What are the problems on Raw currently?

[El Hijo De Slapnuts]

Longer matches,GUEST HOSTS THAT CARE,lessswoggle,book your champion like they deserve to be champion,and make DX at least somewhat serious!
The rest isn't terrible,it might be that the IWC is just not in the mood for some things

[HMARK Center]

Going by what I've read in various Raw results articles and threads over the past few years, the problem seems to be that Raw is a constantly repeating episode. It seems like it runs the same format, same basic storylines, week-in week-out.

Only thing that seems to change is that occasionally some guys turn face or heel.

[El Cokehead del Knife Fight]

There's a very clear tier on RAW. Trips, HBK, Orton and Cena are on one level and everyone else is much lower. Remember when Trips put over TAKA huge back in the attitude era through TAKA keeping pace with him and nearly beating him. They need the main eventers to be able to do this with midcarders so that if someone needs that little bit of credibility when they move up, you don't get the impression that they are out of place.

[Andrew is Good]

There's a lack of realistic heat.

I gave an example of the epically bad Raw that had the Little People's court, which may've been the worst Raw I've ever seen (and I've been watching Raw almost every week since 1995). I gave this example before, but I want to reiterate it.

It was Carlito vs Chris Masters. They did a little set up in the back to set the match up, in which Carlito is hitting on Eve. They have their match, and Masters goes over clean and leaves with the girl. Now, that's fine, but, Masters isn't over yet as a babyface. Sure, the fact he can move his pecs is somewhat amusing, but that's not going to sustain a babyface. People don't like you because you can flop your man titties around. If Carlito went over via shady means, via brass knucks, roll of quarters, something, enough to keep Masters down for a bit, then he could try to go and grab that kiss that he wanted earlier. And, Eve seems like a tough girl, so Carlito could be a bit rough, force himself on her, she could slap him, and then maybe he throws her to the ground and starts threatening her. Eventually, Masters comes to, and jumps Carlito, and they start fighting.

Now, you have your heat, and your sympathy. You have a reason to care or not care about the people involved.

It's the same with Hornswoggle. Hornswoggle, when used right, could be a great way to get heat, because he has so much sympathy. If, after 5 weeks of Chavo vs Hornswoggle, that Chavo took a chair and beat Hornswoggle within an inch of his life, then Chavo would have been the most over heel on Raw. But, they dragged it out, and you knew what was going to happen. So, it was entertaining for the kids, but it didn't make for good television. It was a good sideshow. But, how often do you need to see the circus?

The belts don't mean what they used to. The whole deal with Wrestlemania, like, Orton I think blamed the fact that other matches were ahead of his, and they just had a regular match. But, each great match on that card had something important. Brother vs Brother (though it was kinda corny how they implied Matt killed Jeff's dog), the Money in the Bank contract, the Undertaker's streak. Everything had a consequence. But, with HHH vs Orton, the thing that was supposed to be important was an afterthought, to the over the top bad soap opera storyline.

I talked about it before in comparing this with the Austin/Pillman angle. It came across as realistic, and that those two people hated each other. But, with HHH and Orton, it came off as extremely hokey. And I think that's been the word this year for Raw.

The only new stars that were made on Raw were Sheamus and Kofi Kingston. That's it. Miz did ok after being crushed by Cena, Evan Bourne and Jack Swagger floundered, Legacy got crushed on a weekly basis, MVP didn't go very far after losing the US belt, The Colons, who were a hot tag team, got split up and nothing was done, Santino turned babyface because he ended up being too funny, and now he's jobbed out all the time, Mark Henry went from bad man who beat Randy Orton to wearing Hornswoggle's hat, they have the same divas matches week in and week out, there is no actual angle with the girls, and not to mention how things seem to be the same every week.

Like, they need to change up. You could switch the rosters around, but it's still tough with that, because it seems anyone who goes to Raw loses momentum. The Colons did, Mark Henry did, MVP did, Jack Swagger did, Evan Bourne did. And Jeff Hardy and CM Punk leave Raw, and all of a sudden, they're main eventing pay per views. Something's got to change with the whole landscape and layout of teh show.

[Jason]

- Hornswoggle.
- The fact that TWO suck up commentators are on their team.
- How there is never a title feud not including Orton, Cena or Triple H.
- The Guest Hosts, especially the Celebrity ones.

This is the most part, what is wrong with Raw right now. Matt Striker commentating with King and Queen was a breath of fresh air and I hope they continue that when JR comes back to Smackdown, as Byron Saxton took over Striker's job on ECW. The Celebrity guest hosts annoy the hell out me, 85% of the time, they don't know what they're talking about and I hate how they always refer to John Cena as "their man" . I'm glad Sheamus is the WWE Champion, all they need to do is elevate MVP, Kingston and Swagger to the main event now and I don't understand why they're not doing this. All three of them are over, if Sheamus can win the title without barely getting a reaction, than they can sure as hell challenge for it, atleast.

[Andrew is Good]

The commentators, man, that's another thing to point out. When Vince and Jesse were on commentary, it was awesome.

Like, I talked about this before. On that epically bad Raw, they were talking about how Sheamus wasn't going to stay and fight Cena. Well, no shit Sherlock, he just had a friggin match. A heel commentator would have pointed that out.

[Tiger Millionaire]

More frogs and dogs and bears and chickens and... and whatever!

[Jason]

Dec 29, 2009 20:50:50 GMT -5 Andrew is Good said:

The commentators, man, that's another thing to point out. When Vince and Jesse were on commentary, it was awesome.

Like, I talked about this before. On that epically bad Raw, they were talking about how Sheamus wasn't going to stay and fight Cena. Well, no s*** Sherlock, he just had a friggin match. A heel commentator would have pointed that out.

Yeah, I remember last night, they kept pointing out (Lawler especially) how Sheamus "arrogantly" turned his back on John Cena. I mean, uh yeah, he was done speaking to him, what is he going to do? Stand there and stare at him? They make the faces look right ALL the time, even when John Cena threw Sheamus through the table for no reason and man. Matt Striker at TLC was making that Sheamus moment look great, he was like "This is great, look at these kids' faces!" and "YES, he did it!". We need that sort of commentary on wrestling.

[Deleted]

I'll just throw in the commentary. Not Cole either, LAWLER.

Get him out of there.

Cole's "Oh my!, Vintage x, TO THE SKULL" and other stuff actually grow on you, or at least they did for me. Lawler just has nothing anymore. He says something worthwhile roughly once per 12 episodes.

Replace him with just about anyone that could be an even passable heel commentator, and the show would seem at least 50% better. A heel commentator ragging on Cole is good. JBL did it and it was good, he was not doing anything especially remarkable while doing so either.

[Kevin Hamilton]

Dec 29, 2009 17:44:20 GMT -5 HMARK Center said:

Going by what I've read in various Raw results articles and threads over the past few years, the problem seems to be that Raw is a constantly repeating episode. It seems like it runs the same format, same basic storylines, week-in week-out.

Only thing that seems to change is that occasionally some guys turn face or heel.

Concur. Very paint by numbers feel when I've tuned in, which the guest hosts have actually made worse not better; it's very formulaic from what I've seen.

[Slim Loves Lily]

Booking Hornswoggle as an indestructible 2 year old.

[hypnoticgenes]

I think the main problem with Raw is that it is trying to be more of a bad sketch comedy show than a pro wrestling show.

[chunkylover53]

Two pages and nobody mentioned the TV PG rating. Granted, they don't have to curse and be over-the-top violent like the Attitude Era, but from what I read on these forums(since I haven't watched since Wrestlemania) the fact that the show is targeted towards kids really insults the rest of the audience, it also dosen't allow the creative team leighway, and such and such. They really need an edge to get things back on track.

Another thing is dropped or rushed storylines that never help develope midcard wrestlers, which can groom them for the main event someday.

Too much emphasis on the script. I was talking to fellow crapper Aceorton on why he stopped watching wrestling after the WWE name change. Wrestlers are basically receiting lines that were written for them instead of going out and doing things naturally. The best wrestlers are themselves with the volume turned up. "Stone Cold" Steve Austin for example was not a one-dimensional character like some might think. His anger stemmed from Eric Bischoff firing him over the phone and not in person and he's held a grudge about it ever since. He has taken his frustration out on WWF superstars and that helped him develope a bound with the fans. His character was an extention of who he was and what really happened, not somebody giving him a gimmick with no rhyme or reason. Not to mention, he's been in the business for 8 years at that point to hone his craft.

These days, they push new guys straight from FCW, then drop their push after a couple of weeks for whatever reason. Always looking for the next big star, but if they don't get over within a week, they're screwed. Character developement is essential in getting someone over, and WWE just dosen't have patience anymore it seems.

There's just so many problems with RAW and WWE in general that for the company to get better, they need to make a 180 degree turn with their product and I don't see them doing that anytime soon. That's just my opinon, if not the truth.

[Big L]

Idk!!!

[Bub (BLM)]

Dec 29, 2009 20:29:26 GMT -5 Andrew is Good said:

There's a lack of realistic heat.

I gave an example of the epically bad Raw that had the Little People's court, which may've been the worst Raw I've ever seen (and I've been watching Raw almost every week since 1995). I gave this example before, but I want to reiterate it.

It was Carlito vs Chris Masters. They did a little set up in the back to set the match up, in which Carlito is hitting on Eve. They have their match, and Masters goes over clean and leaves with the girl. Now, that's fine, but, Masters isn't over yet as a babyface. Sure, the fact he can move his pecs is somewhat amusing, but that's not going to sustain a babyface. People don't like you because you can flop your man titties around. If Carlito went over via shady means, via brass knucks, roll of quarters, something, enough to keep Masters down for a bit, then he could try to go and grab that kiss that he wanted earlier. And, Eve seems like a tough girl, so Carlito could be a bit rough, force himself on her, she could slap him, and then maybe he throws her to the ground and starts threatening her. Eventually, Masters comes to, and jumps Carlito, and they start fighting.

Now, you have your heat, and your sympathy. You have a reason to care or not care about the people involved.

It's the same with Hornswoggle. Hornswoggle, when used right, could be a great way to get heat, because he has so much sympathy. If, after 5 weeks of Chavo vs Hornswoggle, that Chavo took a chair and beat Hornswoggle within an inch of his life, then Chavo would have been the most over heel on Raw. But, they dragged it out, and you knew what was going to happen. So, it was entertaining for the kids, but it didn't make for good television. It was a good sideshow. But, how often do you need to see the circus?

The belts don't mean what they used to. The whole deal with Wrestlemania, like, Orton I think blamed the fact that other matches were ahead of his, and they just had a regular match. But, each great match on that card had something important. Brother vs Brother (though it was kinda corny how they implied Matt killed Jeff's dog), the Money in the Bank contract, the Undertaker's streak. Everything had a consequence. But, with HHH vs Orton, the thing that was supposed to be important was an afterthought, to the over the top bad soap opera storyline.

I talked about it before in comparing this with the Austin/Pillman angle. It came across as realistic, and that those two people hated each other. But, with HHH and Orton, it came off as extremely hokey. And I think that's been the word this year for Raw.

The only new stars that were made on Raw were Sheamus and Kofi Kingston. That's it. Miz did ok after being crushed by Cena, Evan Bourne and Jack Swagger floundered, Legacy got crushed on a weekly basis, MVP didn't go very far after losing the US belt, The Colons, who were a hot tag team, got split up and nothing was done, Santino turned babyface because he ended up being too funny, and now he's jobbed out all the time, Mark Henry went from bad man who beat Randy Orton to wearing Hornswoggle's hat, they have the same divas matches week in and week out, there is no actual angle with the girls, and not to mention how things seem to be the same every week.

Like, they need to change up. You could switch the rosters around, but it's still tough with that, because it seems anyone who goes to Raw loses momentum. The Colons did, Mark Henry did, MVP did, Jack Swagger did, Evan Bourne did. And Jeff Hardy and CM Punk leave Raw, and all of a sudden, they're main eventing pay per views. Something's got to change with the whole landscape and layout of teh show.

I agree with all of this.

One of my biggest problems with RAW right now is that they have a habit of bringing in guys who were red-hot on SmackDown or ECW, and then tearing them down. MVP, Mark Henry, Evan Bourne, Jack Swagger, the Colons. They were all pretty damn over before being drafted to RAW, and now none of them mean a damn thing. It's incredibly frustrating.

[MichaelMartini]

You'd need to change almost everything about the show.
-get rid of Cole and Lawler, or at least tell them to stop talking to the audience like we're idiots.
-less comedy, and when you do comedy, make sure it's funny.
-longer matches, with less decisive finishes. Clean wins on free tv don't build heat.
-less guest hosts. It's a good idea to bring in new viewers but make sure they have a loyal fanbase. I doubt any ZZ Top or Al Sharpton fans tuned in just to see them.
-Better storylines. ANY storylines. With the focal point on wrestling.
-push new talent, let them go over main eventers.
-give the wrestlers characters more depth. Give us more details, wether it be vignettes or more interview time. Shaemus is the champion and what do we know about him? He's Irish. That's about it.