What is the main problem on RAW?

[Crush1]

Raw, the number one brand in the wrestling industry. Has declined in entertainement in recent years.

Lets face it, without John Cena raw just isnt entertaining enough to the mainstream public. But what is the cause of that? i think its because there is only one immensly popular superstar on the brand, John Cena.

In the past when you watched raw, you could see many popular superstars, who got the crowd reaction cena gets. But which superstar on raw gets that kind of reaction? no one.

I know many viewers and longtime fans say, let go of the past those times wont come back and dont need to come back, i fully agree with that logic. Except where are the next generation superstars, that's suposed to be in the main event, and over with the crowd now?

There are many young bright superstars, but where is the main event superstar thats needed now? the wrestlers people in the past said ''they have bright futures'' and ''they will become the next rock'' blahblahblah, are suposed to be main event superstars now. But there arent any.

Raw needs another John Cena, a superstar that is immensly popular a superstar that older people tune in to watch when ever and where ever, a superstar thats so over little kids rush to their homes to tune in on raw. And that is the main problem with raw today, without cena nobody cares.

And what is your opinion? what is the problem with raw, why is the product sometimes bad and othertimes good, why do people tune out, instead of watching and talking about it at work or school?

 

[MomentOfClarity]

I ask myself the same question every single monday, in and out, ive been a fan since the early 80's, thru the attitude era, highs and lows, And all ive seen lately is a pathetic attempt of trying to entertain with the ratings numbers mimic'ing my feelings. I agree with you, theres so much young talent, But i have a answer to where the superstars are, there being held back... by who you ask? The Creative and writing team, and vince mcmahon himself. His vision of what the industry is has just died out since the wwf vs wcw days. I blame that and the writing team solely... Time and time again, they have disappointed and let down fans, even with the fans showing them what they want. And after too many times, its just gotten to be too much that its hard to get people to take a chance, its how you lose viewers. Theres no showman ship in the sport, or should i say entertainment spot, or wait mcmahon has banned that too "entertainment", which at its roots wwe just isnt anymore. Sure the same could be said about the whole industry, but being that wwe sets the trend for the industry, you find the problem there. They need to fire the creative team...and replace them with people with imagination. I believe theres so many stars being used wrong, so much of the show being presented wrong, The lackluster is in abundance... Its truly a bad time to be a wrestling fan, And alot of people say that wrestling goes thru its bad and good times, And those people arent gonna convince me thats whats happening now. And Raw is a direct showing of this, but thats not really all thats suffering....

Heres how you fix it though...

1. Drop ppv prices
2. Get rid of ecw
3. Build a big yet steady Ic title division and make the title mean something
4. Dont shove anyone who gets any buzz into the world title divison
5. Build a solid tag team division
6. Fire all your writers, and get some more talented, up to date writers who have a little imagination
7. Push more of the under talent, and drop all the cheesy gimmicks
8. Quit trying to book ppv to ppv, and actually have story lines that stay around more than 45 seconds
9. Stop being so predictable, out think your audience


Long as you have all these things combined, your gonna continue to not only get horrible ratings, un-entertaining shows, but "superstars" are gonna continue to get held down, and no one will ever be given the chance to break the mold...

 

[Little Jerry Lawler]

The problem with RAW to me starts at the mid-card level...The only credible mid-carder is Santino and even thats a stretch....CM Punk went from having the WHC to tag-teaming now....He should either have been built up as a more legit midcarder when he was drafted to RAW instead of losing all the time and cashing in MITB or be built now...Kofi Kingston was one of the hottest commodities on ECW and he won the IC Title while on RAW, lost it to Santino and look at where he's at.

Whatever Lance Cade did or didn't do I wished he would have stayed on RAW...With him you have two heels in Cade and Santino and two faces in Punk and Kofi fighting for the IC Title....The tag team division is doing better than it has been and I believe will continue to improve.

The main event level has really diminished since the injuries of Cena and Orton...HBK never really wrestles much anymore and the only credible ones are Batista, Jericho, Kane and JBL to a certain extent...Smackdown won in this regard gaining Jeff Hardy and Umaga and Kennedy when they return from injuries....The one big mistake made in the draft was RAW not getting Miz or Morrison....I believe they both can be lower main-eventers right now because who knows how long Cena is going to be out...I don't want him to come back too soon not because I'm not a fan but he needs time to heel so he won't be injured sooner in his return.

I hope RAW will improve soon because I enjoy watching it but it seems like Vince is more focused on entertainment than developing talent especially in the midcard division.

 

[Rusty]

In all honesty, I think the absense of John Cena is hurting the WWE ratings wise. We all know Cena draws, but without him on Raw it seems as if many fans don't tune in. I must admit that Raw just isn't the same without him. Batista is replacing Cena's role at the present moment and he is doing a good job as the top face on the show, but nobody does it better than John Cena. Hopefully he will be back at Survivor Series and immediately continues his feud with Batista. But I think this is a large problem on Raw at the moment. We need to start pushing the stars of tomorrow.

I was discussing this issue with Klunder yesterday and we agreed that Raw is lacking in new main event stars. Sure, CM Punk got a large push when he became the World Heavyweight Champion. But I mean, look where he is right now. He is competing in the tag team division which is seen as a huge step down for him. He has the talent to become a decent main eventer on Raw, but de-pushing him doesn't do good for anyone. Kofi Kingston seems to have the talent to hopefully one day make it big, but he's a long way away until he reaches the top.

Ted DiBiase and Cody Rhodes in my eyes, are the next big things. But they still have at least 3 or 4 years before they start main eventing pay per views. So right now outside of CM Punk who is hanging around in the tag team division, Raw has no young guys that are ready to main event yet. Thats where Smackdown outbalances them in the upper mid-card department. Guys like Mr Kennedy, MVP and John Morrison are future main eventers in my eyes, but they aren't on Raw at the moment.

I also think the problem lies with the booking of Raw as an overall show. Look at this past week for example, what exactly did it accomplish? It barely hyped Cyber Sunday and the matches accomplished almost no storyline advancement. Even the main event sucked. 6 mini matches is overkill. Another problem as someone mentioned earlier is that pay per views prices are too high. In Australia a WWE Pay Per View is $30, and I'm sure it's even more than that in the USA. I don't buy pay per views as I can't bring myself to spend that much money on a 3 hour tv show. It's too much for many fans especially since the WWE has over 14 pay per views a year.

So overall, the problems on Raw is that there aren't new main event talent. Theres still veterans like Shawn Michaels and Kane hogging the spotlight. The booking hasn't got me excited for the next show and it barely advances storylines. Raw feels as if it's just a bunch of matches thrown together on a weekly basis and it seems as if Vince expects people to buy the pay per views regardless of the horrible storyline advancement. It just doesn't work that way. But one thing I must say Raw has being doing very well for the past 4 months, and that is unpredictability.

 

[Checkmate]

There is no 1 thing that stands out to me.

1. Gimmicks. It seems everyone has one and it is horrible, or there isn't any real gimmick to the characters. Gimmicks used to poke at racial, continental, and even sexual borders. Now, gimmicks are your moveset and mic time, and how over you are with the crowd. There isn't any added bonus there, nothing to the imagination.

2. The Matches. Too many matches are too predictable. Mainly because the same guys are main eventing all the time. It isn't as bad as it was in the past few years, but just the main even scene doesn't cut it. This leads me to...

3. The Midcard. Someone said it above. The midcard is a bunch of guys that can't win the big one so they are stuck in tier 2. The tier 2 title needs to mean something, or the future main event scene won't mean anything. Rebuld here and make the title worth it, or bust. Those are 2 options creative... PICK ONE.

4. Cena. This isn't about Cena as much as it is the health of the guys. You can't build a house of cards like the WWE is right now. Cena falls and ratings drop? Why is this? The company used to be a multi-man machine. Austin, Taker, and many other top talents all have dropped out for a year and the company didn't suffer. Why? Because two more guys would take the place of them.

5. The brands. There is no reason to have brands anymore. 1 big title, 1 Upper midcard title, 1 Lower midcard title, 1 Tag Team title, and 1 women's title. That is more than enough. You could even have a 2nd big title to pass between Smackdown and ECW, as the big title would be on Raw and Smackdown. This gives fewer guys main event status, which sticks them in the midcard. Thus, the midcard gets more talent and the titles mean more.

6. Managers. Managers used to run the show. From Bobby the Brain to Slick to the valet of the month. These guys and girls made you a character. Stables and team ups came from this, and the business flourished. I know no one wants to jump into a wrestling business as just a manager, but jobs in America are hard to find, I'm sure you can find someone who wants TV time. Get rid of the Diva search and have a manager search. Have 1 a year and keep them around. Things will get interesting.

7. Tag Teams. Anyone that doesn't have a good gimmick should be fired or placed on a tag team. They are amazing matchups that used to have significant portions of PPV time. Rebuild the division and unify the belts. Make teams acually worth something. If the WWE Champion can beat up the Tag Team champs in a handicap match with ease, something is wrong.

Ok, so I have another few points that I'd make, but my fingers might fall off first. To make long story short, either give creative more power, or if they already have that power, then fire them all and get new people. Get people who are long time fans of the business, that have watched the product and have hated it. Get a few guys who love it too, so we don't change EVERYTHING. I mean, I'm sure there is about 5% of the business that is going right. I think...

 

[Dagger Dias]

Smackdown is so much better than raw right now that's it not even funny. Ever since the draft it has seemed like raw has gotten the shaft compared to smackdown. This might be because of needing to get viewers on the new channel and that's understandable.... but raw is just not as good as it used to be.

Raw has new champions, a new roster, new announcers, and stuff like that.... but it is just not as good right now. In my opinion it would have to be because both Cena and Orton got injured. Jericho and Batista have done a good job of carrying the show so far, but they cannot do it forever. If they are going to build the show around Jericho for a while then that's fine (good idea too) but they need more main event heels (That's where Orton belongs.) because JBL is too busy whining or losing and Kane is still feuding with Mysterio. They need more main event faces (That's where Cena belongs.) because Batista just does not do it on his own.

Once they get their two best guys back, things should turn around for Raw....

 

[OIL]

You can't say John Cena is the ONLY reason RAW is getting worse. Obviously without him RAW dosen't draw as well as it would, because he is the breakout superstar of the entire company. It's obviously going to hurt ratings and storylines if the top superstar is out.

But look past that, and bad booking decision and inactive champions are RAW's problems. Take Beth Phoenix. What has she done since she won the title? Fuck all. If she went out on RAW one night without the title I can't see anyone noticing, or giving a fuck. They need to centre a storyline with her around the title. Heck, have Kelly Kelly fued with her for the title. Obviously she won't win the title but at least it reminds the viewers of the belt, and the division for that matter.

Then we come to the Intercontinental Championship. What the hell has happened to that belt?!

It's gone from being one of the most prestigious titles around, to being worthless. Why they aren't taking it seriously is beyond me. The belt is a great catalyst for superstars to elevate themselves to the next level and be taken more seriously by the audience. But with the way things are, it's a joke. If they had more mid-card wrestlers fueding over the belt RAW would be a lot more entertaining, because people would want to see what would happen next.

Fix those 2 points for a start.

 

[Dead Kennedy]

Raw...what can one say? Starting June this year, the program has receded so much it's hardly recognizable. Their, actually the promotion's biggest star bar none is out with an injury, which of course doesn't help one bit. Yeah, I admit that. Right now, Raw is at a low point I personally haven't seen since 2003/04.

The brand took too much away from Raw, in my opinion. Raw traded away the biggest championship in professional wrestling along with several of their biggest draws like Triple H and Jeff Hardy and basically got squat in return. Raw, along with an obvious lack of big draws in their main event also have few up-and-coming stars, at least ones with the potential to make it in the main event someday. Punk failed his first attempt and Kofi is mid-card for life with his current gimmick. Not many others come to mind. Team Priceless could go places, but I don't see it happening just yet.

That being said, Raw is basically being carried by Chris Jericho, Shawn Michaels, Batista and, yes, Santino Marella. They do have the aid of the ECW/Raw talent exchange which helps the show a little, but in the end a program needs to rely on its own resources to prove itself as a worthwhile effort.

Also, another problem are the feuds. While the Chris Jericho vs. HBK feud was a milestone in wrestling storytelling, there's been little else to speak of. I don't know anyone who has ever claimed to enjoy the horrible Kane vs. Mysterio storyline. Santino is doing a great job at entertaining but he really hasn't had a "proper" feud as IC Champion until the Cyber Sunday stuff. No one "entertainer" he continually battles with on a weekly basis. He gets more "storylines" than "feuds", if you get me.
_______________________________

While the Draft turned the quality of SmackDown and to a small extent, ECW around for the better, Raw was "robbed" of a lot of talent. The main problems Raw have are repetitiveness in the main event scene, allotment of little time for prospective world champions to improve on a weekly basis and few captivating or innovative storylines. Add that to the fact that the match booking and alloted time for the matches has been very inconsistent, and we have a show that is in trouble. Fix these things and Raw could easily be back on a good level on the quality scale.

 

[mvk112]

The problem with Raw is that Triple H is on Smackdown. They have the biggest star in the business on the lower tier show. The main problem, in my eyes, is the brand split. I guess it was done originally to create an illusion of competition, but right now, the talent is so diluted that the split should be scrapped. Both Raw and Smackdown would benefit from a roster that included (when healthy):

Main Event - Triple H, Cena, Batista, Undertaker, Edge, HBK, Jericho
Upper Mid Card - Kane, Orton, Kennedy, Big Show, Umaga
Midcard - Carlito, Shelton Benjamin, MVP, Mysterio, R-Truth, Santino, Kozlov, Jeff Hardy, Matt Hardy, CM Punk
Lower Mid Card - Kofi Kingston, Paul Birchill, Snitsky, Hurricane Helms, Primo Colon, JTG, Shad Gaspard, Cody Rhodes, Ted DiBiase Jr, Chavo Guerrero
Roster fill - William Regal, D-Lo Brown, Val Venis

That is a 35 man roster that could easily fill two 2 hour shows per week with interesting action. Unify the titles into the WWE World Heavyweight Title, drop the US Title so its back to the Intercontinental Title, unify the Tag Titles, and bring back the European Title. They can keep all the women and the women's title, as well.

I would keep ECW around, and this would be the ECW roster...

Finlay, Mark Henry, John Morrison, The Miz, Evan Bourne, Elijah Burke, Jamie Noble, Super Crazy, Paul London, Manu, Kenny Dykstra, Brian Kendrick, Jesse (repackaged as Terry Gordy Jr), Deuce (repackaged as Jimmy Snuka Jr), Tommy Dreamer, Ricky Ortiz, Mike Knox, The Boogeyman, Zach Ryder, Curt Hawkins, Ryan Braddock, and The Great Khali.

That is 22 wrestlers to put on a pretty decent secondary brand and provide seasoning for the younger guys.

Send the rest either back to development or release them.

 

[mvk112]

basically, what my plan would do is provide the younger guys with seasoning and make them build themselves up instead of just being thrust right into the spotlight. the guys who became stars in the late 90's were built up over a few years, not a few months... I'm talking Austin, The Rock, and Triple H. The young starts today are being thrown right into the Main Event right away, and there is no history to them... guys like Orton, Cena, Batista, they are legit stars right now, but when they were first main eventing, they really shouldn't have been.

This will probably be perceived as 'holding talent down' in some circles, to make them pay their dues or whatever, but the fans should decide who gets pushed, not just have guys pushed down their throats. With a single roster that size, you would definitely have to step up your game and prove you belong, in my opinion.

As for PPV's, get back to the Big 5 (Royal Rumble, Wrestlemania, King of the Ring, Summerslam, Survivor Series - old format) and then have the other months be less expensive PPV's that mostly transition the storlines. Obviously they would have to do big things and title changes at the others from time to time to keep people buying, but the main storylines would culminate at the Big 5.

 

[Mattyboy]

Raw and Smackdown are both suffering from the joint ppvs. Now im guessing this was done to increase the buyrates [have all the top stars on ppv] but it doesnt seem to have worked. Storylines are being rushed onto ppvs without any hype [Cena v Batista] and then they are being prolonged-Taker and Big Show is going this way and on Raw it was HBK v Y2J meaning we get the same ppv cards. Who wants to pay to see the same match and same outcome over and over? HHH v Hardy is the biggest example of this at the moment.

Raw has a few problems. Cena being gone is obviously one. Mike Adamle sucking is another. Lets be honest here, his commentary on ECW was shit, his position as GM is Vince justifying his massive salary which probably dwarves alot of the guys in the lockeroom, he has no knowledge of the business, nor a desire to learn it seems. To put it bluntly, no one gives a fuck when he comes on tv.This is not good-GMs are integral to the show, just look at Vicky.

Raw is also very predicable. Right here and now i will predict next weeks raw.

Opening interview segement involving Y2J, Batista, HBK and JBL.

Backstage shot of Shane and Steph arriving.

Regal v Noble.

Orton talking to the siblings

Cm Punk v Cody

Kane and Mark Henry v Bourne and Rey

Orton, Adamle, Mcmahon segment

JBL squash match

DX v Miz and Morrison, with JBL interefering
Batista v Y2J [which we know]

And a segement with Santino of course. Now other than the DX match i reckon thats pretty much been Raws formula in terms of whos on the card since Summerslam.

And if its predicatble, why bother watching it?

 

[AFC1986]

I think Raw's main problem is are only concentrating on the main event wrestlers and neglecting the mid-card wrestlers. Burchill hasn't been used in a couple of months, D'Lo Brown hasn't been on Raw in a while and they have Charlie Hass doing impressions. It was funny at first, but it is getting really boring now.

On Smackdown, R-Truth is in a decent feud with Shelton for the US title and you still have wrestlers like MVP, The Brian Kendrick, Super Crazy and Ezekiel who are getting TV time and that is why Smackdown is better than Raw at the moment

 

[ShaneO]

Silly storylines and their midcard. They need to put some mor effort into their midcard and tag team division. I wish Vince would go and find some legit tag teams and sign them up and put them on raw and even Smackdown. Not that hard to do.

 

[The Undercover Man]

The reason RAW has declined in recent years is because of the lack of decent entertainers like The Rock and like Stone Cold.

Even with John Cena in the RAW programming i personally find seeing him boring and repetitive. But its true Cena is the one that brings in the money for the fat cats to feed there families. Why do you think there bringing him back so quickly? John Cena is very popular with kids, i maybe wrong but thats the general assumption around the majority of wrestling fans i'd be very surprised if an adult found his "superhuman" gimmick entertaining.

Batista nowadays is the only wrestler on RAW to get the kind of reaction Cena gets because their gimmicks and their "wrestling" style are almost identical. The only wrestler i'd say that can top that is Rey Mysterio.

The problem with older fans is that they expect to much, we were spoiled for at least 5-8 years of wonderful entertainment and now it seems like the only bit of entertainment is when Mae Young appears! In my opinion the old times on RAW do need to come back to a degree, may during the odd RAW show or even at a PPV just like Stone Cold did at Cyber Sunday.

The wrestlers on RAW who should be in the main event in the future are: Priceless, Kofi Kingston and Paul burchill. Theres allways going to be a connection to "old wrestlers" because of the fact everyone wants to eperience what happened back in the 90's over again which i find ridiculous, these young starts should just be themselves and no one else

The reason RAW is bad is because of the wrestlers they have on the current roster, and mainly to do with the creative team. Batista as champ = Snorefest but i suppose the kids will be happy. The belts situation is terrible you have people who don't deserve a title with it round there waist now wheres the justice for CM Punk?

I use to be a loyal fan of RAW but now it seems a second or third choice if theres something else on. I'd rather watch an episode of Power Rangers then watching Batista as champion........

 

[Buzz]

Keeping the main focus on a select handful of wrestlers. It's all well and good knowing/thinking that these guys are pulling in the crowds but it leads to seeingt he same people week in and week out - they have a large roster, why don't they use it to it's full potential instead of having a large percentage of the wrestlers in dark matches or only appearing in order to be squashed? That way, not only would more guys get the opportunity to show what they have to the outside world but RAW would be more interesting to watch for us, the audience. And surely, if we find it more refreshing and more interesting then we are more likely to continue watching and it may possibly draw back those who have decided to stop watching for whatever their reasons. This would result in not only having the ratings not drop, but possibly seeing them rise... where's the problem in that?

 

[adampembrey]

I think one of the 'problems' is that they are taking a step back as it were before taking two steps forward (that at least is their plan, I imagine)

This thing with the new 'PG' rating. That is obviously going to affect the content of the show. Whereas up until a few months ago they were targeting 18-35 year old's now they are targeting families.

The problem is though that they built up an audience in one demographic which they know they are going to sacrifice in part to grab a chunk of a different demo. What we are experiencing now is the lag time where the casual fans in the 18-35 demo are tuning out but the casual fans in the family demo are yet to tune in and be hooked.

I'll give the WWE the benefit of the doubt and suggest they anticapted this short term decline.



In a more tangible sense, as others have mentioned the show is more predicatble or at least less shocking.

Residing in Britain means I always read the spoilers for MNR and almost everytime the report ends with '...and X was left standing tall as Raw went off the air'

I remember a time not too long ago that the show would end 'unfinished' as it were with a mass brawl or some other kind of cliff hanger, often with JR shouting 'no way, we can't end now, wait a minute.......'

As others have mentioned, the mid-carders and even some of the upper card *cough* Batista *cough* just can't engage the crowd like the guys did in the late 90's.

I'm not just talking about SCSA and The Rock, who were the masters but what about the Outlaws? The Godfather? Too Cool? Val Venis? Jericho?

Everybody raves about Santino, and I do like him but 7-10 years ago he would have been run of the mill in terms of entertainment on the mic.

The wrestling itself is probably of a similar standard but all they guys are a bit 'samey' for want of a better word.
They are all great technically but wrestling is more than that, where are moves like the 'Ho train' and 'the worm' and 'the stinkface' moves that make the crowd laugh?

I still enjoy Raw but I don't really connect with the guys so much. I respect the hell out of them don't get me wrong but I'm unlikely to qoute 'I'm straight edge' or 'I'm a wrestling Gawd' like I would have told people to suck it, or that it didn't matter what their name was, or request that they step aboard the 'HOOOOOOO train'

Long story short

1. The guys don't connect with the fans the way they did
2. Guys like me (23 years old) that became hooked during the early 90's and then retained with the attitude era into my adolesence, aren't the target demo anymore anyway.

 

[DeadMan5000]

I think you should change this to "What is wrong with the WWE?" Lets face it. The WWE sucks all the way around right now, and has been for atleast 2 years. Lets face it. The Attitude Era IS OVER and will NEVER return. Problems in the WWE are plentiful. First off, the tag team division is a joke. Hornswoggle & Finlay. Come on fire Hornswoggle. He is not entertaining, he is a joke. The Intercontinental Championship is a joke. They need to boost that championship up to what it once was. Santino as IC Champ, ridiculous.

We don't want to go back to far but lets go back to the Attitude Era, the beginning, and the end. Lets go back to around 1998-2002. We had the likes of The Rock, Austin, Old school Kane, Taker, Kurt Angle, Old School HBK, HHH without Stephanie McMahon as his lacky, Rikishi, X-Pac, Mankind, Faarooq, Bradshaw(When he was entertaining) and so much more. They also had a damn good tag division, over the course of these 4 years with the likes of Dudley Boyz, The Hardys, Goldust & Booker T(Which in my opinion was hillarious) La Resistance, DX, The Ministry of Darkness headed by Evil Taker, The Hart Foundation, Edge and Christian, and so much more. It was a time in which they cared for the tag division. Ladder matches were plentiful, and now a days we are lucky to even get the MITB at WrestleMania.

The storylines back then were so intriguing. The alliance vs. The WWF, the Monday Night Wars, The Ministry Era, Austin's return, the amazing triangle ladder matches at WrestleMania. I mean, it was great back then.

Fast forward to now. There is no Kurt Angle, no Dudley Boyz, no Booker T, No tag division, no cruiserweight championship, Boring storylines and so on.

Now on to John Cena. That is not why the ratings are going down. The ratings are going down because people are just losing interest in the WWE. It is so boring right now.

To sum it all up, the WWE is declining because it truly sucks now a days. Long live the WWF.

 

[My$terio_Fan]

I don't think there is "one main problem" for the ratings problem on raw. There is a bunch of factors making wrestling in general a underperforming group, unlike the attitude era.

1. Creative: It really seems the WWE creative team really lack depth. They need to work on building characters and building great feuds that people get invested in. They also need to take more swerves like the attitude era, but not really crappy one's like McMahon being blown up or being crushed.

2. Wrestlers: The rosters on each brand are not full of great superstars. I really wish the WWE would end the brand spilt, but keep all three shows. ECW could stay as a heat/velocity type show. I think it would make each division stronger. They also need to make the characters more edgy and unpredictable.

As for the main problem on Raw, I just think wrestling as a whole is really stale right now. WWE is on a decline and they really need to start ramping up the storylines and promtion to bring back Raw to 3.8-4.2.

And I agree somewhat the raw's ratings maybe down a little because of Cena's absence, but with him back their still not gonna get 4's, they need to work on making the product the best it can be.

 

[The Roid Rage]

While I sympathize with many of you on some of the things you are saying, on the contrary you are saying things that make no sense. There is a reason for everything.

1. All I hear is this mid-card thing over and over. Everyone thinks it needs to be built and that is true but there is one problem. Draw. A lot of the guys in that division just don't draw or get ratings and that is what the writers and bookers and Vince looks at, who is hot and who is not. I am sorry but I don't give a damn about Folgers Coffee Kingston, or Totino Pizza, or Ted Debauchery jr, or Cody Hit The Rhodes, or a whole hand full of other guys that could be in that division. To create the interest you need the talent and I think that is where they are lacking.

2. The Brands. I hear all this talk about how lousy the brands are but let me tell you, that isn't changing any time soon. Ya know why??? MONEY, why else. It is too much money coming in being on 3 networks on 3 nights a week, doing at least that many shows a week. If they cut it down to just one show there would be too much talent as is, not enough room for anybody, and it would drastically diminish revenues. That is just the way it is. Word Life, this is basic Economics, Word Life, basic, basic Economics. Ya feel me?


3. The same matches. Well, if there were more guys who could draw enough to be in those main event matches than you'd have more people up there in different matches but... you don't. The fans cheer for Triple H, John Cena, Batista, Undertaker, Rey Mysterio, C.M. Punk, Shawn Michaels, and Jeff Hardy and Boo Randy Orton, John Cena, Chris Jericho, Edge, JBL, Mark Henry, Big Show, and Khali. That's about all there is to it right now. And looking at it there are more faces than heels right now too. At any rate, first you complain that there are too many of the same matches with the same people but then want longer storylines that directly influence that exact thing. What the hell? You can't have it both ways.


4. Up and Comers. I see few if any. I don't see much potential in a lot of these guys to take the places of the ones up top now. You can hype and market anyone you want to any degree you want but the truth is, the future is looking very bleak as far as talent goes. I see promise in Kennedy. I think he could be really cool. I think MVP is so over rated it's disgusting. I hear so many people on the internet just rave over how great MVP is and how he's so underused or misused. I think he looks like an accountant in a bad jump suit trying to act like he's from the hood or something. It's ridiculous. Nothing impressing about him at all. Then you've go EMO Punk, who although is talented lacks substance, maybe he should try substance abuse. And who else is there??? Santino??? Is he the futures big hope? I hope not. He is amusing enough to keep me from overdosing on Excedrin but that's about it. Oh Yeah Kofi Kingston. Talented but not a main eventer. Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase Jr, who cares. Cody has never been good, I am sure he's a decent wrestler but what are you seriously going to do with Cody Rhodes. And then Jr, he's just lucky his dad is who he is. who else who else....Hawkins and Ryder maybe?? I doubt it, no one's cared about them since...ever, and what do they have to offer besides the same mediocre crap as the rest. Who else do we have...Gavin Spears, Jack Swagger, Jesse and Festus, Jamie Noble, Ryan Braddock, Scotty Goldman, Vladimir Kozlov, Paul Burchill, Bam Neely, Ricky Ortiz, The Miz, and Hornswoggle. Wow, what group of crap. I bet they'll do the company wonders. You need the talent to make the matches and gain the interest, and draw the ratings, and sell the merchandise, and make the noise that it takes to make a good show. So while you have a whole crop of crap, you've got the main guys at the top all overworking, getting injured, and in turn not doing anything for the show. It's a big clusterfuck.


So you ask what is wrong with Raw, who knows, everyone thinks they know but who really does? It is of course a multitude of things that we can all bicker about and so on, but what is really going to be done about all of it. Until the internet junkies start running Billion Dollar companies I guess we'll never know.

 

[JaJaBings]

As someone mentioned, predictability is one major problem RAW has to address. I mean... How many times can u have the main event as Y2J & JBL vs Batista & HBK, and its little variations? It's so ironic that RAW desperately needs Cena now to freshen things up, despite being hated by the matured crowd. As well as Orton.

Yet, even with them both returning, the storyline permutations are just still not intriguing enough. Cena vs Y2J has been done, Orton vs HBK has been done. U get the point. Unless someone makes a surprise heel turn such as Cena or Batista, or perhaps utilize the popularity of stables and start grouping superstars into various stables, RAW will remain crap even when Cena and Orton return.

WWE needs to elevate new fresh superstars ASAP. Evan Bourne is involved in this Kane/Rey crap, how he idolizes Rey, and rushes to his rescue, only to get decimated by Kane everytime. Over at ECW, he's gunning for the ECW title but Matt deserves a longer run. Is it possible to involve him in RAW's Tag/IC title scene? His character gimmick needs to have more dimensional instead of just idolizing Rey and playing goodie-two-shoes by challenging Matt for the ECW title as a pure competitor (at least incorporate the Cena-Batista intensity).

In a nutshell, I agree that RAW has to freshen up its card, and not be repetitive to the point of predictability. Santino vs jobber, Haas vs jobber, JBL or Santino, Y2J, JBL vs Batista, HBK. Have some surprise twists. Main event: Evan Bourne vs Y2J or JBL. They get screwed by HBK or Batista and Evan gets the upset win. These are the moments when wrestling fans mark for, and remember for life. Who the hell cares for Batista pinning JBL for the umpteen time after a predictable Batista Bomb? Make it happen, WWE!