Raw Goes Commercial Free

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WWE Going Commercial Free for June 22 Edition of Raw

Dave Scherer of PWInsider.com is reporting that the June 22 edition of WWE Monday Night Raw will be commercial free.

This marks the first time in history that the WWE Monday Night Raw will be commercial free.

From a creative standpoint, WWE will treat the broadcast like a pay per view.

The show, which will be the "go home" show before The Bash PPV, emanates from Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Very interesting ??!!

For a company that has garnered quite a few "popular" product advertisements in recent months thanks to the PG rating, this is kind of staggering.

I'm sure certain parts of the show will be sponsored by "so and so", much like Letterman did several years ago when Pearl Jam made their debut appearance.

Wonder if John Cena will cut a promo holding a Pepsi and a bag of Skittles ??

 

[Nate DaMac]

Well I'll be damned. I remember begging for this to happen since I was a kid. I know my little brothers will be stoked. It seems like a ploy to get ratings. I bet they lose money out the ass for this one. I'm skeptical, but as a fan, I'm really excited. Heres to hoping it doesn't blow.

 

[thebigbadfox]

It will be nice to in the middle of a mathc not have to cut to commercial... that is a big peeve of mine its one thing in a tv show like 24 to have a cliff hanger going into a commercial but in the middle of a match it sucks so it will be a nice change of pace.

 

[DynamiteKid518]

Very very interesting. Yes, they will lose money on this but, to us, the fans....its awesome! Lets hope they give us more WRESTLING to fill the show up.

 

[tj177mmi]

It will be nice to in the middle of a mathc not have to cut to commercial... that is a big peeve of mine its one thing in a tv show like 24 to have a cliff hanger going into a commercial but in the middle of a match it sucks so it will be a nice change of pace.

I have been saying this for a while, that going to commercial during a match kills the match and the crowd effect on television. A viewer could turn the channel as the match starts, watch another show for 6-7 minutes, turn back and catch the ending and know they haven't missed anything. It kills the "hot crowd" effect as the crowd could be dead before they go to commercial, come back and be extremely into the match, or vise versa.

Very very interesting. Yes, they will lose money on this but, to us, the fans....its awesome! Lets hope they give us more WRESTLING to fill the show up.

I don't think they'll lose money. No company is going to put something on television with the though of losing money. There will be in-show advertisers, like they do when they come back from commercial break. There will be product "enhancements" during the show where a comical performer, such as Santino, does something with said product. There are many ways to draw advertisement dollars, but nothing as easy as a commercial.

 

[GIMH]

This is sweet. If I sky+ Raw on a Monday night, the fast forward button on my SKy remote is in overdrive when I watch it, because there seem to be ads every 5 minutes. Even when I watch it on a Thursday, the show is too fragmented because they constantly show 'don't try this at home' or ads for the upcoming tours etc where there were ads in the live US feed (I live in the UK). Great news.

 

[Razor]

This'll be awesome. And the WWE won't be losing any money for it either, because USA are the ones making the commercial revenue, right? That's usually how it is. The broadcasting company gets the commercial revenue after paying the show for rights to air.

Sadly, this will break the "A heel always has the face in a rest hold at the return of a break" rule. Mostly because there won't be breaks, lulz. I'll get to see Orton in all of his uninterrupted, horrible heat gaining glory! Woot?

This should get more ratings, like the 3-For-All Monday should grab up plenty of ratings. I hope they'll put up some good matches, I don't want 2 hours of uninterrupted Raw with horrible comedy sketches and shit ideas.

 

[Chill]

Brilliant, even if it only is for one show. Living in the UK, if I'm able I will sometimes attempt to sit up to 2 am when RAW airs live (crazy I know) over here. However, it's almost a guarantee that I fall asleep during the show because it seems like there is a break every other minute!!! (and that's only slight exaggeration). I don't know what the breaks are like over in the USA but the amount of stopping and staring over here is desperate.

 

[One Punch Doug Crashin]

it'll be interesting how they transition from match to segment without the "go to commercial" bit. I doubt it'll be "totally commercial free" however.

 

[gd]

Not sure how they pulled it off, but I like it. Maybe this will actually allow for some of the midcard matches to get some time, opposed to the 2 minute Kofi vs. Regal match we saw last week. I know they can't do this every week, but this is something that should help with the ratings and is worth doing every couple of months.

 

[kenvin100]

it'll be interesting how they transition from match to segment without the "go to commercial" bit. I doubt it'll be "totally commercial free" however.

my guess is that Raw will run similar to a PPV..prolly do their own "advertising"..

This will be interesting for people who havent sat down for 3hrs straight watching wrestling PPVs..a new (yet better) experience!

 

[AnthonyMango/NoFate007]

Thank GOD. I don't even give a shit if this is a bad promotional thing for the company, or any of that stuff. I'm just so incredibly sick and tired of the state of advertisements on TV right now with the WWE.

Quite literally, with no exaggeration, this is what I do for Raw and Smackdown every week:

1. Set it on the DVR.

2. For Raw, I don't start watching it until 10. For Smackdown, I don't start watching it until 9. I do other shit in the mean time to maximize my time.

3. When I start watching, I skip forward through the commercials, as well as the rewinds, recaps, and all the unnecessary "let's show you Orton cutting the same promo about kicking someone in the skull which we we've showed you 6 times already this week" shit.


And you know what's sad and frustrating about that? It always ends up one way or the other. Either I get done watching everything new on the entire episode within an hour and 10 minutes, or I actually catch up to the live show, which means there's a full hour of useless garbage on the episode.


Raw going commercial free is going to be a great change of pace for that night - UNLESS they just fill that commercial time in with more recaps and rewinds. How many times did we see Batista being attacked by Legacy already this week, and Smackdown hasn't even started yet? Exactly. You can't even count that high lol.

 

[zags]

I think it'll be kind of like what TNT does with the Daytona night race when they go commercial free. They're still forced to do local 30 second breaks, but as far as company ads go they say this portion is brought to you by...... and flash the logo on the bottom of the screen. As for the extra time you may see an extra match and/or promo, or longer matches but there really isn't that much commercial time as it seems there is. It was only about 20 or so minutes last week so I'm not sure just how much more we'll see.

 

[ZAPX4V1]

I think it'll be kind of like what TNT does with the Daytona night race when they go commercial free. They're still forced to do local 30 second breaks, but as far as company ads go they say this portion is brought to you by...... and flash the logo on the bottom of the screen. As for the extra time you may see an extra match and/or promo, or longer matches but there really isn't that much commercial time as it seems there is. It was only about 20 or so minutes last week so I'm not sure just how much more we'll see.

More like 30-35 minutes..That's an extra 2 matches, or extra time added to what would normally be about a 5 minute match. The 2 hour Raw with no commercials will actually be almost equal to the 3 hour Raw next week with commercials

 

[Blifferd221]

Personally what i think is happening here and i may be worng but i think vince mcmahon is trying to see how having NO commercials in his flagship show will do. if it does pretty bad then you should never expect this again. but if it gets the same rating or higher than we should expect to see it again soon. but idk about having a 3 hour all brand special then the next monday have a commerical free raw then the following sunday the bash. it almost seems to good to be true.

 

[Melina]

It's cool as long as they don't use that time that would be commercials to show video after video of feuds we are already very familiar with.

 

[Mighty NorCal]

I say awesome idea,, only if they dont fill it with a bunch of SHIT. I dont want to see 100 recaps, or anything like that, just give me a good wrestling program. Hopefully this gives some of the actual matches more time to develop.

I mean fuck, for everyone saying how shit WWE is, and how shit the ratings are, you damn sure cant fault them for not trying. This week we get a HUGE 3 hour event, next week, we get 2 hours commercial free, which if you think of it, should have close to the same maount of content of the three hour show. ownage.

 

[Ovaltine]

I was never really a fan of the WWE style of programing. I pretty much stopped watching wrestling after WCW was purchased, but I'm going to tune in for this. This could be like the old days (when WCW was still good) and they would have televised matches that went for over 20 minutes without a commercial break! I really miss those days. Foe people that remember that this could be a real treat (if the matches are good) and something new for the people that didn't get to see what it was like when Billion Dollar Ted ran TNT and Vince was also trying his hardest. Then again- it could be really boring, but I'm hoping for the best.

 

[wolvdog316]

LOL. People like this? Check around the boards, Raw has been terrible. BEYOND horrible. NOW they want to add even MORE worthless time? So we can see an extended match featuring Goldie Lust and Green midget?

This is horrible. This is what should have happened during the Attitude Era. It would have really kicked WCW in the teeth and MAYBE garnished a 6-8 rating.

Now? Blah. We get to see Cena and Show, HHH and Orton blah blah.

 

[The Todd]

LOL. People like this?

Yep. Do you not? I admire your love of adverts. Don't fret, they will be back soon.

Check around the boards, Raw has been terrible. BEYOND horrible.

Because people on boards say it is bad means I have to agree? Na, it hasn't been too bad. Not as good as Smackdown, but still decent.

NOW they want to add even MORE worthless time?

They'll give it special attention due to the hype. It will have some very good matches on it.

So we can see an extended match featuring Goldie Lust and Green midget?

No, they will get their normal five minutes that will entertain some people and give you a chance to go to the toilet since there's no adverts.

This is horrible. This is what should have happened during the Attitude Era. It would have really kicked WCW in the teeth and MAYBE garnished a 6-8 rating.

They kicked WCW anyway and made money from adverts. It wasn't needed. Now they want to increase ratings, it is worth a try.

People complain the product is stale, then complain when they change it around. What will make you happy?

 

[Thugz417]

Yep. Do you not? I admire your love of adverts. Don't fret, they will be back soon.


Because people on boards say it is bad means I have to agree? Na, it hasn't been too bad. Not as good as Smackdown, but still decent.


They'll give it special attention due to the hype. It will have some very good matches on it.


No, they will get their normal five minutes that will entertain some people and give you a chance to go to the toilet since there's no adverts.



They kicked WCW anyway and made money from adverts. It wasn't needed. Now they want to increase ratings, it is worth a try.

People complain the product is stale, then complain when they change it around. What will make you happy?

Don't ya know NOTHING will make the people that constantly complain happy? lol they are like a cancer in the world. You can never please them and they do nothing but complain and drag the morale of where ever they are down. As far as Raw going commercial free it could be a genius move by WWE. Not surprisingly some of their viewers are lost during the commercials. I will personally admit I have turned away from Raw during commercials because i flip through the tv and find something interesting on then suddenly "oh shit i forgot raw was on" and i flip back and its already a new match. Hopefully they know where to run with this because it can be a huge gain..

And as far as the "money lost" from no adverts, guess what. If the ratings shoot up major who cares about the adverts. Ratings will always out do adverts. If your ratings suddenly skyrocket and keep an upward trend then oh well. Someone mentioned Cena coming out with a Pepsi and some Skittles lol that is technically commercial free is it not? could be a part of the game that the WWE is starting to play. Only time will tell

 

[Blade]

This could be great as most people seem to think it's going to be, but it could also be not so great.

It's the potential for midcard matches to get more time, which is great. We can have a good US title match perhaps. Colons vs Legacy. It could be great in that sense.

But on the other hand, it could be WWE just trying to push already established superstars even more. I mean, don't get me wrong, I like Orton and I like Trips. But this no commercials thing could mean we end up seeing more of both on top of the amount we already see them.
Yes WWE could use that extra 30 minutes properly for some longer matches and tv time for those who need it, but they might not use it properly. WWE have been known to mess up opportunities like this in the past. I'm hoping that people don't get too optimistic about it cause you might end up disappointed. And if WWE doesn't use the time properly, you just know the Raw haters will be out in full force mere hours after the show ends with another 8 or 9 "Raw iz teh suxxorz" threads.

 

[Leeds Guy]

Great idea, Living in the UK the show starts at 2am over here and then theres a commerical at 2:05am then 2:10am then 2:15am and so on and so on. On other programs theres a commerical every 15 mins but Raw live is so hard to watch due to this. One moment I'll be getting into a match the next I'll be falling asleep through the adverts.

WWE wont lose money other this and hopefully its a trial to see if viewing picks up. If it does though would WWE want to do this every week? would they be allowed to?

 

[OIL]

I'm so fucking glad it's not gonna have any ads. fucking hell, the amount of adverts there are is insane. seriously. after someone says a sentence there's an advert. and it's just rubbish. i'm just sitting there, 2 in the morning like '... great..'. I fully anticipate a good night.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

For UK viewers it might be a problem. Sky Sports will have sold advertising space for at least this episode. So instead of taking breaks when the show does in America, they'll have to add breaks into a live show. This happened when PPV's used to be on Channel 4. It was shit. Something intresting would happen and they'd take a break. The same think will probably happen tonight.