What the hell happened to Raven?!

[Matisyahu]

Dammit I've been watching TNA for the past 2 months and I haven't seen Raven so much as one time and that sucks because he was the main reason I decided to tune in in the first place.

I really haven't seen a Raven match since Vince McMahon buried him continuously on Heat every week. It is really sad to see what Raven has become because by the looks of his profile picture on the tna website, he looks a little cracked out and just old....

Man Raven used to be one of THE best wrestlers in WCW and by far the top performer in ECW throughout his first run with the now defunct company. First of all because Raven can give a promo that will send chills up your spine and his style of wrestling was good but also his character is or at least was one that could be as the old cliche goes, imitated but never duplicated.
In WCW he was one of my favorites hands down because he was still a great if not a little tamer version of the ECW Raven but still he had some of the best feuds of the mid to late 90's with the likes of DDP, Perry Saturn, etc.

So basically I'd like to know WTF they are doing with him currently in TNA if they are doing anything can anyone tell me what they did to or with -->

 

[thegambler]

I agree Raven use to be one of, if not my favorite wrestler! Right now in TNA he is leading a group called "Serotonin" with Kazarian, Maverick Matt, and Johnny Devine. He is only seen if one of the guys gets beat. He comes out and canes them in the ring. Why do promoters think he needs to lead a group? "Raven's nest", "the flock", "dead pool". "the gathering" and now "serotonin". He may set the record for leading the most factions ever in pro wreslting! Which sucks because he is a freaking awesome worker!!!

 

[Matisyahu]

OH so he is the next Franchise?! Thats totally ******ed so I guess he will be coming out everytime they lose a match and bitch them out like Douglas did for the Naturals. LOL whatever. Man Raven could have been the top draw in TNA if they played their cards correctly but maybe this is what he wants I mean its not like the guy has anything left to do in the world of wrestling so I suppose he mine as well be a manager....AGAIN

He should be Johnny Polo again that'd be great

 

[Y 2 Jake]

Raven might get a bit more screen time if he did'nt look so bloated. He's not the same wrestler he was a few year's ago. His age, weight and drug issues have seriously affected his performances.

 

[Dj Martyn]

Y2 jake hit the nail in the head, Raven over the past year or so has slipped a bit in his performance (which is a shame) he has gotten bloated and slow, watch any of the monsters ball run up to Bound for glory 06 and its like he just cant be arsed to do moves, he uses drop toe holds over and over and rather than put the effort in to innovation/flare, he just wrestles a 'mid 2000 WWE 24/7 Hardcore title' match style, hit with a cookie sheet, hit with a cookie sheet and o and what can i do next........stop sign.., now dont get me wrong i love raven, his character has always been consistent and never come across as cheesy/lame, his in ring work was alot more solid than most and he has been involved in some great feuds, and alot of succesful stables, the flock was in my opinion always WCW second best story arc.

 

[ExtremeIronChef]

It's sad to see what has become of Raven. This guy was one of the best ECW world champions in history and this is what has become of him? Damn. Seriously he needs to get off whatever drugs he may be on, lose some weight and just get back in the game. Maybe he has just lost the passion for wrestling?

 

[justinsayne]

I don't think he's lost his passion but I think that he just isn't able to do the things he used to be able to do(physically), like what was said before, age, drug use, and his weight have caught up with him, not to mention the fact that over his rather long career he's been in some extremly physical matches, and the human body can only take so much of that, the last really good match I saw Raven in was a tables match inside the six sides o steel cage at lockdown against Jeff Hardy, and that was several years ago I believe, I like the Idea of Raven as a manager of Serotonin and would like it more if he got more TV time, maybe come to the ring with them, Bently and Kazarian make a great team and are really talented, I would love to see Serotonin w/ Raven at ringside feud with LAX w/Konnan(of coures) for the tag titles, Raven would also be great at color commentating I think, he would most definetly be a better choice than the fat faget Don West, I also wouldn't mind seeing Raven join the creative team and write some storylines, any these things would be good for Raven, I hope that he corrects his issue and doesn't continue to head down the same road as his mentor Jake "The Snake" Roberts has

 

[RVDgurl]

From my understanding Raven has a thyroid problem that was most likely triggered by his years of drug abuse. He has been clean for about 2 years now, but his thyroid condition makes it hard for him to lose weight. It is a shame that he is finally clean but physically he looks worse than ever. He is a great worker but obviously he is not at his best. TNA should really look to take advantage of his mic skills and his mind for the business. I agree with Justinsayne that he would be a great addition to the creative team. Just look at all the great storylines and characters that Raven helped to create in his ECW days.

 

[justinsayne]

could you imagine a creative team with Raven and Paul Heyman on it, they could create some of the best wrestleing programming ever, and Heyman has said that he wants to work with Raven again, that is something TNA should really take advantage of, go out sign Heyman, fire Russo, then put Raven on the creative team and let those two run wild with great storylines TNA would be by far the best Wrestleing show on tv if they did that

 

[Dj Martyn]

I dont think you should fire russo, i think he has a great mind for 'Tv', he does need to be worked with not left alone, but he writes good tv (not to say i prefer the sports entertainment style to you know actual wrestling, but certain aspects of a broadcast wrestling show need to be run like a TV show)
But having russo work with paul and raven would be great, i think that is a great team to have as it balances the creative out perfectly

 

[justinsayne]

well, if Russo promises to put an end to the whole VKM bullshit, and allow the X-division stars have some great matches then I would consider not fireng him, but right now I don't like what he's doing for the TNA product, but this can be discussed in another thread I'm sure