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Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Raw is Overcooked

AJ confronts CM Punk
WWE Raw
Courtesy: WWE.com
By Chad Smart
@chadsmart & @my123cents on Twitter

WWE’s Monday Night Raw has been a three-hour show for almost two months now. I know I’ve said this many times in the past, but I think I’m at a point where I need to stop watching Raw and only watch pay per views. Normally, due to living on the west coast and with my work schedule, I will watch the first hour of Raw, miss most of the second hour while I’m on my way home from work, then watch the third hour when I get home. I’ll read a recap of what I missed and usually don’t feel like I really missed anything.

Last night (9/03/12 for those reading this later) since I had the day off from work, I sat down to watch the entire show. After two and a half hours, I had had enough and turned off the show in favor of going to see a movie. While waiting for the movie to start I checked Twitter to see what happened in the last half hour of the show and found that the last 2 minutes contained really the only moments of the show worth seeing. CM Punk had allegedly aligned himself with Paul Heyman. I am curious to see where this new development goes, but I’m not sure I’m willing to sit through three hours of television every week to find out.

Sheamus waits, as we do...
WWE Raw
Courtesy: WWE.com
Part of my problem with the current state of Raw is the fact WWE has been using the same show template for the last 15-years. Start the show off with a long rambling promo that leads to a match later in the show. Throw out some random mid-card matches during the show. Replay events that happened “moments ago” and keep focusing on the General Manager. The show is beyond played out.

One of the reasons Impact has been good lately is 90% of all the matches have a purpose and consequence. Even when matches have a reason for happening on Raw, they don’t seem to have any lasting purpose. For example, the Labor Day episode of Raw included Rey Mysterio/Sin Cara vs. Tensai/Cody Rhodes, Antonio Cessaro vs. Santino, and Ryback vs. Jinder Mahal. The Santino match was a United States title rematch from SummerSlam. Ryback and Jinder had been having interaction for the past few weeks. Cody Rhodes has been mocking Sin Cara who beat Tensai a couple of weeks ago. Even though each match was logically put together, there was no hype for the match before it happened and was quickly forgotten as soon as it was done.



As we’ve mention several times here and on From the Rafter’s Radio, WWE has a poor record in creating new stars. With all the focus being primarily on CM Punk, John Cena, Randy Orton, Sheamus, Daniel Bryan and Kane along with part-time wrestlers Brock Lesnar, Triple H and The Rock, very little is being done to cultivate and create the next generation of WWE Superstars. This is part of my boredom with WWE. Of the nine guys I listed, there’s only two that I really like to see wrestle and five that make me turn the channel. I realize that’s my own preference and the average fan doesn’t share my feelings.

Falls count anywhere
WWE Raw
Courtesy: WWE.com
I was trying to think of ways RAW could change and become more interesting. The only idea I could come up with is one I don’t think would really work. Instead of being one three-hour show, I was thinking they could essentially do three one-hour shows. Each show would have a different focus. The first hour could be the Intercontinental/United States title shows focusing primarily on the mid-card guys. Give them some promo time and the chance to work matches that go longer than 3 minutes. The second hour would bridge the gap to the third hour and with a mix of tag-teams and upper mid-card guys while promoting the Main Event hour. The third hour would basically be a combination of the first and last half-hour’s of the current RAW. You’d get your long promo from the General Manager and Champions as well as a main event level match.

One other suggestion I’ve had for years is the champion should rarely wrestle on free TV. I’ve often thought that if you want to see the champ wrestle, you should have to pay to see him. Cutting down on the number of weekly matches the champion has would allow for other talent to be given the spotlight. It would also, hopefully allow for a challenger to be built up without constantly being put into matches against the champ.

I don’t see either of these ideas happening but something needs to be done to break up the monotony that is the current Monday Night Raw show. Until then, I think I’ll stick to reading recaps and watching pay per views.

Do you think the formula needs to change? Have any ideas you’d like to implement? Share your thoughts on the my123cents Facebook or Twitter accounts.

1 comment:

  1. Punk with Heyman is gold, and long overdue. I want to see a Heyman led heel stable with Lesnar, Punk, Bryan, and a few others. That's what I want, but it won't happen.

    ReplyDelete