Thoughts From The Top Rope 11.05.08: Time For A Change

I stayed up to watch Monday Night Raw live this week for the first time in a long while (for those that don’t know, the show airs in the early hours of the morning here in the UK). I did this not because there was anything advertised that I was desperate to see, but because I didn’t have to get up early the next morning anyway, and because it started an hour early, the tedious wait until the show starts was, well, less tedious. It didn’t take me long to regret my decision, as it soon became clear that this show was going to suck. While I understand that this was a “celebration” of 800 hundred episodes of Raw, there are only so many times that they can show highlights of DX invading WCW and Austin driving a beer truck and keep my attention. Having seen those clips probably hundreds of times over the years, they’ve more or less lost their allure – much like Raw itself.

SmackDown, on the other hand, feels like it’s going places. Whereas Raw leaves you thinking its best years are far, far behind it, I’d imagine the best is yet to come for SmackDown. With some if its acquisitions in the draft this year, the ever-awesome Edge and Taker on board and a fresher feel since the move to MyNetwork, SmackDown seems to be building to bigger and better things. Sure, Triple H may be at the helm, but I don’t think too many would disagree that The Game has been a lot more tolerable on Friday nights, and really has given the show a legitimacy it didn’t have before. Now more than ever, SmackDown seems to be on par with Raw.

Outside of a World title change (that brings into question why Batista was crowned champion in the first place), Raw this week was a shambles. The opening tag match was far too short; the battle royal only served to expose how worthless the Intercontinental Championship is; Kozlov/Haas was fun but forgettable; the big men vs. little men tag match was, again, too short; Punk/Orton had an awful finish; and the Divas match was pathetic. The only things of merit were the main event, teasing a Shane/Steph rift and DX vs. Miz and Morrison. Unfortunately, we had the same pattern of DX going over in a bout that will lead nowhere and benefits no one, though I will say their pre-match promo was good stuff. And I don’t even want to mention that retarded dance segment.

I understand that WWE does not like putting on these 3-hour episodes of Raw and only does so to please USA, but it seems to me like they have no faith in their roster. Being a 3-hour show, there’s obviously some theme that’s being promoted and thus they tend to have a big-night feel, supposedly leading to more viewers tuning in who may not tune in week in week out. So to make these viewers stay, WWE should be presenting their current product in the best light possible; instead they filled up the show with lame “comedy” segments and clips of the days when Raw used to be must-see TV – days that are long gone.

It seems WWE trot out these DX reunions, special Undertaker appearances, McMahon appearances and Hardys reunions in order to make a show feel “special”, but at the end of the day, they’re really not highlighting what the current product is about. Why not, just once in a while, put a pay-per-view quality match on one of these shows. And that brings me to another point; where the hell was the Survivor Series hype? OK, so they announced Cena vs. Jericho, but that’s it. We’re three weeks away from the WWE’s fourth biggest show of the year and it barely got a mention all night.

Raw’s legacy is what’s holding it back, I feel. When people compare it to the old days, no one seems to think it’s as good today as it was in the late 90s. Raw back then was must-see TV, where big things went down night in, night out. Nowadays, we’ll get a couple of truly great moments each year, if we’re lucky. And because of its past glory, I don’t think people will ever truly appreciate the current product, which, at times, can be extremely entertaining if a little tired.

After eight hundred (and six) episodes, maybe it’s time Raw was put on the shelf. Now that would be a “major announcement” that would truly change wrestling as we know it. WWE seem to think Raw (and really the company as a whole) can get by just because of its name-value. That’s why they trot out these “Did You Know” spots and why Michael Cole has the phrase “…the longest weekly episodic TV show in history” engraved in his memory forever. And as the ratings show, the “WWE Universe” just ain’t buying it. And I’m not talking about ratings in the last few weeks, or even the decline since the Attitude Era, I’m talking about the steady decline in the last few years. I don’t think the quality of the product has declined, just the way WWE presents itself. Their “style over substance” approach is taking all the enjoyment out of Raw for me and, assumedly, many others. Maybe a whole new WWE show – new look, new direction, new era – will spark some major interest in wrestling again. Sure, it’s like starting from scratch, but sometimes to progress you have to do just that. This way, you know that things can only get better. And while this ain’t “Wacky Wrestling Theory”, a great man once said that all the best ideas seem absurd at first, or something to that affect.

For the decade or so I’ve been a wrestling fan, I’ve never missed an episode of Raw until recently. Even when I’d go on holiday, I’d record Raw and make sure I’d watch it when I got back. Now, I generally only catch Raw in its replay slot and even then, I’m not too bothered if I forget to tune in (which I frequently do). If a dedicated fan like myself is losing interest, how can WWE expect to maintain a casual audience? It’s time for a change. Incidentally, I always make sure I catch SmackDown one way or another.

It’s pretty apt that I’m here calling for such a drastic change as the end of the longest weekly episodic TV show in history the day after the US elects its first black President (or at least, I’m assuming they did (I’m writing this Tuesday morning)). I imagine America will undergo some pretty drastic changes itself in the near future, and I think most would agree that they’re necessary ones. So too, I feel, are the changes that WWE should be looking to make. Not just because their own ratings and pay-per-view buys are declining, but because there’s a company from Florida who are growing. Sure, they may not seem like much of a threat right now, but TNA continues to expand and who knows when they’ll go over the top and become real competition – of course, if Raw’s decline continues, that time could be sooner than we think.