this probably will help with the rating of ECW, which will include CM Punk who is over and will sell ratings.

But the downside the this is that, do they really really have time for the Raw roster which is packed full of over stars, and the ECW roster as well. I think not, ECW will get squashed in there.

Smackdown is going to be downhill, and I reckon that they won't have enough of a roster to live by, hopefully the draft will fix that big time. Smackdown will probably drop in rating maybe. I underline is because it carried the show, and they need a fix but they haven't got much going on.

[HellBoundPower]

This is a HUGE mistake. I personally think that the SmackDown/ECW Talent Exchange is one of the only things keeping both shows alive. There are just too many people on the Raw Roster to be able to have ECW on there as well. I think they should just stick to what they have now. There's no point in fixing what isn't broken. I think the formula they have going now is good, and they need to stick with it.