Raw will always be the A-Show

[gd]

Despite all of the criticism that Raw has received recently and all of the praise that Smackdwon has gotten, Raw will always be the A show in the WWE no matter what. Even if half of the show consisted of Jillian Halll singing, it would still be more popular than Smackdown, and there are a few reasons why.

Name Recognition - When most casual fans think of wrestling they think of Monday Night Raw. It goes back to when wrestling was at his peak during Monday Night Wars. Raw is synonymous with wrestling and the WWE. Some casual fans may not even be aware of Smackdown's existince and only tune in for Raw. There may also be some hardcore fans that grew up watching Raw with their fathers and tune in for that reason alone.

TV Channel- To put it simply, USA Network is availible in more homes than My Network TV, or whatever the hell Smackdown is on these days. Persoanlly, I have both channels, but I'm sure their are some people affected by the channel switch who simply do not have the same ability to view both shows.

Raw is a live show- With all of the internet rumors going around these days this is very important. I'm sure there are a large amount of people that read the Smackdown spoilers every week and only tune in for specific parts of Smackdown or don't watch at all.

With Raw being live there is the feeling that anything can happen. CM Punk could've never cahsed in his MITB on Smackdown last year because the news would have been everywhere before it aired. For that matter, it is very unlikely that any major title would ever change hands on Smackdown, but it's possible on Raw. This creates what seems like a better atmosphere on Monday night's

Time Slot- 9PM on Monday nights is a much better time slot that 8 PM on Friday. Monday is the start of the week and Raw can give people something to look forward to when they get home. Most people will be home on Monday's as well after having the whole weekend to go out with friends, party, etc.

Meanwhile, Friday's are the prime night to go out in most places. Most people are going to be busy on a Friday night and have not reason to watch Smackdown. Personally, I'm usally buys on Fridays and when I'm not, I feel like a loser for staying home and watching Smackdown. It's a lose/lose situation.

While Smackdown may be the better product currently, Raw still is, and will always be, the A-Show in the WWE. If only they could keep all of the rosters and storylines the same but just switch the nights the shows were aired the WWE would be much more successful.

 

[Black Snow]

Um, no offense, but I don't totally understand the point of this thread. Are there people out there who think that RAW will lose it's A show status at some point?

I think the most frustrating thing for some fans is who Vince considers to be the A talent. It seems like the WWE evaluates talent based on their crowd reaction, physical size and just who Vince plain old likes. Talent is the last item on the checklist.

I'm pretty sure that everyone knows RAW will always be the A show for all the reasons you listed. RAW just doesn't have the A talent. Guys like CM Punk, Edge, Chris Jericho and John Morrison entertain me so much more than Batista, John Cena, Triple H and Big Show.

 

[SavageTaker]

If I may say something here. Raw will always be called the A-show by many people in the WWE and for that matter in the pro-wrestling industry as a whole. But in all truth and honesty the reality is there's also a lot of people who won't see or consider Raw as the A-show. Some people would consider it the B-show. Hell some people would go as far as to say that Raw is the C-show. That's right some people would go as far as to say that ECW is better than the supposed A-show and supposed A-brand. I think people will continue saying Raw is not the A-show or A-brand until the quality of the show improves and becomes better than the other shows for a long time, not just every once in a while, but for a long time. And that's not saying the other shows have to be bad but they just won't be as good until Raw improves.

 

[sTyLnK]

Raw will always be considered the A show, but in my opinion I find Smackdown a million times better. To me it is the A show. Usually there is more wrestling matches and I think Edge is amazing so having him usually cap off the show is always gold.

 

[Cena's Little Helper]

Of course RAW will always be the flagship show for WWE, and no one is disputing that fact whatsoever. So, I'll give props to the second poster in this thread and similarly ask, what's the point of this thread? People are only pointing out the fact that it's odd that WWE's flagship show pales in comparison to a show that airs Friday nights on a no-name network. Nothing more, nothing less.

 

[Paradox100]

Raw to me is the B show. Does anyone care about it anymore? Raw is on in an hours and 15 minutes for me. Do I want to watch it? Hell no. But I will anyway, because I have been for ten years. But when Fridays roll around, I know I'm in for a good show, where great athletes put on a good show. Great wrestlers, and solid storylines.

Smackdown and ECW are more enjoyable than raw these days. Three months ago, the only good thing about mondays was that Raw was going to be on. But now, it feels like a priority. I just wanna get through the night, and go to great america tomorrow. Because this is how the card will be,

Legacy-Batista squash
Matt Hardy jobs again
Diva tag match
Santina

That isn't enjoyable. That's crap. I'd rather watch Kelly Kelly vs. Maryse than a Raw main event these days. At lease then, you have the chance for a nip slip.

 

[Hayles]

Sorry, WWE isnt on My NetworkTV or USA here. We also dont get any wrestling shows live, Raw is 15 minute tape delay, that also puts a dent in your time slot theory as well. Raw will always be #1 because thats the show that has the focus stoyline, the show that has the top name wrestlers, the show that the McMahons show up on, and the show that has a more edgy feel to it.

Chyeah, I'm just saying.

 

[tastytimmy]

I applaud your usage of your marketing textbook while writing your essay, but everything you wrote was awful.

First off, Raw hasn't always been the A show. As a matter of fact the WWE was in deep trouble had Ted Turner not lost interest. WCW Monday Nitro, was the best in the wrestling business during the previous decade. Think of the stars WCW groomed. Jericho, Benoit, Booker T, Steiners, Sting, Flair, Goldberg.

Raw isn't even the A show today. Raw is terrible. I had tickets in Denver and I was thinking about selling them. I cant think of three more boring people than Legacy. Rhodes has a speech impediment, Orton goes over the same speech week after week, and I honestly cannot remember one sentence that Dibiase has ever spoken. The only group ever that was more boring than those three were Evolution. No personality. Batista pathetically mimics Goldberg and the Ultimate Warrior, and the only in ring move that looks good is his spinebuster. Vickie Guerrero and Santino/Santina are the best thing they have going and now Vickie's gone.

I challenge everyone to watch old matches and interviews on youtube. WWE has dumbed their product down because they can. It is completely boring. TNA has been incredible. Eventually people will catch on to TNA, it reminds me of WCW in a lot of ways. To be seriously competitive they need to get rid of the 6 sided ring. They are 1 or 2 free agents away from being competitive. It would take a Rock, Austin, or Goldberg signing and they will be the A show.

I guess not everything you said was awful, but people need to quit defending bad products. Raw is a terrrrrible product right now.

 

[blair4107]

Raw will always be the A show, but that doesn't mean their A show isn't sucking. I don't pretend Smackdown has gotten better, is it better than RAW right now? Yeah, but Smackdown didn't get better to become better than RAW, RAW just started sucking until it was worse.

They make stupid decisions on who to keep and who to get rid of, they use Batista (on the mic no less), matches never finish in a proper manner, almost all RAW episodes lately have left me either not caring or wondering what the hell just happened?

 

[Nate DaMac]

I totally see where you are coming from, in those terms, Raw is the A show. But in terms of the actual product, Smackdown is better. They don't rely on mindnumbing horrible humor. That shit is old. The main thing that keeps me entertained on Smackdown is how the main event picture is a revolving door of talent. Yet on Raw, it has been the same four people for almost 2 years. Raw is stale and we would all benefit if we just quit watching and forced them to make some goddamn changes.

 

[King Patrick Star]

In my opinion, Raw is the “A Show”, because of it’s components, as stated by those who wear Red shirts in an Inter-Brand Battle Royal (Pro-Raw, for those who didn’t understand my metaphor), but Smackdown is considered the better show for its end results, meaning the actual matches and how storylines are executed. Raw has the proven name value and the live time slot, but Smackdown basically has hungrier, un-tapped talent that delivers. It’s like comparing a professional sports league to a college sports league. Yes the pros make money, but college is far more exciting. That, coming from a person that doesn’t watch college sports, but you get the idea.

 

[gd]

Um, no offense, but I don't totally understand the point of this thread. Are there people out there who think that RAW will lose it's A show status at some point?

My fault, I didn't make my point clear in my first post. The general consensues nowadays is that Smackdown is a great show and Raw is mediocre at best. WWE even thinks that Smackdown is the better show at this point. However, the quality of Smackdown hardly affects the success of the WWE.In reality, Raw is and always be the most important thing to the WWE, and nothing that they can do on Smackdown will change that.

Instead of having Smackdown focus mainly on new stars and more wrestling while Raw is more about the skits and soap opera storylines, the WWE should be doing it the other way around. If the Smackdown show is the best product, that product should be feautured in the prime time, "A Show" spot.