An Idea For Last Monday's Raw

[Wainy]

Whilst watching Raw on Monday, I was (like alot of people from what I can gather) thoroughly enjoying what was unfolding. An impromptu Raw, where they had to make the most of what they had available. Now I can't take all credit for this idea, as my mate Mick put it in my head at the time, but I havn't been able to think about much else since, so here goes...

After the inevitable "Cena goes over Sheamus" scenario, there's still an hour & fourty five minutes of Raw to fill. Only problem is, no superstars to fill it with. So, Triple H gets on the mic' again & remarks something along the lines of, "There are guys in the parking lot bitching about how they are scared to be there, yet they have an opportunity that so very few are faced with, a spot on Monday Night Raw. So instead of those guys taking their spots for granted, I'm gonna give an opportunity to a bunch of guys who would kill to have the chance to be on Raw". BANG!!! Seth Rollins (Tyler Black), Richie Steamboat, Antonio Cesaro (Claudio Castagnoli), Chris Hero, Corey Graves (Sterling James Keenan), Xavier Woods (Consequences Creed), Percy Watson, Leakee, Derek Bateman, whoever's left on NXT! The list is endless!!!

Have them be on the show, "for one night only", then those who impress could be given a full time spot on the main roster. It would indeed be a "Lower Card" episode of Raw, but real wrestling fans would pop big for the like of Castagnoli & Tyler Black. They still had Mason Ryan & a few others who didn't walk out, so they could have got the higher spots on the card, & it would be a great way to elevate them into main event material, & get these FCW boys a chance to be on TV, to see what the crowd would be like for them.

The shitty "Laurinitis becomes G.M" scenario could have been disappointingly dumped on us next week & we could have been disappointed by it then instead, but it could have been the chance to bring some of the FCW stars into the main frame, & a chance to end this God forsaken three & a half million year long series of NXT!!!

They'd all come out & go full pelt, trying to impress. Abraham Washington could have joined Punk on commentary, they have announcers & commentators & referees there who would have all "jumped at the chance". Punk could have wrestled in the main event to give the main event some big name appeal.

It just seems to me that once again, WWE had the potential for something amazing, & they ruined it within minutes.

What do you good people on here think? Yay, or Nay?

 

[VinnieSunshine]

While the whole "scab worker" wrestler is a decent idea...it doesn't really work in the real world as far as sports.

People pay money to see the "real" stars. How would you like to go to a of your favorite sport with your favorite team, find out they walked off and are being replaced by a bunch of people you dont know?

WWE didn't want to take a chance of ratings or buys going down. As much as we all HOPED it would continue in some way, the way it ended up going was the way many saw it happening.

I myself as a WRESTLING FAN would've loved to have seen this happen...but it could only work few a week, 2 at most.

You could've had Triple H come out, give his speech, then say he brought in some guys (maybe get some from FCW that are ready or NXT) to work for the night until this mess is straightened out. HELL, they could've even ended RAW with Vince releasing Triple H and placing JL in charge...RAW ends with MORE questions and isn't as convoluted.

The next week you have JL bring everyone back, the "scab workers" are never seen (at least until they are really brought to the main spotlight).

 

[WcWMondayNitro]

People pay money to see the superstars they already know, not a bunch of rookies, who may be talented, but yet completely unknown to WWE viewers. I think the whole "Walkout" idea was really stupid. Now we have an interim general manager, but we do not know what happened to the "anonymous" RAW general manager. Vince says he had a meeting with the board, but wasn't he fired? And why was he fired in the first place? As one of WZ writers already mentioned, this storyline has become so incoherent and too complicated to follow.

 

[OneTooManyPunts]

I respect what the OP is thinking, and it would definitely have been unique, but have to agree that most people won't tune in to a Raw in which they don't recognize any of the talents.

Seth Rollins and Claudio would have been the two guys with the most exposure, and that wouldn't be nearly enough for them to be on a non IWC fan's radar.

If anything, perhaps the young talent should start making their way in now to ally with Lauranitis to deal with the Triple H loyal main eventers.

 

[bigbootydaddyV]

From RAW Is WAR to RAW is NXT lol jp... I think it's a good idea in theory and personally had a similar thought but the previous comments all do a good job of explaining why it couldn't work given what people pay for. Personally, I'd have used it as an opportunity to do a Nitro show for one week similar to old school Raw. They could have brought out some old school WCW guys who could still help attract a crowd. They could have even had their guys (cena, punk etc.) wrestle them and get some new matches in for a week. I know the main WCW names wouldn't be there so it wouldn't be great, but just to have the set up, the nitro girls, etc. for one night would have been fun. And it could have been easy to do, have triple H say fine my guys don't wanna wrestle I made some calls and found some people looking for work (total dig at wcw, Vince would surely do that) and then have him announce a Raw is Nitro theme or some shit (yes I know that's not much better than the raw is NXT i hit u with earlier). Even then you can have the Vince angle still play out the exact same way, but only towards the end of the show instead. Vince could come out and say he beat Nitro before and will be damned if Triple H is bringing it back and then go into the whole mike adamle 2 with John Laurinaitis... The angle sucked the way they did it, I actually said to myself wow Punk is back on commentary I'm not gonna fast fwd through anything now, then boom, went back to zipping through the matches.

 

[wrestlingfanusa]

It depends all on how they debut. You say they pay to see the stars, yet u forget how kane and brock lesnar debuted on tv. They both kinda just popped out of nowhere, and they went on to become a big household name across the world.

 

[Azane]

Put no names up, watch ratings drop.

Casual fans don't want to watch FCW on RAW, you're risking too much for it.

If you're on the internet discussing wrestling on a message board, you're past the casual fan phase, but you're also a minority.
All of those wrestlers would be no names to casual fan, especially Richie Mcgilicuty. (WWE has a thing for screwing legacy stars lately)

Is it worth impressing 10% of your fans on the interwebs (probably a generous number) that follow RoH, TNA and other Indypendant wrestlers? Alienatng the main chunk of your crowd who tune in to watch established stars and get a dose of undercard and rookie stars from time to time. There's a reason superstars isn't pulling a 2.5 rating, it's because the majority of wrestling fans don't care to watch developmental wrestling. Making your A show dive to developmental wrestling for a week won't do anything but plummet ratings.

As upset as the average IWC Smark is over RAW being a predictable PPV set up show, all people will do is cry and threaten to stop watching (look at post histories of the people threatening to quit some time, my record is seeing 1 person with 21 posts about how he's going to stop watching over various things). Where as casual fans, will just stop watching silently. We get bones thrown to us all the time, Zack Ryder, Cm Punk putting stupidly obscure references that make us nerd mark out. Giving the demographic the show they expected is fine. I'd be seriously upset if I bought a ticket to RAW to watch Seth Rollins vs Richie Mcgilicuty.

You also hurt the superstars chance to make an impact on their debut, seriously wrestling a no name match on RAW is not the way to get instantly over. I think the only impactful debuts from simply wrestling in the last few years was Cena vs Angle, the rest have gotten over in debuts featuring post match beatups or gimmicks.

When I tune into RAW, I don't have huge world changing expectations, so when they simply deliver a normal show, I'm happy, and when they do something ridiculous like Buy WCW, I'm flabbergasted, instead of pulling the armchair IWC booker and saying "I knew it was coming all along."

Every single person knew Lauranitis was going to be pushing HHH off his throne, it's been obvious since he was making phone calls behind his back, and getting in limos with Big Sexy, so expecting anything different to happen was just false hope that made you, yourself, hate the outcome.

 

[TimD]

Wouldn't it be better if one of these things happened:

- When Sheamus and Cena were having a match a interruption by the Rock. Crowd pops huge.
The Rock tells Triple H that he doesn't want to wrestle at a Wrestlemania with only one or two matches (because of the lockerroom strike). They have a short conversation, then Vince comes up and tells Triple H he isn't COO anymore for the sake of Wrestlemania. He tells them the new COO is John.... and then the Titatron shows the interim GM laying down on the ground, the camera moves up and you see Awesome Truth, followed by a Bang Bang, mr Foley's back in town, tells them he sended Kevin Nash and he was the mastermind behind Miz and Truth just because he wanted to cause some drama, some tention, the things he was missing when he was watching as a fan + he wanted something good to happen at the HIAC PPV, since the HIAC is his trademark.
Cut to commercial break, back, Vince decides that it's a good idea when Ziggler and Swagger enter the ring and tell Vince they were happy when John was choosen to be interim GM and that they don't want Foley as GM. Triple H wants to stay COO, Cena agrees because he is loyal to the boss he has.
Awesome Truth on the other hand want Foley to be GM.
Main event: Ziggler & Swagger (John GM) VS Awesome Truth (Foley GM), Triple H and Cena (Triple H COO), winning team chooses GM. Vince decides that the Rock will be special guest referee because the real referees are on a strike. Awesome Truth win, Foley is GM, crowd pops and while that happens the Rock gives John Cena a rock bottom.

Or

When Triple H and CM Punk are talking in the ring, Punk tells Triple H he have texted a few of his friends if they want to come and wrestle at Raw. Triple H looks shocked, enter Colt Cabana and the ROH tagteam (can't remember their name). Alberto del Rio and Ziggler enter ring, tell Triple H that if the ROH team is having a match on Raw, they never want to be on Raw again because they think those guys suck and aren't worthy of having a Raw match. Main event: Tag team match: CM Punk, Colt Cabana + ROH team VS Del Rio, Ziggler, Swagger and Christian, Punk pins del Rio clean, Vengeance match ROH team VS Airboom VS Swagger & Ziggler, Colt Cabana VS Christian and Del Rio VS Punk.

 

[VABurghman]

I thought the same thing. The way they handled it was another story line gone bad. Triple H had a nice opener, but then he should have booked the line crossing Superstars in 3 main events with top NXT Talent and brought in some local jobbers for other matches. Let the storyline of the walkout continue for a couple of weeks with first lower level Superstars who "reluctantly" walked out crossing the lines first. For instance, start with non-title holders breaking the lines first and so on. Trips as well could have immediately declared that any title holder not reporting for work would be stripped of their titles after say 30 days so the storyline could have a good chance to be really played through. Instead, what does WWE do? Start an innovative storyline one week, and end it the week after. Dumb!!

 

[Mustang Sally]

It would indeed be a "Lower Card" episode of Raw, but real wrestling fans would pop big for the like of Castagnoli & Tyler Black.

This is an interesting concept, but it remains so that most of the folks watching Raw aren't true wrestling fans; they want to see the stars and probably wouldn't be as willing as you are to watch a bunch of matches with up-and-coming young performers......not on the company's flagship program.

Besides, this scenario only delays the inevitable. Obviously, the company isn't going to keep the stars on the sidelines for too long, are they? A quick resolution to the stalemate was needed; we can't have the superstars standing out in the parking lot for another week, presumably having paid their own way to the next city Raw is going to.

Yes, they could have had Triple H walk out to the parking lot to issue his proclamations......and get the shit beat out of him by the guys who've walked out. They all go to jail......and then what? Is the strike broken? Does it last another week?

No, WWE did a terrific job with this one; it allowed Triple H to keep his dignity in the face of an uprising.....and in fact, returns him to doing what he does best; wrestle. Meanwhile, Cena solidifies his position as a strong leader of the roster, while Punk's character evolves even more. Plus, Sheamus gets to augment his status as a prime time performer.

Yes, it's a nice idea to give the young guys a chance, but WWE needs to appeal to the most people they can in a 2-hour program......and it won't happen if they're featuring guys like Seth Rollins and Richie Steamboat.

Your thinking is appreciated, though.

 

[VABurghman]

No, WWE did a terrific job with this one; it allowed Triple H to keep his dignity in the face of an uprising.....and in fact, returns him to doing what he does best; wrestle. Meanwhile, Cena solidifies his position as a strong leader of the roster, while Punk's character evolves even more. Plus, Sheamus gets to augment his status as a prime time performer.

I will agree with everything beyond your semi-colon. The statement prior about WWE doing a terrific job is....well......a complete 180 from reality. They completely blew yet another storyline that had strong possibilities. Instead, it was another quick in and quick out storyline that never got to play itself out. It would have been much better had Triple H shocked the protesting faction by having NXT or out of work Superstars returning to the ring and getting a push (Chris Masters for instance). Instead, well they took 20 minutes off and hopped right back in the ring. OK, why bother in the first place?

 

[George Steele's Barber]

Sorry Sally, VA is right. The first half hour and hour of Raw did really well. The second half lost tons of viewers.

I would not have limited Raw to a bunch of Indy and FCW guys but promoting a few new guys would have kept more people watching. Going the safe route made "casual" viewers and me to change the channel. People will stay with the program if you promise something new and different. Between the top guys, a few new guys, alumni, walkouts coming back and the return of Vince WWE could have held more of the 5 million people that tuned in at the start.

 

[VABurghman]

Sorry Sally, VA is right. The first half hour and hour of Raw did really well. The second half lost tons of viewers.

I would not have limited Raw to a bunch of Indy and FCW guys but promoting a few new guys would have kept more people watching. Going the safe route made "casual" viewers and me to change the channel. People will stay with the program if you promise something new and different. Between the top guys, a few new guys, alumni, walkouts coming back and the return of Vince WWE could have held more of the 5 million people that tuned in at the start.

Right and wrong is a matter of opinion. I respectfully disagree still.

You actually supported my argument that the WWE blew the storyline because you said the second half (which was the returning protestors) lost viewers, not gained viewers. Essentially, once the storyline was blown, viewers started tuning out....not in. Anyways, once the storyline was blown, the show again became predictable. You could easily predict the run ins and especially Del Rio walking out on Punk. The easiest prediction of all, Triple H making the save. Thus, why bother watching when you can read about what you already figured out in the morning? No wonder people tuned out.

Compare the same old to bringing in some new, and possibly interesting, talent to the show. Enhance the storyline by making some "veteran" talent start worrying about their jobs with new talent taking the limelight. Thus, a much better show, and since viewers can't predict what will happen, they stay tuned in.

 

[Wainy]

I appreciate all your feedback WZ, but I don't know. The notion that people would be pissed at a lack of "superstars" is an intriguing one, but at the dame time, they're still in attendance, so they won't walk, the people watching at home may well stay tuned just to see what was going to happen, & with the introduction of these guys, next week in my oppinion, would have an influx of new/returning viewers wanting to see these guys again. As I said in my original post, ot would only be for one night, next week they could have done this weeks angle, and the FCW boys would be back in FCW, bar maybe Rollins & The Kings of Wrestling, who could respectively side with HHH & Mike Adamle V2! They could have done spots with a few legends. Slick, IRS, The Sarge, they all get nice pops, so they can appease the old scho fans in attendance. Like I said, it wouldn't have lasted past one show, but I genuinely believe that it would be surprising how many people where surprisingly pleased with the show, & if not; we can just argue with them on here, explaining why they're wrong!!!

 

[Brahma Bull]

This is a prime example of just out of touch the iwc is with the rest of the fans. So instead of showing the wrestlers that people came to see, they show a bunch of nobodies, but you think this would help them??? Really??? Just because you would mark out for them, does not mean the average viewer will. It could have been done differently, maybe with past wrestlers coming back or something, but using a bunch of nobodies to get people excited, just wont work.

 

[mr.mcquaid120]

Just a thought about last Monday. This may not be at all in the works, but, New DX. How about HHH and CM Punk Starting the new DX. I think that woud make for a good storyline.

 

[VABurghman]

This is a prime example of just out of touch the iwc is with the rest of the fans. So instead of showing the wrestlers that people came to see, they show a bunch of nobodies, but you think this would help them??? Really??? Just because you would mark out for them, does not mean the average viewer will. It could have been done differently, maybe with past wrestlers coming back or something, but using a bunch of nobodies to get people excited, just wont work.

Past wrestlers coming back for what? Another cane match? To listen to them whine and cry (already seen this A LOT) about how the younger generation doesn't respect the business. Bringing the old people back....AGAIN....would be a death nail in the WWE. Bring in young fresh blood to threaten the livelihood of the protesting "stars". Make it seem more real rather than rehashing a line with older wrestlers that WWE has driven beyond the grave (pun intended).

 

[VABurghman]

Just a thought about last Monday. This may not be at all in the works, but, New DX. How about HHH and CM Punk Starting the new DX. I think that woud make for a good storyline.

Someone mentioned that in another thread. I have to agree with the people against it. Let DX die as the special group it was. Not another rehash wannabe group.

 

[Viggo]

A new DX would be an interesting storyline, and it would go along with Punk's quest for "change" in the WWE. They could add a couple of younger wrestlers to the stable to build them up as well. I, like many here a WZ, would like to see some of the younger guys get some more face time, and I think a good way to do that would be to bring back an inter-brand Cruiswerweight division. Like Justin Labar said on the last Chair Shot Reality, you could split the belt between both shows and start every PPV and most of the weekly shows with a cruiserweight match. I think the fans would like to see more quick-paced, in-ring athleticism. Think of how much the cruiserweights added to WCW during the Monday Night Wars. WWE could make it work again, as long as they keep Hornswoggle away from the belt. lol.

 

[VABurghman]

A new DX would be an interesting storyline, and it would go along with Punk's quest for "change" in the WWE.

Like Justin Labar said on the last Chair Shot Reality, you could split the belt between both shows and start every PPV and most of the weekly shows with a cruiserweight match. I think the fans would like to see more quick-paced, in-ring athleticism. Think of how much the cruiserweights added to WCW during the Monday Night Wars.

Not sure I get how creating a new DX would be "change". Is that "change" like the "change" the Democrats offer over the Republicans and vice versa when the roles are reversed?? Lipservice change. Should we ask for a new Fabulous Freebirds and spit on the original too? The only reason the New Hart Foundation worked is because of family relations. NO to a new DX.

I'm not sure what cruiserweights added to WCW on the Monday Night Wars (that WCW lost). Generally I hated those matches. Yeah, I'll give their abilities all of the credit in the world. Amazing athletes. But not very good characters and boring to follow. One exception may be Rey Mysterio (actually not a fan of his either but can't ignore his following). The best thing about one of those fast high flyers is a big guy getting his hands on him and crushing him to the mat.

Do have to agree on Hornswoggle though. Keep him away from any belt. Unless a new midget division is created (wait, doesn't Hogan have a new midget wrestling show??).

 

[VABurghman]

In the light of a suggesting of bringing older wrestlers back. I point to the failure of Dwayne "I will never leave the WWE again" The Rock Johnson. Hey Rock........We still CAN'T SEE YOU!!!! Would love to see the WWE Universe turn on the man who talks the talk but can't walk the walk.

 

[Chadmw]

First of all, to those of you that say they rushed the storyline, how did the rush it, is the storyline over?? As far as I can tell it is still going on. We still don't know for sure who was behind the scenes trying to ruin HHH, we don't know who the fulltime GM is going to be, there are still many things we do not know, so to me that means the storyline is continuing.

As for them rushing the part of the storyline to get the workers back to work, what did you expect them to do, hold a show with 5 or 6 superstars and all faces. They needed to do something so they could actually have a 2 hour show. Was it predictable that HHH would be fired and JL would be hired as the new gm, of course it was, but except for the odd time, unfortunately wrestling storylines are very predictable.

As for the OP's comments, when I first read it, I liked it, but the more I thought about it, unfortunately I believe the audience would have been booing more througout the show without seeing most of the regular superstars and a bunch of guys they do not know.

The only part I think they completely messed up on is HHH being COO of the WWE but only the GM of Raw, which meant he actually had no power over Smackdown even though he was COO of the company

 

[TheBWO]

Why not reverse the idea and have all the EX wrestlers, road agents, etc....come out down the aisle. I know I know...don't say it, they can't move as well as they used to, and that's why they retired --or should have retired *cough**hogan*, but at least it would be legends to a degree. Have Steamboat, Anderson, and anyone else that is a former ex--heck, even have Laurenitis --however you spell it--come out. He used to be Johnny Ace. I know it's a silly idea, but at least it would have people with name and ring appeal on the show for the time being until they got the parking lot issue straight.

 

[Brahma Bull]

In the light of a suggesting of bringing older wrestlers back. I point to the failure of Dwayne "I will never leave the WWE again" The Rock Johnson. Hey Rock........We still CAN'T SEE YOU!!!! Would love to see the WWE Universe turn on the man who talks the talk but can't walk the walk.

Cena fan. lol

past wrestlers coming back always boosts ratings, not some guys who cant even make it onto the main show. lets see, bring in people who have been proven draws, or guys who cant cut it. again, the stupidity of the iwc amazes me sometimes.

 

[Krossbreed]

they couldve used this as an opportunity to give a rub to someone else on the roster like tyler reks they couldve been neutral and say they like the chaos he is chaos but other than him i think almost every wwe superstar was involved.

The vince mcmahon deal was done well though it compromises the way he was relieved... i wouldve liked to see a more vengeful mr mcmahon character saying how dare you try to take my creation from me...and they couldve cleared up that i am still the chairman just not the coo as it stands today i think they did it well. i wouldve preferred if punk didnt shake hhh's hand at the end to keep punk as a do what i want kinda guy.