Random Acts Of Wrestling: RAW Is….Recaps & Rematches?

Have you ever experienced déjà vu? You know, that sense that you’ve seen or heard something before?  Yeah, me, too.  These days, I experience it a lot during each episode of Raw (sometimes Smackdown as well).  It’s starting to get monotonous.

I remember the good old days when Raw was a 2 hour show each Monday night, and it flowed seamlessly. It was quick, engaging, and if you were a wrestling fan, you couldn’t miss a second of it, because if you did, you were bound to miss something of actual importance.  The promos were quick and crisp.  The storylines were developed and riveting, and they led to some amazing matches with great athletes.  The commentary was relevant, on point, and actually promoted the storylines and built up the talent involved (God, I miss Jim Ross).  Even the “entertainment” portions of the show were actually….well, entertaining, not to mention edgy.

Fast forward to today, and we get 3 hours of something that I guess may loosely resemble something close to a cross between pro wrestling and entertainment….if it was produced in an alternate reality where Vince was the supreme ruler and Kevin Dunn was the court jester who was always trying to make the ruler laugh.

I guess Vince and crew have locked into the current format, and they either refuse to let go of it due to lack of interest in shaking things up or just not caring anymore. They give us at least 45 minutes of long-winded, somewhat boring promos that really add nothing to storylines and only serve to allow certain people to exercise their vocal cords.  We get at least 30 minutes of recaps from the previous week’s Raw, Smackdown, and things that happened half an hour earlier on the show; I don’t know about most fans, but I do have an attention span that lasts longer than a few minutes.  We get maybe, MAYBE, 40 minutes of wrestling, and most of those matches are rematches from Smackdown.  And, those matches are ALWAYS interrupted by a commercial break, sometimes two commercial breaks if the match goes longer than 10 minutes.  Throw in 10 to 15 minutes of having the camera on the commentators as they hype sponsors, the Network, or some other asinine thing like the WWE App, along with over a half an hour of commercials, and you get the typical episode of Monday Night Raw.

That format, along with the cringe worthy commentary that has forced me to mute the majority of the show over the past several weeks, and I just may have to catch the 90 minute version of Raw on Hulu just to keep my sanity.

Oh, how the mighty have fallen.

Do we really need so much of the show devoted to recaps of last week and this week? I think we can remember what happened from week to week, not to mention from hour to hour.  The common myth that all pro wrestling fans are mindless, immature children is just that:  a myth (well, except for the John Cena fans, but that’s another story).  The same goes for all the rematches.  The WWE has a great roster with tons of talent, but we see the same thing week in and week out…and then we get to see it all over again.  Use the roster and quit giving us what we already saw on Smackdown, which, ironically, is what we saw on Raw.  Am I the only one seeing a pattern here?

There are easy fixes to these problems. Go back to the 2 hour format.  If the WWE is contractually obligated to the USA Network to provide them with 3 hours of programming on Monday nights, have the 8:00 pm lead in hour be something from the Network.  Something good.  Something entertaining.  Something that appeals to casual fans and hardcore fans alike.  Something that will keep fans interested enough to stay tuned for Raw.  Hmmm…what could that be?  NXT maybe?

NXT is the best thing going for WWE now, and those men and women deserve to have their talents showcased on something other than the Network. It would draw ratings, draw in more fans, and it would appease a disgruntled pro wrestling fan base since NXT is actual wrestling.

I think that WWE becoming basically a monopoly in the “sports entertainment” world has really hurt its programming. The loss of WCW as competition seems to have taken some of the heart and effort out of not only the creative forces in WWE, but also the talent and the fans.  Complacency is never good for anyone, and WWE is no exception.  When your ratings are dropping each and every week, it’s time for a change.  Vince sitting on his laurels isn’t working for him or us any longer.

What do you think? Comment below with your thoughts, opinions, feedback and anything else that was raised.

You can find me on Twitter @AbbeyBrooke2121.  Until next time…