When you get right down to business, does Raw suck as much as some claim?

[Jack-Hammer]

I've looked over the forum and one thing I've noticed quite that no matter which section you're in, there are a lot of posts regarding or at least mentioning Raw and how much it sucks. Now, going by the forum, it would seem that Raw seems to be in the shithouse but, then again, it's been said that the IWC makes up about 10% of the WWE audience at the most, some suggest the number is even less. Right now, hands down, the most criticized element of the WWE product is Raw.

Among the most general complaints I hear about Raw is that the main event scene is completely stale, Raw isn't pushing younger stars and the guest host concept sucks. You know, the typical "the WWE should do this", "The WWE should push this guy", "The WWE should make this sort of match" arguments that get brought up multiple times a day. While I do agree that Raw isn't pushing younger stars as much as they should be, is it really accurate to declare Raw is in overall bad shape?

To start with, let's see how Raw's done overall this year compared to last year. Now for the overall year of 2009, it's too early to make a definitive prediction as the year still has a good bit to go before being finished. But, some comparrisons can still be made. As of this past week, there've been 33 episodes of Raw to air this year and, so far this year, Raw has drawn an average of roughly 3.67 compared to about 3.38 for the first 33 episodes of 2008. Breaking it down, that means that Raw has had an average of around 290,000-300,000 more viewers tuned in for the first 33 weeks of 2009 than the first 33 weeks of 2008.

Now, Raw's ratings took a nosedive several times last year with 11 shows scoring a 3.0 or less. The lowest rated show last year was the September 15th episode, which drew a 2.6. In 2009 thus far, Raw's lowest number was the May 25th episode, which drew a 3.2. For 2008, Raw's average rating was a 3.20. Now, if Raw continues to draw consistently what it's been doing the past 9 weeks coupled with the rest of the year, then it looks to potentially finish the year with said 3.67 average. Now, a full point in the Nielsen Ratings stands for 1,145,000 households and, as things stand now and if they continue the same trend, Raw will be up nearly half a point this year compared with last, which would be an increase in Raw's viewership by well over 500,000.

Now as to the whole guest host thing, well another time comparrison can show whether it's working or not. Beginning with the Trump hosted commercial free show and up to this past week, Raw has drawn an average of roughly 3.80. Compared with the same time frame last year, Raw was drawing an average of 3.37. That's an increase of somewhere close to 500,000.

So, what's the point of all this number crunching? Well, I guess the point is that Raw just doesn't seem to be in quite the amount of trouble that the IWC is trying to say. While a small percentage of the audience may not like Raw, which is expected since you can't please everyone, the fact is that Raw seems to have had a healthy increase in viewers overall this year and looks to remain so unless something disasterous happens. While an increase of of 290,000 to over 500,000 might not sound overly dramatic, it's pretty good for a show on cable.

Now, while we can say on here that Raw sucks, that Vince doesn't know what he's doing, that Raw should do this and Raw should do that, the numbers Raw's been pulling in this year overall don't seem to reflect those views.

The Raw numbers can be found here: http://www.wrestlingnewsworld.com/wwe-ratings/ A few are missing as the numbers haven't been updated, but the numbers for Raw in August thus far have been 3.55, 3.8 and 3.8 according to WrestleZone.

 

[PedigreeTHE619Chokeslam]

I don't get why people say that raw sucks. It doesn't. Sure there are some stupid decisions that creative makes but overall the show is awesome. And as for the guest hosts are coming i love the idea. Everyone has been very good except for ZZ Top.They were just useless. And can't wait for my boy LeBron to be host.

 

[Ambiguous Turd]

I don't get why people say that raw sucks. It doesn't. Sure there are some stupid decisions that creative makes but overall the show is awesome. And as for the guest hosts are coming i love the idea. Everyone has been very good except for ZZ Top.They were just useless. And can't wait for my boy LeBron to be host.

The people who say that Raw sucks are mostly the ROH-type fans who want to see technical wrestling dominate all 4 of WWE's programs. They simply are not happy with Smackdown or ECW. Rather, all 4 shows have to reflect the type of product they want to see, which is why they regularly bash Raw.

These fans do not believe in the concept of "Sports/Entertainment". Rather, they wish to view wrestling as a sport, Japanize American pro wrestling as we have known it, and judge pro wrestling solely based on the quality of the matches. And these fans are extremely pushy in getting everyone to try and embrace their vision of what American Pro Wrestling "should be".

Pay no attention to these fans. Where as they are very loud and obnoxious on the Internet, they are still in the minority, and don't let them fool you, otherwise. Smackdown and Superstars' decrease in ratings, along with Raw's increase in ratings due to the Guest Host concept proves that.

 

[The Doctor]

You know, its funny that you say that, Sidious, because you have, on many occasions, complained about how terrible RAW is. You have also talked about your dislike of ROH. So which camp do you belong to? The ROH-haters or the RAW-haters? Make your bloody mind up.

As for the topic, I believe tat RAW is doing just fine. The guest host thing was a stroke of genius, as each show feels like a can't-miss event. None of the other shows feel this way. It also helps that it is shown live. Every RAW feels like something huge. It has a great mix of wrestling, storylines, and interesting segments. I love it. There are things I would change, but other than that RAW is extremely enjoyable.

 

[Ambiguous Turd]

You know, its funny that you say that, Sidious, because you have, on many occasions, complained about how terrible RAW is. You have also talked about your dislike of ROH. So which camp do you belong to? The ROH-haters or the RAW-haters? Make your bloody mind up.

As for the topic, I believe tat RAW is doing just fine. The guest host thing was a stroke of genius, as each show feels like a can't-miss event. None of the other shows feel this way. It also helps that it is shown live. Every RAW feels like something huge. It has a great mix of wrestling, storylines, and interesting segments. I love it. There are things I would change, but other than that RAW is extremely enjoyable.

If you'd noticed, I said that the people who hate Raw are "MOSTLY" the technical wrestling, ROH fans.

Although I still am not thrilled with Raw, it has gotten mildly better since doing the Guest GM concept. It still isn't great, though. And nor did I say I was thrilled with it. I simply stated that I preferred Raw over the other programs. However, ECW is growing on me with the Abraham Washington Show concept, the Hurricane storyline, and characters like Zack Ryder. Unfortunately, it's only an hour so they can't really do much.

My issues with Raw are completely different from the issues the technical wrestling fans have with Raw. I know why they don't like Raw. However, I have stated many times what my specific issues are with Raw, and they aren't in the least connected to "wanting more wrestling" and "longer matches" on the program ... which is what these fans want. I have always been consistent with my views.

If you read my posts as often as you implied, I thought you would have known that.

 

[The Gribbler]

I think the guest host concept takes away from RAW building story lines. Rather than the top heel (Jericho or Orton) having a meaningful feud with someone they keep taking jibes at the guest host, I think it takes away from their other feuds. I mean how much attention can Orton really be paying John Cena if he finds beef with every guest host that comes along?

All in all RAW is still a good watch, I just don't particularly like the guest host concept. I don't think it is taking the nose dive people claim it is but maybe freshen up the main event and try not to let the guest host thing over run the show.

 

[thebeastkodiak]

Disco inferno tried to use the same ratings argument to say that tna was getting better. Im assuming you havent figured it out yet but when it come to wrestling RATINGS DONT MEAN A DAMN THING. If you are on this website then chances are you are like me, you grew up watching wrestling from infancy (i know this because this is a picture of me as a baby sitting infront of the tv watching hulk hogan). For true wrestling fans you plan your week around the wrestling shows, you know its monday because Raw is on that night, you know its tuesday because its ECW night and so on and so on.
We kept watching when they straight out admitted wrestling is fake.
We kept watching when WCW was bought out and we were basically left with one choice of wrestling to watch.
We will keep watching through this crap that they call RAW now not because we want to see crap, but because we are all hoping that this will end and we will see something great again. So you can keep your rating numbers, raw sucks right now because they raised our expectations of what raw should be and they just arent delievering on what they once were, unless your are ten years old and dont know who jake the snake roberts(randy orton), the ultimate warrior (batista), hulk hogan (john cena) or triple h (playing the part of triple h ten years ago) are.

 

[SSJPhenom]

The only thing that generally sucks about Raw at this point is the main event scene. I think that I can speak for alot of fans when I say that I am tired of Orton/Cena or Orton/HHH. It is getting a little stupid. Hopefully Orton wins at SS, not because I dislike Cena, but because it might just end their feud and bring a new challenger up. If Cena wins, their feud will go on for at least another month as Orton will get his rematch. This is the only complaint about Raw that I have. It does make it stale.

I like the guest host concept because it brings back some level or unpredictability to Raw and makes it enjoyable to watch, IMO. I hope that it goes on for awhile, until they can fix the main event issue.

 

[The Snake]

I'm largely split on the guest host concept and whether it means Raw is on a good/bad patch.

For one, I dislike any show that chases ratings over churning quality shows out week on week - But I can understand WWE's reasonings for doing so. They are not mutually exclusive things to want, a good show and high ratings.

I'd just like to point out that while I personally enjoy the guest host concept, I don't believe that the numbers are any justification for it - If 2 million people love a show and watch it week in week out, it's better than having 3 million people who will never give a dime to the company who are watching on a ad hoc basis.

So to the answer the question - No, RAW is not doing as bad as a lot of the drivel posted on here, but if you think that ratings are some sort of holy grail for quality, then it's just as much bullshit as people who write about "X should be pushed" and "Y should be fired".

 

[SavageTaker]

When you get right down to business, Raw does not suck as much as people claim. I think that sometimes it’s overly exaggerated how much people claim that Raw sucks. I happen to believe, that if someone wanted to start watching wrestling and if they read some of the stuff people say here on these forums, then they probably wouldn’t want to start. That’s how much I think things are exaggerated, that it would probably lead people to not want to watch the product.

I don’t think Raw sucks however I don’t think it’s the best thing in town either. Just like on any show, there are the things that I do like and there are things I don’t like. There some things that I think they can do to make the product offered on Raw much better. I won’t go into detail about every little thing I think they could change but there are some things that I think they could either change or improve on.

I am not one to whine and complain about how the main event scene is stale, but I want them to push fresh faces into the main event before it truly gets stale. Right now, I think things could be worse in the main event, but they could also be better. I don’t mind having Cena face Orton but it’s not something I want to see for a long time because I already saw it a couple of years ago. So, I want to see some new faces in the main event scene. I’m not asking for them to be given a world title or anything like that, I just want to see them work with the established main event wrestlers and see what they can do.

Another thing I would like to see change is the way the commentary is presented. I don’t think Michael Cole is as bad as people claim however he could be doing a lot better if he was allowed to do what he wanted a little bit more often. Also, I have come to dislike Jerry Lawler’s style of commentary for the past few months now. I don’t think he is adding anything to the show at all and sometimes I just find him boring and annoying. When I listen to him, it doesn’t feel like he has any passion and just doesn’t want to be there. Also, when I hear the commentary from King, it sounds like he doesn’t want to be working with Cole. Some may disagree but that’s the way I see things being. It would be nice if King at least made it sound like he is excited to be there and doesn’t mind working with Cole. I’m not asking for anyone to turn heel at all, I just want to listen to something that is exciting and makes me want to watch the show. I know for a fact that both King and Cole are capable of doing that, they just aren’t allowed to do so.

Last thing I want to mention about the things I would like to be changed or improve is the divas division. I know some people don’t care about that division and it’s because they haven’t been given a reason to care for them. I am a big fan of the divas and I think that they could do a better job with them. I would love it if they allowed them to do some more things. I know that a lot of them are very talented and can do more than a kick and a punch so if they were allowed to, then I would be a happy fan. Like I said, I know there are some people who don’t care for them and they have every right to, but I think they could make people care for them by allowing them to be more than eye candy. As a matter of fact, they can still be used as eye candy and still have good wrestling matches that I know a lot of them are capable of having, they are just forced to work a “safe” style. If it worked for Trish Stratus and Lita, I don’t see why it wouldn’t work for the current crop of divas.

So like I said, I don’t think Raw sucks as much as people claim it does however I think things could be a lot better than they are now. They don’t need to change the rating of the show or anything like that; I think they just need to change some of the things they are doing. I did state some of the things that I would like for them to do and I realize some of them may never happen or at least won’t be happening any time soon, but I do wish they would either change or improve some of the things that they do. But if they don’t, then that’s fine because I’ll continue watching because I love wrestling. It would just be nice if things were better.

 

[shafe_41]

Simple. Raw doesn't suck. Raw hasn't been consistantly bad for a long time now. We've had overall pretty decent Raws week in and week out for just about all of this year. Some parts were a little slow leading up to Mania, but since Mania, I can only remember 1 or 2 bad episodes of Raw. ZZ Top being one of them. I'm sure there was one other snoozer in there too but obviously not awful enough for me to remember.

People for some reason can't leave the effing Attitude Era in the past and accept that Raw is different now, the whole rating and audience of the show is different now, the roster is nowhere near the same, and that you're not going to tune into Raw and have it magically be the Attitude Era again. Nothing against the OP here at all, but these "does Raw suck or not" discussions are growing about as old as Montreal Screwjob discussions. Holy shit. Let it be people.

 

[JJYanks121]

Nah, Raw doesn't suck. Part of the fun for us informed fans is to nitpick and think of what changes we would make. I do it for sports and I do it for Wrestling. That's what big fans do. That doesn't mean you are always upset with it. The other day I was mad at something in the Yankee game but the Yankees won. I'm not going to stop watching because Girardi made one bad managerial move or Robbie Cano made an error. I am going to hope they learn from it and don't make the same mistake.

The guest host concept has really worked wonders I think. As a fan for a long time, I remember the attitude era and while I like certain things about it, I remember HATING the opening because for about a year, maybe more, the first segment was ALWAYS the corporation talking about Stone Cold, and then SC would do something crazy. As for what, you had to tune in, but every time that "no chance in hell" music hit, I went "ugh". However, the rest of the show was wonderful and I couldnt' go a monday without hearing a Rock promo and quoting it the next few days. As for today, it was Orton getting that first spot, cutting the same promos week afterr week, and finally when that ended, we might get some good segments. Now with the guest host, Orton doesn't have to be out there early ever week. One show, you didn't see him til 10:30! Mixing up the order and having different hosts keeps the show different an interesting. It also draws in non fans.

Let's compare Raw to SNL. When SNL was at its best, which some could argue the first couple of years, some coule argue 1985 with Martin Short and Billy Crystal, maybe early 90s with Farley, Spade, Myers, Carvey, Sandler, etc. or even the first few years of Ferrell, Kattan and the like, most would argue that today's product is not the best. Perhaps the writing isnt' as good, perhps the talent isn't as funny, but it's not near the popularity of other eras. However, if a good host that people want to see is on that week, you might tune in, even if you don't care to see Andy Samberg and Keenan Thompson. Same with Raw. You may not be into John Cena, Randy Orton, and Jack Swagger. You might think MVP is an award, not a "ballin" kind of guy, but you might tune in to see if Jeremy Piven will make 300 pound men "hug it out" (missed opportunity btw to do that). These non regular fans will want to see their favorite stars and will tune in. Perhaps in the course of seeing their favorites, they notice Mickie James and think she's pretty and want to see her every week. Perhaps they see Evan Bourne hit a shooting star press and are amazed with the athleticism and want to see that. Maybe they laugh out loud to a Cena promo and that draws them in. The important thing is, they are watching for a star and the product might keep them watching. Maybe those people even buy PPVs to see these things happen. The next step I'd think is to get a celeb or 2 to appear at PPVs to improve buyrates, it may happen.

Ultimately, the product will only attract so much by itself, and that number is not attitude-esque numbers because wrestling simply isnt' as popular. However, the guest hosts have made Raw comparable to SNL or late night TV in terms of booking stars and thus, it is a spectacle, something wrestling has an always will be. Raw has been a pretty good show, certainly improved in a year's time, and is still and will always be the flagship show for the WWE. The one thing I think would be interesting would be for mid carders or upper mid carders to get involved with the host. That might be the "push" they are lookign for and need.

 

[BananaHeel]

Raw is the major moneymaker to the WWE. It has a star-studded locker room, celebrity guests, and so far the best buildup going into a pay per view. Raw does not suck as much as people would believe. The show is the figurehead of WWE.

 

[wetland]

Simple. Raw doesn't suck. Raw hasn't been consistantly bad for a long time now. We've had overall pretty decent Raws week in and week out for just about all of this year. Some parts were a little slow leading up to Mania, but since Mania, I can only remember 1 or 2 bad episodes of Raw. ZZ Top being one of them. I'm sure there was one other snoozer in there too but obviously not awful enough for me to remember.

People for some reason can't leave the effing Attitude Era in the past and accept that Raw is different now, the whole rating and audience of the show is different now, the roster is nowhere near the same, and that you're not going to tune into Raw and have it magically be the Attitude Era again. Nothing against the OP here at all, but these "does Raw suck or not" discussions are growing about as old as Montreal Screwjob discussions. Holy shit. Let it be people.

Wow finally someone hits the nail on the head. I couldn't agree more. Also i believe that raw in the past year or 2 has been a vast improvement, we are still seeing good wrestling, relitevely good story lines and top stars such as DX, Randy Orton and John Cena. Raw gives a basis for the WWE to establish a global fanbase outside of PPVS. Raw attracts a lot of advertisers and sponsers, moreso then it did during the attitude era. In Conclusion, imo Raw does not suck and even after liking wrestling for over 10 years i still look foreward to a monday night.

 

[marxxx]

Raw absolutely does suck recently! I have been a wrestling fan for almost 30 years. I remember the old school stuff with Hogan, Andre, Road Warriors, Harley Race, Wahoo Mcdaniel, all the way up until now. This is only the second period of my life that I just don't care what WWE does. The whole guest host concept is terrible to me as a wrestling fan. It just doesn't make sense to me, and I don't think it ever will.

The show is just not that entertaining to me recently. I used to like to watch certain things and that would overcome some other areas that might be weak. To me the worst thing they did recently was break up Lawler and JR (I know alot of you aren't JR fans), but that was entertaining to me. It is unfortunate that they tamed down Lawler so much over the last couple years, he was always a crack up to watch!

WWE had always had the face/heel combo of announcers, dating back to Vince himself commentating, then on to Jesse "The Body" Ventura, and the all time greatest Bobby "the Brain" Heenan. The great announce teams just excited the hell out of me when the show started! How can anyone ever NOT get excited when Lawler was yammering about puppies???? That whole element has been gone for quite some time now. I personally think Vince needs to let someone else control the commentating aspect as he just doesn't seem to have "it" anymore (IT just being the vision and leadership to deliver a good commentating experience).

I think they need to freshen up some of the writing, get HHH, Cena, and/or Orton out of the title picture for a while, and send them in another direction (maybe they are doing this now with DX????) There are areas to nit pick, but the bottom line is they are loaded with talent, agents, and Vince is the most successful promoter in history, so there is no reason for a lackluster product.

Excuse me if something has changed recently, I really haven't been watching for awhile now (see above, I have NO interest in the product anymore).

What does this all mean to me? One of these nights I will turn it on and the show will draw me in all over again! Probably making me feel like I did 10 years ago where Monday Nights were my favorite night of the week! Hell, Raw, Nitro, and Monday night football all at the same time!!!!! It just couldn't get any better than that (without a woman anyways)!!!!!! I miss those days, now I anxiously await for the Raw staff to bring me back in!

 

[TM Punk]

Raw certainly is not up to the standard that it should be considering that its the wwe's "flagship" program. I could argue that superstars has better matches. But in its defense, the main events are usually exciting, not that the wrestling is GREAT, but the simple fact that the crowd is always REALLY into the match makes it good IMO. If the crowd is silent it takes a lot away from the match. But watching it the crowd is usually into it so... as long as that keeps up, and ratings are there. We get the same old raw.

 

[HBK-aholic]

Yay. Another thread of mindless bullshit about how horrible Raw is. I'm going to say this just once, in bold, so you can understand it. If you hate the product so much, you can always stop watching it. Well done to the few people who aren't afraid to say they enjoy the show.

Raw has been improving consistently for years. It will have a bad week or so, just as every show on every channel will. However, it's booking characters correctly, matches make sense, they have a lot of great talent, both young and old, and they still know how to get em excited for every single show. The Guest Hosts were a great idea, and while I wasn't sure of a few of them probably due to not being American, others were amazing - I loved the episode Shaq hosted.

Summerslam was a great show, with some great matches. Why was I so excited? Because Raw had been booked in such a way that I felt I needed to see it. Raw is a great show, and is only getting better.

 

[Freddy4190]

I don't think Raw sucks. I think it's more or less people bitching just for the sake of it. The guest concept thing has worked on some occasions, but on most it's flopped. epicly. Piven, ZZ Top, are 2 BAD examples. Shaq Diesel was a hell of a host, it was entertaining, I laughed. This past episode of RAW was real good in my opinion. I didn't get up or change the channel out of boredom, I was actually intrigued by the whole episode. If they'd stop using movie stars or actors or whatever who need to promote a fight, or a new album, or a new movie as guest hosts, then we might have something going on here.

 

[jackpeyton]

I am loving raw again, for the first time in a long time.

My only issue is, as another poster pointed out, the main events. The top guys. Cena, orton, HHH. I need something new there, because the three of them are just boring time after time after time. I personally think Cena needs to go to smackdown and they need to build up HHH vs Orton, with Orton winning and HHH being "hurt" and taking a little time off, in that off tim build up some new talent into the main event and then bring HHH back.

Oh, and the womans section of raw is AWFUL.

but other than that i really like the show. Its more entertainment and storyline than Smackdown or ECW, two shows i try to get through without FF. I love the guest host's on Raw too - i just wish they were used differently. They should be using these guest hosts and Hosts. They dont need to be attacked by orton or whoever every week. Just let them host the show, make some matches, switch some things up, and here and there involve a host in the ring.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

Yay. Another thread of mindless bullshit about how horrible Raw is. I'm going to say this just once, in bold, so you can understand it. If you hate the product so much, you can always stop watching it. Well done to the few people who aren't afraid to say they enjoy the show.

Raw has been improving consistently for years. It will have a bad week or so, just as every show on every channel will. However, it's booking characters correctly, matches make sense, they have a lot of great talent, both young and old, and they still know how to get em excited for every single show. The Guest Hosts were a great idea, and while I wasn't sure of a few of them probably due to not being American, others were amazing - I loved the episode Shaq hosted.

Summerslam was a great show, with some great matches. Why was I so excited? Because Raw had been booked in such a way that I felt I needed to see it. Raw is a great show, and is only getting better.

Nothing mindless about it. If you'd read my initial post, you'd see that my point primarily was to take the view points of the Raw bashers and compare them to the numbers that Raw has been pulling in. While some of the IWC continue to bash Raw, the average wrestling fan seems to very much enjoy what's going on. That's ultimately the point I was trying to make. I keep hearing "Raw sucks" or "They should do this, or they should do that", but the average American wrestling fan seems to be quite pleased with Raw's product overall and the ratings seem to show that.

Then, there's the whole "quality" aspect of it. Some say that Raw isn't quality in spite of the ratings increase, but quality is in the eye of the beholder. Quality to me is keeping me interested in what's going on and entertained enough not to change the channel. Raw has been doing that for me, especially the past 10 weeks or so.

 

[mayhem]

Raw has a serious lack of depth in it's roster especially new fresher younger stars. For example the storylines are more based on entertainment than wrestling like Hornswoggle v Chavo which is very unentertaining in my opinion. However i think Chavo v Bourne will be a pretty decent upcoming feud seeing as they are of a similar weight class.

Randy Orton is the wwe champion on Raw and he only really faces three guys on a regular basis - Cena, Batista and Triple H which is what makes him and Raw stale to watch when your Champion feuds against such a limited number of wrestlers and we know Orton will remain on Raw for a long time so we have to deal with it. Batista is injured so he is out of the equation as for Cena:

Cena will not turn heel and if he does it won't be for a long time simply because he helps to sell merchandise when i think a heel turn could refresh the way the doubters view him and maybe encourage more fans to support him.

MVP and Swagger who were drafted to Raw are now mid carders when they both could really push for the wwe title if it was about ability and not so much size. MVP winning at SS gives him more momentum. Swaggers mat wrestling ability is probably better than any other wrestlers on Raw yet he is being deprived of a push to upper mid card as of yet.

I think the guest host introduction to Raw has encouraged more people to watch and some guests are well received and fun to listen to but others are intolerable like Dr Ken or have no meaning like ZZ Top. Sometimes it doesn't really cut it for me when every week Raw opens with a promo on the mic instead of like Smackdown which sometimes cuts to the chase.

Also the tag team division on Raw is of poor quality because i don't really deem Cryme Tyme as worthy contenders based on what they do in the ring they are more reknown for entertainment from their outlandish actions. Jericho and Big Show have no cohesion together as a team such as any double team moves as well as MVP and Henry who are due to face them at breaking point. WWE just simply slaps tag teams together for the sake of it. The Colons were split up for no good reason when they actaully knew how to colaborate well together. If the titles are unified then why don't they design one set of belts?

The return of DX will certainly help to make Raw more entertaining to watch on the promo side and the wrestling side after a long absence. I think a tag team title run would be very good to see for DX. Legacy recently picked up momentum but got buried again as young wrestlers at Summerslam and to tbh as single wrestlers both of them are not up to Ortons standard.

The Divas championship sucks to watch because it really feels like the divas are just eye candy and Kim v Mickie recently on Raw was so slow paced much like all the matches are on Raw.

I really feel that Raw has a good deal of promos but it focuses more on entertainment and it really lags on the wrestling side most of all. Raw focuses on pushing the same guys all the time instead of fresh younger talent and some of the matches are difficult to sit through. Agree?

 

[ipswichicon80]

The problem with Raw for alot of people on these boards is that it is not aimed at them. It is aimed at familys and a main stream audience. Not too wrestling fans. Maybe these tactics have resulted in higher ratings and bigger profits. However I'm not a wwe shareholder or on the board of the network so I don't care about these things. I care about seeing the most entertaining product. And from my point of view I'm not seeing that.

 

[TwistofRKO]

Yay. Another thread of mindless bullshit about how horrible Raw is. I'm going to say this just once, in bold, so you can understand it. If you hate the product so much, you can always stop watching it. Well done to the few people who aren't afraid to say they enjoy the show.

Raw has been improving consistently for years. It will have a bad week or so, just as every show on every channel will. However, it's booking characters correctly, matches make sense, they have a lot of great talent, both young and old, and they still know how to get em excited for every single show. The Guest Hosts were a great idea, and while I wasn't sure of a few of them probably due to not being American, others were amazing - I loved the episode Shaq hosted.

Summerslam was a great show, with some great matches. Why was I so excited? Because Raw had been booked in such a way that I felt I needed to see it. Raw is a great show, and is only getting better.

Shouldn't you be reading the posts before actually commenting on them?

RAW has been a lot better and I feel it continues to improve in relation to where it has been in recent memory. The main event is kind of stale with seeing the same feuds, but we're also seeing a very good slightly-used Orton-Cena rivalry, and we have DX back now, which does get people interested.

The only problem I've found recently is the ignorance on McMahon's part complaining about not creating new stars when he fails to put them on TV. Instead of a gagging waste of time, take Chavo and Hornswoggle off TV and put out more Carlito, Jack Swagger, and Kofi Kingston. They are used sparingly in relation to the beef of the roster, and shouldn't be kicked off the card so we can see Chavo wobble around in sewn-together pants.