Was the guest host idea a success?

[RockFan89]

From Wrestlezone front page:

PWInsider.com is reporting that the Raw guest host concept appears to be finished in WWE. The concept lasted over a year and a half, but the guest star section of WWE.com has been removed.

Simple question: Was the guest host idea a success?

You can define success however you want (as long as its logical) be it in terms of money, ratings, mainstream exposure, the moments it produced etc.

The point of this thread is to look at the angle in its entirety, so avoid nitpicking over certain celebrities and look at it as a whole.

 

[Ultra Awesome]

I'm going to go with no, the Guest Host concept was not a succes. While, sure, at first, the Guest host concept seemed like it would be interesting; I remember I was even once to the point where I could not wait until the next host would be revealed. But then, little by little, it just started getting boring. It was the same old thing again and again and again, and I just couldn't stand it.

The main problem I saw with the Guest Host concept was that WWE focused too much on them rather than build the storylines/feud they had going. Week-in and week-out; it was all about the fricken hosts and never about developing a feud to it's main potential--which is what should have been done. It even got to the point hwere it was Chavo Guerrero vs. Hornswoggle every week in some rediculous gimmick match.

The guest host concept was a horrible idea; it sparked what can be considered one of the worst times the WWE has ever had. Thankfully, though, it's significance on WWE dropped little by little and WWE began focuing more on their storylines. And now it's [most likely] officially over. Good ridance.

 

[Tired0FthePeople]

It depends on who you ask. I remember David Hasselhoff(sp), Peewee Herman and Bob Barker because I watched Pee Wee's Playhouse, Knight Rider and The Price is Right as kid. Those shows were directly what my generations grew up on, so they were cool throw backs because the product itself doesnt always seem like it geared toward me anymore. BUT....I think Raw, as a whole suffered each of these nights; especially when Barker was on. I know why they thought the idea would work, but like I once said: I like steak and I also like skittles. Doenst mean both should be swallowed at the same time.

Sometimes it just didnt work for me. Other times, when Raw is in Cincy and Chad Ochocinco is the host, and times when Money Mayweather is the host and having a war of words with Chris Jericho, it works fine. When the hosts' gimmick intertwined with Raw, I didnt like that episode of Raw...it wasnt Raw...and it wasnt completely the other thing...the mix just didnt taste right. But Trish Stratus guest hosting and booking herself in a first ever match with Beth Phoenix was awesome. Mike Tyson guest hosting was cool as shit. It was hit and miss for me.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

If I remember correctly, the Guest Host concept was really something that the WWE did as something of and unofficial request by the brass at NBC Universal. The woman in charge of the USA Network, her name escapes me at this moment, really likes the WWE and wanted to see if the WWE could still be a factor among outside media. The original idea that Vince had was to bring back Ric Flair as the Raw GM but nixed that idea in favor of the Guest Host concept.

To some degree, I think that the concept was hit & miss. Some Guest Hosts were obviously much better than others and it showed in some episodes. The overall purpose of the Guest Host concept was to sort of show that the WWE can get well known celebrities to appear on Raw and that they could get lots of coverage by the mainstream media. In that sense, it was a success because it garnered attention that the WWE might not normally have gotten.

When it started in 2009, the big problem was that the WWE basically weaved each episode of Raw around the Guest Hosts and it hurt the quality of the show overall. In 2010, the Guest Host was relegated to mostly just a supporting role, most of them would be shown a total of maybe 5 minutes or so and that'd be it. Sometimes it'd be more, but not often. I think that the concept ran for longer than it needed to or should have. Over the past several months, however, the Guest Host concept has been all but dead anyhow as there've only been a few that pop up sproadically.

The IWC as a whole hated the concept but I can't blame the WWE for trying to grow, for trying to do something to possibly increase the size of its audience.

 

[a7xfan93]

The guest host concept was a huge waste of time...it was very pointless and boring. that wasted time could be used for more matches.

 

[Serious Jones]

As much as I despised the whole idea, it was a success. It got the attention of the mainstream media, and that translated into viewers. There were times when the ratings went up when one of the bigger names were hosting, so from a ratings standpoint, it was a success. And although there were probably some people that grew tired of the angle and stopped watching, it was a negligible loss when compared to the mainstream attention and increased viewership that the angle caused.

In terms of moments it produced, that's debatable. The majority of moments were tacky and contrived, but every so often, legitimate moments were made as a result. Jesse Ventura's Break-Through Battle Royal started Sheamus' path to his first world title, for instance. Bret Hart and other legends also made returns as guest hosts, and those moments were memorable. There were a few other notable moments made by hosts such as Shaq and Bob Barker.

Though it was a chore to sit through at times, the concept was a success. Could it have been done better? Absolutely, but it did bring in an amount of attention and viewers, and it had its share of entertaining moments.

 

[PhD]

As much as I despised the whole idea, it was a success. It got the attention of the mainstream media, and that translated into viewers. There were times when the ratings went up when one of the bigger names were hosting, so from a ratings standpoint, it was a success. And although there were probably some people that grew tired of the angle and stopped watching, it was a negligible loss when compared to the mainstream attention and increased viewership that the angle caused.

In terms of moments it produced, that's debatable. The majority of moments were tacky and contrived, but every so often, legitimate moments were made as a result. Jesse Ventura's Break-Through Battle Royal started Sheamus' path to his first world title, for instance. Bret Hart and other legends also made returns as guest hosts, and those moments were memorable. There were a few other notable moments made by hosts such as Shaq and Bob Barker.

Though it was a chore to sit through at times, the concept was a success. Could it have been done better? Absolutely, but it did bring in an amount of attention and viewers, and it had its share of entertaining moments.

I think you have the right idea on how to interpret this. It was mainly a ploy to draw in mainstream audiences, and it would appear that it largely succeeded.

And I think people dogging the concept are forgetting how well it was actually done, especially for the first 6 months or so. The kickoff, with Trump buying the WWE and then selling it back to him, was highly entertaining, and before it turned into a non-stop shill-fest for crappy movies and TV shows, hosts were used to advance the story at a fairly reasonable clip, a few good examples of which you've noted here.

Sure the concept drug on way too long, but if they'd stopped it at a year or less, I'm sure it would have seemed like a lot better idea to the IWC. Unfortunately, it's given way to uncertainty at the position of general manager, which I don't think has helped retrospectively. The anonymous RAW GM thing has really worn out its welcome, and I'd rather have a guest GM than seeing Michael Cole on-screen for 15 minutes every Monday.

 

[nerd4life]

worst part was it took away from wwe and it just plugged there stupid movies or tv shows or whatever the guest host was wack unless it was someone who was actually a fan and could get invovled.

Shaq as the host getting involved with big show was entertaining thats the only memory i have of it.

 

[Tired0FthePeople]

PHD,

How do you know it was successful in widening the WWE's audience? Have ratings gone up since the E started doing the guest hosts? SOme of you guys know where to find that stuff so you probably know that it has, Im just asking.

 

[MMSoldier]

I not completely with one side. The guest host was, in the begininng, a good idea. People tuned in just to see what the host would do. But the more it went on, the less people cared. It brought people in, sure, but I'm pretty sure it made people leave too.

 

[ccotreau1]

For me, when the Guest Host had power, I felt it was a good thing, simply because they weren't just plugging their own stuff, they were more hands on with the actual show, whether it be in the ring or making matches etc. After they stopped having power, they lost interest to me.

 

[Syborgg]

In WWE's mind if the Guest host concept gained more fans than it lost then it's viewed as a success. I'm not privy to all that kind of info so I can't really say. However, as a wrestling fan, I would say it had it's moments. I personally liked it when the guest host was a former wrestler or someone in the biz. Jesse did a good job, Trish even got in the ring, and seeing Austin be a thorn in McMahon's ass one more time was gold. It's just too bad The Rock deal didn't pan out.

The problem I had, was alot of the hosts seemed to not really know anything about WWE. Hell some even fucked up names and whatnot.

In the short-term the idea was a success, but they should have ended it long before they did. Even once Bret was given the GM position for a short time, that should have been the definitive end to the celebrity involvment with few exceptions like perhaps the Slammy's or whatever.

 

[bigbootydaddyV]

some hosts were great and added to the product, some were awful and detracted from it... one of my favorite guest hosts who i felt made the show better was Dule Hill from Psych... him and John Cena were freakin hilarious and it was fun to watch, I can only imagine how good it would have been had Roday been able to show up as well because he is obviously a HUGE wrestling fan and it would have shown... guys like that just remind me why i always loved wrestling. Some guest hosts didn't even know who the guys were and that unfortunately showed as well. It was a good idea and had potential but they dropped the ball on it with hosts that were there just for attention. One host i thought would have been great was the M E T H O D MAN, he was a fan of WWE and even did a song for hte rock.. and don't give me the pg era crap bc cheech and chong were hosts and they are stoners epitomized so meth could've got it, also Ben Wallace is another guy who was a huge fan and coulda brought attention and not came off as an ass. I liked the hosts idea sometimes and hated it other times, it was better as "guest stars" though rather than GMs for the night too.

 

[LSN80]

Something should be viewed as a success if it advances storylines, adds a new dimension to the show, or improves the overall product within the ring. The guest host concept did not of these, and often times detracted from the aforementioned criteria. If there was a choice for "epic fail", I would have picked it.

The guest host concept started off fairly well with Batista and Ted Dibiase Sr., as both were active/former wrestlers, and contributed to the product. Batista used his power as a means of helping to settle his grudge with Randy Orton, as well as set up the NOC tournament to see who would face Randy Orton for the title there. DiBiase's week saw him set-up the triple threat match between Orton, HHH and Cena at Night of Champions, which really jump started the huge feud between Cena and Orton last year. It also created a nice backstory that allowed DiBiase Sr. attempting to do what he felt was best for his son, but DiBiase Jr. just didn't get it, which came off as an emotional, heartfelt moment that reminded viewers how good DiBiase Sr. was on the mic, and served as a catalyst for him being the "feature presentation" of the Hall of Fame class this year.

It was all downhill from there however. Instead of furthering storylines, we got campy comedy scenes including a litany of gimmick matches between Chavo Guerrero and Hornswoggle. It also put non-wrestlers in the ring in high profile matches time and time again. Guys like Seth Green, Cedric the Entertainer, Jeremy Piven, and John Heder had no business stepping foot inside the ring, and not only did they do that, but they wound up pinning established superstars. However you spin it, that's detrimental to the careers of the superstars who are pinned by these Hollywood actors wh've never taken a bump in their lives.

It also created alot of contradictory booking. Instead of having a heel GM who ruled in favor of the heels and had personal agendas with the faces, or face GM's who were unbiased unless crossed, we got Guest Stars doing one-off's and getting unlimited power for the week! Beyond that, we would see one Guest Host in heel mode one week, and another Guest Star in face mode the next. It made for awful booking and poor storyline advancement as they became the center of the show rather then the Superstars, which is an insult to the wrestlers.

This could have worked if they would have used ex-wrestlers on a weekly basis who furthered storylines, much like the earlier ones did. But once they set foot in the ring, or turned it into their own variety hour, it was all downhill from there. I tune in to Raw to see John Cena, Randy Orton, Sheamus, and The Miz, among others, not Jerry Springer, John Lovitz, Jewel, and the Osbournes. It was a waste of time and counterproductive to the overall product, and I for one am glad the concept is over.

 

[Ferbian]

I wouldn't necessarily call it a failure. Considering the fact that for a decent period of time WWE ratings went up, and remained to be at a steady point or increasing at times.

The guest hosts might have been annoying to watch for a hardcore fan. But it attracted the mainstream casual fans to tune in for stuff like "Oh Shaq is guest hosting RAW, that sounds pretty awesome. Perhaps I should watch it this week?" or something along those lines. It attracts the casual fans if you will.

WWE have managed to successfully take advantage of celebrities throughout the whole thing, and I would definitely not call it a failure. Just because we don't like something, doesn't make it a failure, especially not considering some of the various things that gets hated on in WWE or TNA right now.