RAW in some big trouble

[K.C.]

The show drew a 2.5 rating last week, which is its lowest rating since 1997 when WCW was pummeling the WWF into the ground.

However, now, there's no show competing against them stealing their ratings...the show is just tanking.

I have to believe there's going to be some big time changes soon. It's definitely needed, too. RAW is very much unwatchable at this point.

[ScottFromGA]

The show drew a 2.5 rating last week, which is its lowest rating since 1997 when WCW was pummeling the WWF into the ground.

However, now, there's no show competing against them stealing their ratings...the show is just tanking.

I have to believe there's going to be some big time changes soon. It's definitely needed, too. RAW is very much unwatchable at this point.

When is Vince gonna realize that the big, muscleheads aren't always the ones to put in the main event? To me, the normal looking people are the ones I always wanted to see in the main event....

one thing I can finally applaud is the end of RAW on monday....they FINALLY added a twist! Carlito beating John Cena? To me, Thats Cool. Finally...someone is put over at the end which is what has been missing for quite sometime. Like Umaga and Kahli.....given, these guys stink on ice...but all the months build up and kicking Cena's ass in the ring every monday....then at the PPV, they get demolished by Cena. No one NEW is put over at this point, much like the old WCW.

I just hope something happens soon....one thing I'm seeing thats gotta happen is the joining of the brands again and cutting the jobbers. The shows were so much better when they were together.

[Fallon]

1. "The Closer" (Monday, 9 p.m.), TNT, 5.36 million homes, 7.28 million viewers

2. "Saving Grace" (Monday, 10 p.m.), TNT, 4.86 million homes, 6.42 million viewers.


11. "WWE Raw" (Monday, 10 p.m.), USA, 3.29 million homes, 4.8 million viewers.

Jesus, the first hour of RAW didn't even crack the top 15.

[Freitag]

Was that the season premiere of the Closer/Saving Grace or just a re-purpose?

I'd also like to point out that shows like Raw are incredibly cheap to produce compared to shows like Burn Notice, etc. Vince runs a lean operation. The reason why WCW was "cancelled" is because everyone had a guaranteed contract and even the non-wrestlers made hand over fist money.

[King Hippos Bandaid]

Look at TNT competing with Raw, but not having to pay Rasslers

:king:

[foodcourtdruide]

Hopefully this will make the WWE realize the following:

1. John Cena is not a draw. He is not a good champion and his superman powers are annoying and boring. He's not that good on the mic and he's not exciting.
2. The Diva matches are boring.
3. Stables are needed. These make for the most compelling and continuous storylines. Also, stables create stars. Look at what DX did for HHH and what the Nation did for the Rock.
4. Feuds need to be written better and make more sense. The only feud that I would say is well written right now is Orton/Rhodes. Even ECW is poorly written, though I think John Morrison is a promising character and I really liked the promo he cut on Tuesday. I'm more excited about ECW than any other program right now.
5. Titles need to have more meaning.
6. Quality over quantity. Throwing 10 guys that should be in the IC title race immediately into the world title race does not make up for having 1 or 2 bonified championship caliber guys. This is why the brands should be together.

[Doctor Z]

This is not surprising, and I'm glad it's happening. This is the inevitable result of the merger. You didn't need to be a business major 5 years ago to foresee the detrimental longterm results of buying out all of your competition. Wrestling hit its peak popularity when Raw and Nitro were in a weekly head-to-head battle. But since '02, the product has been total shit... Shit for talent, garbage storylines, and no actual wrestling ability. I stopped watching, and clearly I'm not alone. WWE can rot.

[Dougie Brootal]

Hopefully this will make the WWE realize the following:

1. John Cena is not a draw. He is not a good champion and his superman powers are annoying and boring. He's not that good on the mic and he's not exciting.
2. The Diva matches are boring.
3. Stables are needed. These make for the most compelling and continuous storylines. Also, stables create stars. Look at what DX did for HHH and what the Nation did for the Rock.
4. Feuds need to be written better and make more sense. The only feud that I would say is well written right now is Orton/Rhodes. Even ECW is poorly written, though I think John Morrison is a promising character and I really liked the promo he cut on Tuesday. I'm more excited about ECW than any other program right now.
5. Titles need to have more meaning.
6. Quality over quantity. Throwing 10 guys that should be in the IC title race immediately into the world title race does not make up for having 1 or 2 bonified championship caliber guys. This is why the brands should be together.

if mickie james goes away, im holding YOU personally responsible!

[RingWraith]

This is not surprising, and I'm glad it's happening. This is the inevitable result of the merger. You didn't need to be a business major 5 years ago to foresee the detrimental longterm results of buying out all of your competition. Wrestling hit its peak popularity when Raw and Nitro were in a weekly head-to-head battle. But since '02, the product has been total shit... Shit for talent, garbage storylines, and no actual wrestling ability. I stopped watching, and clearly I'm not alone. WWE can rot.

Dude I wanted the return of ONE roster for both shows for sooooo long, but I fear it will never happen.
Ever since the split, there's less "unpredictability". You have the same fucking matches every week, even going into and after PPV.
And the last three or four years, it feels like there have been so many forgettable and unwatchable Raws.
Long ago I used to get excited for Monday Night Raw shows, now it's no excitement. If I miss a show, no big deal. You can probably guess what happened, since it would be similar to the previous two or three shows.

[Snoogans]

I kinda gotta go with Scott. I dont watch wrestling, havent in a few years, but when I did, my favorite guys to watch were the smaller, more agile guys.
Id rather watch the Hardy's fly off latters and shit then watch The Rock vs Batista or whatever the fuck the title matches always are. Woulda anyway, now I dont wanna watch any of it, but

[Kevin]

Hopefully this will make the WWE realize the following:

1. John Cena is not a draw. He is not a good champion and his superman powers are annoying and boring. He's not that good on the mic and he's not exciting.
.

Now your just being ridiculous.. You may not like Cena.. But you can not say he is not a draw.. The crowed goes nuts for him.. Love or hate.. His merchandise sales are through the roof.. Until those start going down.. He is not going anywhere..

[JesterOfSadness]

Now your just being ridiculous.. You may not like Cena.. But you can not say he is not a draw.. The crowed goes nuts for him.. Love or hate.. His merchandise sales are through the roof.. Until those start going down.. He is not going anywhere..

This is the sad thing. Hopefully fans will realize that if you don't watch or buy tickets to their shows that Hogan II is headlining, things could change.

Oh who am I kidding, things won't change..

[foodcourtdruide]

I think the problem really comes down to there being no legitimate main-eventers.

Look at all the guys who were main-eventers that are aren't on TV:

- Stone Cold
- The Rock
- Shawn Michaels
- Chris Jericho
- Mic Foley
- HHH
- Goldberg
- Brock Lesnar

There is no one to get excited about.

And all the storylines are SO rushed. Look at how quick Orton went from debuting to becoming champion. I think that's why stables make sense, you could work on the storyline within the stable rather than forcing a title match, or putting the champ up against a random oppopnent for a non-title match every week.

The writing stinks!

[foodcourtdruide]

Now your just being ridiculous.. You may not like Cena.. But you can not say he is not a draw.. The crowed goes nuts for him.. Love or hate.. His merchandise sales are through the roof.. Until those start going down.. He is not going anywhere..

Are his merchandise sales through the roof? I have no idea if that is true or not. And he does not get a great pop and at times he gets more boo's then cheers. These are not good boo's, he is asuperman face.

He does not have the heat to be champion.

[Kevin]

Are his merchandise sales through the roof? I have no idea if that is true or not. And he does not get a great pop and at times he gets more boo's then cheers. These are not good boo's, he is asuperman face.

He does not have the heat to be champion.

To the WWE.. Any noise is good noise.. Boo or cheers.. And Merchandise is HUGE barometer for a champion these days.. Not saying its right, but its true..

[ScottFromGA]

Are his merchandise sales through the roof? I have no idea if that is true or not. And he does not get a great pop and at times he gets more boo's then cheers. These are not good boo's, he is asuperman face.

He does not have the heat to be champion.

Cena is not a Babyface at all.......

Babyface's are ones that draw complete pops from the crowd, like a Austin, Rock, Flair, Hogan......Cena still gets booed....plus the fact that they are slamming him down our throats with the whole "Most Controversial Champion Ever" is just sickening. He has not done anything great!!!

Its sad...if my little girl likes wrestling, Cena and folks we have now will be the OLD stars of that day.....and that is very scary.

[xample]

I saw an article earlier about Vince coming back on this next edition of Raw to "strike back".

Perhaps he is looking to strike back at those terrible ratings of his.

[Kevin]

I saw an article earlier about Vince coming back on this next edition of Raw to "strike back".

Perhaps he is looking to strike back at those terrible ratings of his.

I hope he "strikes back" and kills himself.. for real.. For killing wrestling..

[K.C.]

Now your just being ridiculous.. You may not like Cena.. But you can not say he is not a draw.. The crowed goes nuts for him.. Love or hate.. His merchandise sales are through the roof.. Until those start going down.. He is not going anywhere..

He's a draw in the sense that Diesel was a draw.

He sells a lot of merchandise for kids, but I don't feel compelled to buy PPVs he headlines, and I don't think most adult fans do.

I'm not as down on Cena as most people. He could be good if used right, but trying to make him the new Hulk Hogan was eventually going to blow up in their face.


Either way, Cena's not so much the problem as is the fact that Cena and Batista are the only two new megastars they've really created since the Austin/Rock/Foley era ended.

And neither are great wrestlers. Cena is decent...Batista is horrendous.

[xample]

I hope he "strikes back" and kills himself.. for real.. For killing wrestling..

HaHa...

Obviously it won't be like it was... but there is still plenty of under-utilized talent under his belt that could perk things up a bit. This whole Benoit episode hasn't been the only thing hurting the ratings... all the injuries this past year have really dampened the programs. (HHH, HBK, Taker, Booker T, Kennedy, Lashley, etc), not to mention the departures of RVD, Sabu, etc.............

[K.C.]

HaHa...

Obviously it won't be like it was... but there is still plenty of under-utilized talent under his belt that could perk things up a bit. This whole Benoit episode hasn't been the only thing hurting the ratings... all the injuries this past year have really dampened the programs. (HHH, HBK, Taker, Booker T, Kennedy, Lashley, etc), not to mention the departures of RVD, Sabu, etc.............

I think the problem is more that they have a really difficult time writing a decent mid-card storyline.

They just throw guys together on cards at the last second.

Back when WWE peaked, they were good at making sure everyone had a decent storyline from the top guys down to the jobbers, so it gave a lot of different reasons to watch.

Now, the shows focus almost primarily on the World Titles. And if that storyline sucks (Khali vs. Batista?????), what's the point in watching?

[xample]

I think the problem is more that they have a really difficult time writing a decent mid-card storyline.

They just throw guys together on cards at the last second.

Back when WWE peaked, they were good at making sure everyone had a decent storyline from the top guys down to the jobbers, so it gave a lot of different reasons to watch.

Now, the shows focus almost primarily on the World Titles. And if that storyline sucks (Khali vs. Batista?????), what's the point in watching?

Yeah, which I honestly believe revolves around all the injuries... the true mid-carders are getting bumped too quickly because they have no one else to fill the void. And it sucks.

It's sad when I have to pop in an older dvd or watch some classic matches on youtube to get my weekly wrestling fix now.

[King Hippos Bandaid]

Raw's rating hasnt been the same since the WWE Released the Heart Throbs

:king:

[buzzard]

I think what's missing is the P.T. Barnum mentality here;freaks & midgets are always a crowd-pleaser,you remember how much better Arnold's movies were before he talked?
I mean no disrespect to those of you who really enjoy that wrestling schtick,purists I guess, however this Vince McMahon crap stinks,more carny...less corny!

[ralphbxny]

if mickie james goes away, im holding YOU personally responsible!

AGREE WHOLE HEARTEDLY!!!

[epo]

When is Vince gonna realize that the big, muscleheads aren't always the ones to put in the main event? To me, the normal looking people are the ones I always wanted to see in the main event....

.

Hence the popularity of Dusty Rhodes back in the day. If you notice when booked well, CM Punk had a very large appeal as he came off as a tough guy, but a regular looking dude.

[Kevin]

Hence the popularity of Dusty Rhodes back in the day. If you notice when booked well, CM Punk had a very large appeal as he came off as a tough guy, but a regular looking dude.

Besides the fact that he looks like a fucking tweaker, with those garbage bags under his eyes, yea!

[Are Gee]

It is so stupid that there are different brand still.. they don't even go by the one roster anyway. When the hardy's were RAWs tag champs, Matt Hardy was still on Smackdown, but on RAW every week..

Once they split the rosters, interest in wrestling went on a quick decline. You can only fight so many people. Especially now that there are so many injuries.. just end it.

[commish13]

There are few things I hate more than people frivolously saying that the brand split should end. It's not because of the lack of options of feuds. It's because the "creative" teams are beyond horrific at their jobs. It's the shitty writing.

Plus, just about everybody is on RAW anyway.

[Brother Grimm]

There are few things I hate more than people frivolously saying that the brand split should end. It's not because of the lack of options of feuds. It's because the "creative" teams are beyond horrific at their jobs. It's the shitty writing.

Plus, just about everybody is on RAW anyway.

I think its a combo of both. The writing is poor across the board for all 3 brands. If the rosters for all 3 shows were more evenly balanced i think the reception would be better.

[Kris10]

Bring back the Road Dogg Jesse James!

[conman823]

Big Steph = Clueless

Vince = Out of touch/ egomaniac

Shane = pansy

Linda = ED 209

WWE = Just die

[MrPink]

Bring back the Hardcore title for the lower to mid carders and use the IC title for the guys who are not quite ready for the WWF championship. The IC title matches used to be just as good if not better than the main event matches, now it's thrown around willy nilly in fuckin awful matches. Let's get rid of Khali now too, he only does 2 or 3 moves and became a world champion:wallbash:

[Chimee]

Bring back the Hardcore title for the lower to mid carders and use the IC title for the guys who are not quite ready for the WWF championship. The IC title matches used to be just as good if not better than the main event matches, now it's thrown around willy nilly in fuckin awful matches. Let's get rid of Khali now too, he only does 2 or 3 moves and became a world champion:wallbash:

But now he uses the Iron Claw, how can you deny his skills.