*MERGED* Raw Guest Host discussion

[Spaceman Spif]

I'm on the fence with this guest host thing now. I like it and I don't like it. I mean yeah it brings in viewers who might otherwise not have tuned in to the WWE, but some of the guest hosts they are wanting to bring in, I mean come on. I love Bob Barker, but WTF, will he bring to the WWE? I mean I just don't get it, I can get Adamle and even Prinze Jr., they used to work for the WWE. Then they are in talks with Rachael Ray, Danny Devito? Really who is throwing those names out there? I just don't know, I'll watch it and who knows, it could be a world class broadcast, but seriously as a normally big supporter of this angle, some of these names are huge stretch for me. I just dont' know.

 

[nbda1997]

For hardcore wrestling fans, I have to say that the RAW celebrity guest host gimmick has been pretty painful so far. I don't really blame the celebrities themselves though; it seems to me that they're really not given a good enough understanding of the storylines they're asked to take part in.

Personally, I was pretty excited about Jeremy Piven hosting RAW because I am a big fan of HBO's Entourage, and I thought that Aurie, his character from that show, would make a perfect wrestling character. When it was all said and done, the show stunk. Dr. Ken ruined every scene that Piven was in, and the random heel turn towards the end of the show made no sense.

In my opinion, the worst so far has to have been ZZ Top. I mean why?? Forgetting about the fact that ZZ Top was popular in the 80's, before most fans were even fertilized eggs, they also brought no charisma to the table. Santino basically had to babysit them in every pre-taped skit to make it marginally watchable. Plus, their actual participation in the live show amounted to them waving to the crowd from the stage. Crap.

So far, I think that the wrestling celebrities have predictably been the best hosts. The episode that the Million Dollar Man hosted is my favorite by far. The Sgt Slaughter one was a little bit boring, but dusting off the old "America vs. Canada" shtick for a night made me chuckle a bit.

 

[Rob S.]

yh ZZ top were very bland and unentertaining, i'm from the UK anyway so i actually had no idea who they were, so for me they were the worst,
btw, haven't u missed Batista off the list on the poll, his was pretty good to be honest.

 

[nbda1997]

btw, haven't u missed Batista off the list on the poll, his was pretty good to be honest.

Shoot! I did forget Batista! Sorry 'bout that. I doubt he'd be winning this poll, though

 

[Little Jerry Lawler]

The RAW guest host thing has not been awful. The ratings haven't dipped drastically and it's not like they are out there 90% of the show. Half the time they are out there for about 10-15 minutes and that is it. The guest host thing has been great for RAW as it can bring out non-wrestling fans to watch the show and that means more money for Vince. They're doing nothing to harm the storylines just merely further them a bit.

The closest one to being the worst was ZZ Top because they didn't really do anything but all in all the guest host thing is okay with me.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

The RAW guest host thing has not been awful. The ratings haven't dipped drastically and it's not like they are out there 90% of the show. Half the time they are out there for about 10-15 minutes and that is it. The guest host thing has been great for RAW as it can bring out non-wrestling fans to watch the show and that means more money for Vince. They're doing nothing to harm the storylines just merely further them a bit.

The closest one to being the worst was ZZ Top because they didn't really do anything but all in all the guest host thing is okay with me.

I agree, the guest host thing really isn't that bad at all. As I've mentioned in a few posts already, Raw has an average draw of 3.8 since the Trump commercial free episode. Compared with the same time period last year, Raw is up by about half a point and Ratings overall so far this year are up by close to half a point. So no, the guest host thing hasn't been a bad thing for Raw.

It's a very good thing that the hosts don't try to dominate the show with their presence and it's been something of a pleasant change lately as Vince hasn't really had his talent playing second banana to the celebs and get punked out on their own show.

As for who the worst has been, I'd probably have to go with ZZ Top myself. They just really didn't even contribute to the show at all in any way.

 

[Freddy4190]

I'd say ZZ Top, I didn't see Piven but that was by choice. ZZ Top isn't even relevant to society anymore, they haven't done anything since the 80s. Santino is what made that show bearable, I guess the wrestling had parts in it too..

 

[trashboy]

wow, i must be the only person that actually liked seeing ZZ Top host Raw.. not sure about the rest of ya, but i'm a big fan of their music, so it was great.. to me though, the worst host so far was Freddy Prinze Jr, i laughed my ass off when Orton snapped his back.. i just can't stand Freddy, his movies suck anyway

 

[Ambiguous Turd]

This is a No Contest even before it started. ZZ Top was by far the most boring host Raw has done so far. It's no wonder Vince got cold feet putting them out before the live crowd for their segments, once he realized what he got himself into.

 

[powerade]

haha i get what you guys are all saying about ZZ Top but they were one of my favorites solely because it gave us more Santino!!!

I think Slaughter was bad and boring myself....he didn't do much except try to get the canadian fans going

 

[bigp523]

I havent been a fan of this whole guest host concept so far. I missed ZZ tops episode, judging by the responses it was not ver good lol. Personally of the ones I have seen, I hated Jeremy Piven. First off, I had never heard of him, and wasn't excited for him. He wasnt all that bad. The part that pissed me off was Dr. Ken. He was so obnoxious. He made lame joke after lame joke, and just ruined every segment he was in. It was awful.

As far as the ones I did like, Ted Dibiase and Shaq were my favorites. I knew Dibiase was gonna be good, but I was very surprised at how entertaining Shaq was.

 

[Dave]

Oh my God, ZZ Top were ridiculously bad.

The worst of the bunch by some way. I understood very little that they said and their musical performance wasn't very good. It seemed as though they weren't very interested in what they were doing either.People like Freddie Jr and Seth Green were believable fans and you could relate to what they were saying. ZZ Top looked and sounded as though, they had just got two hobos off the street and put them in charge for a night.

In saying that though, I was very angry with how they handled Freddie Jr. I thought he was very entertaining and I liked some of th things he did last night. The promo with Santino was hilarious, I loved it. If they are going to have guest hosts ans entertaining ones at that, at least have them doing the full fucking show. It really angered me because Raw would have been a lot better if they had him appear regularly and not just for 5 minutes at the beginning and 30 seconds at the end.

It's a good job that ZZ Top and Jeremy Piven were so God-awful or I would have voted for him.

 

[Dirty Spamchez]

As we know, the celebrity guest host concept has had it's ups and downs. Some were interesting, some were not. In your opinion, who has done the best job as guest host of Raw?

From Batista to Freddie Prinze, Jr. who has caught your liking as the host of Raw so far?

In my opinion, ZZ Top has done the worst job and their episode was so boring, it left me snoring. There was nothing special with that episode.

Batista and DiBiase, Sr. have done a good job as the hosts of Raw being that they're experienced wrestlers and bring something to the table (storyline-wise). Sgt. Slaughter wasn't that great imo.

Jeremy Piven did a good job but the Dr. Ken was so freakin annoying. Words can not describe how irritated I was from him. If it wasn't for Ken, it might have been a good episode.

Shaq did an amazing job and I was entertained the entire time. From the begging to the backstage segments to the end where he tackled Big show.

Seth Green and Freddie Prinze, Jr. were good imo. They both are hardcore wrestling fans which brings something to the table and I was entertained throughout the shows. Both of them had good mic skills and I was entertained with the Santino/Prinze, Jr. segment in the beginning, it was hilarious. Seth also entertained me with being a midget and looking so funny in front of all the tall wrestlers. And being that Freddie is a former creative member..

The Chavo/Hornswoggle were all annoying. The only one I liked was the one that aired last night with the ending being that paint can flying into Chavo's face then Macaulay Culkin appears reffering to his "Home Alone" movies which were very good.

So your opinions on the best Raw Celebrity Guest Host.

 

[Suneeboy]

You should've put an option for "All of Them - The Guest Host Gimmick Blows". The only bearable ones were Shaq and Piven. Slaughter, Dibiase, and Batista don't count because they are wrestlers.

I voted for ZZ top though. No explanation needed.

As a hardcore wrestling fan, and WWE fan since the Hogan Era, I must say the Guest Host idea is a fucking gimmicky joke and was the nail in the coffin for me as far as watching WWE programming on television goes.

 

[oldschool123]

Personally I've liked the guest hosts. Most of them have impressed me in that they aren't afraid to be a part of the action. Seth Green, Shaq, Dr. Ken and Jeremy Piven and Freddie Prinze Jr. all got physically involved.

 

[Baller]

ZZ Top without a doubt. All they did was play music with Santino, and Santino did all the work in the segments anyway. ZZ Top was awful, the only other 1 that bothered me was Seth Green. He wasnt funny, and him actually wrestling made it worse.

 

[Chill]

I think so far Ted Dibiase Sr. has been the most effective RAW Guest Host, certainly he's the one that I've found most entertaining thus far. What I liked about him was that he was there for RAW...not to plug some other project, he is a wrestling personality and a charismatic one at that. Not to mention, he had good interaction with Rhodes and Dibiase and had a heated backstage segment with his son which ended in him getting a stiff slap to the face. Overall, the man knew what he was there to do and he executed it well in my view...he put over the talent and didn't focus on himself, so it was all good from where I was sitting.

 

[Baller]

Ted Dibiase by far. He was funny, and actually contributed to the show. His son slapping him was gold, and then I loved how he told off Cody Rhodes. Dibiase by a landslide

 

[Chill]

I would say ZZ Top simply because they did absolutely zero for the show, but Dr. Ken annoyed me so much that I would have to say that the combination of he and Piven have been the worst so far. Yeh, they did things that were actually related to the show but seriously that Dr.Ken creature just ruined it for me...

 

[BernacK6]

Shaq was by far the best. His physical involvement was something I think everyone wanted to see, his comedic backstage segments were great, and the overall aura that Shaq brought to the show made very excited to watch. Not only that, but his episode brought back the "Beat the Clock" Challenge, which insured viewers they would see 5 high profile matches in one night. The point overall is that his episode was the best wrestling show and was extremely entertaining. At least he didn't suggest that winner of the Beat the Clock Challenge would fight Orton at Summerfest.

 

[StInGeR-HBK]

I had to go with ZZ Top on this one. They did nothing but comedy skits with Santino the whole night and brought nothing new to the show. I don't even think they helped in the ratings so it was pretty pointless. At least every other Host has brought something to the table even if it was bad but something.

 

[MammaJamma22]

Piven was the worst simply because he had Dr Ken being beyond obnoxious in every second of camera time they had. And, as someone else mentioned, the heel turn at the end made absolutely no sense. ZZ Top was bad, yes....but at least they didn't have Dr Ken running around speaking gibberish at the top of his lungs and sucking on a pacifier (I didn't understand that, but maybe it's just because I don't follow those two at all).

 

[StInGeR-HBK]

I think Freddie has been the best Celebrity Host so far. Ted did a great job but he's a former wrestler and I think that puts the rest at a disadvantage. Shaq was also good but I think he would be better as a wrestler than a Host/GM type of personality. Freddie did an amazing job and I could actually see him as a GM of Raw and getting involved every once in a while in favor the faces on the show.

 

[blair4107]

ZZ Top were the worst celebrity host(s) and Sgt. Slaughter was the worst wrestler host (and I say that with despair as I'd like to be able to say it was Batista).

ZZ just stood around and air guitared their music during backstage skits and Sgt. Slaughter is dreadful on the mic and it felt like they made him come out after every segment and match just to spite my ears.

I also felt they really mishandled Freddie Prinze Jr.'s hosting. I mean in the end what was even the point of him being there? He wasn't plugging anything, they used him for less than a quarter of the show, and then his big surprise in the end... a LUMBERJACK MATCH! Like they haven't done that recently. For me the end was a clusterf***; if you were Freddie and you were to host RAW where Randy Orton, the World Heavyweight Champion tried to bully you into removing him from a tag match and when you refuse he beats you down, and you made a miraculous return what would you do? Hmm well naturally you'd expect him to actually punish Randy and remove Cena from the match making it a handicap match...instead he has the RAW face roster come out to be lumberjacks aiming for Orton...but since his opponents too are heels they too are being targeted and attacked by the lumberjacks while John Cena "can't be seen."

To be fair you could really tell Jeremy Piven was only on RAW to plug his movie and Dr. Ken took it as an opportunity to go over-the-top with his Asian-pseudo-pimp gimmick. I actually found most of their work entertaining although the end was quite odd; I had just been wondering if any of the celebs would ever be heel and then back from commercial break and they did it. I think it could have worked, had they done it earlier in the show and explained better the situation between Piven and Orton.

 

[Poop Master Flex]

Million Dollar man was my favorite so far. As far as actual celebrities go, Shaq was by far the best one, you could tell that he enjoyed himself and it also gave the impression that he is a wrestling fan. It's good to have guest hosts who are both entertainnig and actually know something about wrestling (which brings me to my worst Piven. Seriously what upside was it having him on the show, Summerfest? give me a break, at least ACT like you know something about wrestling. You are an actor right, that's what you do for a living isn't it.).