The 2-out-of-3-falls era of Raw (2019)

[dreidemy]

How hard can it be to just book a show around the f***** commercial breaks?

There are people getting paid to come out with this shit as the best solution/idea

[Bang Bang Bart]

Oct 19, 2020 15:34:54 GMT -5 Chiral said:

Oct 19, 2020 15:16:04 GMT -5 Abadebe said:

To this day, I don't understand why they feel the need to have commercials during every match.

They could easily have entrances, go to commercial, come back with the bell ringing, have the 8 minute match, then go to another commercial.

My only guess is they got really fond of the multi commercial break 20 or so minute matches as they don't have to write anything for big stretches of a 3 hour show and booking more short matches is harder to them than keeping the longer ones.

The way AEW handles matches with commercials by emphasizing picture-in-picture action and reminding fans that we can see what happens during the break is probably the ideal way to do ads during the matches.

["Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay]

Oct 19, 2020 9:05:18 GMT -5 Soultastic said:

Most matches on raw are super short anyway, how hard can booking around commercials be?

Oh don't pull on that thread.

They've only been on air since 1993, what do you want from them, the show to be structured around its time slot and advertising? To be well shot and competently directed?

Next thing you'll be wanting is a popular babyface in the main event. Christ, kid, go back to the indies.

[thehottag]

Oct 19, 2020 13:39:28 GMT -5 Bang Bang Bart said:

Oct 19, 2020 13:38:45 GMT -5 thehottag said:

As someone not in the US, how often does Raw go to commercials that they felt the need to do this? Didn't think TV matches usually went that long?

Most WWE TV matches have a gap during matches for commercials.

Yeah but... why?

They know when the commercials are, they are a scripted show, so why not just book the matches to start & finish between the breaks?

[GuyOfOwnage]

WWE Hell in a Cell, sponsored by Fruit Roll-Ups!

[Wieners=$$$]

Funny thing is, I consider these last 8 years of Raw the, "2-out-of-3 hours unnecessary" era.

[-Lithium-]

...I somehow totally forgot about this. Insane. It was so awful but I still had no idea what the thread was about for about 3 seconds and then I remembered.

[Xxcjb01xX [PIECE OF: SH-]]

The last few years of Vince throwing anything at the wall to see what sticks and almost nothing doing so is a true testament to how the ratings have hit complete rock bottom for them.

["Evil Brood" Jackson Vanik]

The worst part was most of the time it led to a dude getting pinned in like a minute to get to the first break and just made everyone look like jobbers.

[polarbearpete]

Oct 19, 2020 17:28:12 GMT -5 thehottag said:

Oct 19, 2020 13:39:28 GMT -5 Bang Bang Bart said:

Most WWE TV matches have a gap during matches for commercials.

Yeah but... why?

They know when the commercials are, they are a scripted show, so why not just book the matches to start & finish between the breaks?

A lot of the TV matches nowadays go more than 10-12 minutes so they wouldn’t fit between commercial breaks. They could do shorter matches but they probably feel 3 hours is too long to do a show full of short matches and segments.

[Deleted]

I guess I didn't hate the 2-out-of-3 falls stuff, but the "No wrestling during the break" rule was one of the dumbest f***ing decisions they've made in years, which is saying something. Remember that one awful Alexa vs. Carmella vs. Naomi vs. Nattie elimination match? It's bad enough the match itself sucked, but imagine how annoying it must've been for the fans that they were likely just standing around after each elimination.

[Bang Bang Bart]

I dunno why WWE or USA or Fox are so afraid of having picture in picture during commercials.

[Hypnosis]

Oct 22, 2020 6:38:38 GMT -5 polarbearpete said:

Oct 19, 2020 17:28:12 GMT -5 thehottag said:

Yeah but... why?

They know when the commercials are, they are a scripted show, so why not just book the matches to start & finish between the breaks?

A lot of the TV matches nowadays go more than 10-12 minutes so they wouldn’t fit between commercial breaks. They could do shorter matches but they probably feel 3 hours is too long to do a show full of short matches and segments.

This unfortunately won't happen, but I think Raw going back to two hours would have solved that problem.

[polarbearpete]

Oct 22, 2020 14:50:18 GMT -5 Hypnosis said:

Oct 22, 2020 6:38:38 GMT -5 polarbearpete said:

A lot of the TV matches nowadays go more than 10-12 minutes so they wouldn’t fit between commercial breaks. They could do shorter matches but they probably feel 3 hours is too long to do a show full of short matches and segments.

This unfortunately won't happen, but I think Raw going back to two hours would have solved that problem.

Raw would be a much, much better received show if it were 2 hours rather than 3 hours. That’s just way too long for a weekly show. It’s why Smackdown has consistently been better than Raw for years no matter the rosters (outside of maybe the beginning of the SD on Fox era).

[Wieners=$$$]

Oct 22, 2020 15:06:44 GMT -5 polarbearpete said:

Oct 22, 2020 14:50:18 GMT -5 Hypnosis said:

This unfortunately won't happen, but I think Raw going back to two hours would have solved that problem.

Raw would be a much, much better received show if it were 2 hours rather than 3 hours. That’s just way too long for a weekly show. It’s why Smackdown has consistently been better than Raw for years no matter the rosters (outside of maybe the beginning of the SD on Fox era).

Agreed.

I believe in 1 hour(45 minutes minus commercials), a company can fit 3-4 matches and 3-4 segments without sacrificing quality or narrative, in a weekly wrestling program.

Wrestling segments should not be longer than 5 minutes. It should not take 30+minutes for two people to want to fight each other. Monologues specifically, should not be longer than 5 minutes!

The fact is, a weekly live, 2 hour scripted program will dip in quality after time due to the pressure of filling that time every week. A 3 hour live, scripted program, will only get to the bottom faster.

The PPVs are supposed to be 3 hours, because they're trying to sell you a program and give you more bang for your buck, compared to their weekly shows. The weekly shows are supposed to build your anticipation towards paying to see these angles conclude. Now that PPVs happen almost twice a month, plus all of the television time to fill, everything feels less important.

[-Lithium-]

Oct 21, 2020 23:09:33 GMT -5 Xxcjb01xX [PIECE OF: SH-] said:

The last few years of Vince throwing anything at the wall to see what sticks and almost nothing doing so is a true testament to how the ratings have hit complete rock bottom for them.

But ratings don't matter/the company is making record profits/DVR/whatever excuse they have to tell themselves this week to make it seem like they aren't absolutely failing at nearly everything possible creative wise.

[Brandon Walsh is Insane.]

Oct 19, 2020 7:57:12 GMT -5 Jedi-El of Tomorrow said:

Oct 19, 2020 7:47:06 GMT -5 "Evil Brood" Jackson Vanik said:

It actually came from Vince since he suddenly realized that real sports don't play during commercials so no one could wrestle during them either. So a completely unforced error on his part. I attended a live RAW during this era and it was so ungodly awkward and boring to just have dudes standing around for a few minutes while we waited for the show to come back on.

Vince obviously hasn't seen real sports in years, with how many times you damn near miss a play due to commercials, or outright miss a play.

I always feel like I’m losing it when the count is 0-1 in baseball or it’s 2nd and 10 in football. Like I swear I was watching the entire time but I don’t remember the play.