It seems like I’m not the only one that feels both Raw and Smackdown have lost their way. We seem to be seeing a lot less wrestling and getting a lot more mic work. I can’t say that I’m thrilled about what has been happening. And my feelings I owe all to the creative team. In fact this team will be talked about as I go on. So I would like to talk more on this subject, and then one of my readers sent me an email weeks ago about how WWE seems to be going back to the attitude era with a few of their angles. So I would also like to touch on that. So let me start with what the new but not improved creative team has done to WWE programming.
For all of us that watch Raw and Smackdown regularly how sad has it been that we are lucky if we get maybe 2-3 matches on each show? And sometimes if you blink you might miss a match. Now I’m very big on having good storylines. I’m one that complains when they send two guys out for a match and there’s no angle involved. After all we need to have a reason to want a winner and a loser and care about the outcome of the match. But lately the wrestling has played second fiddle to so called deep storylines. You know like the Eddie and Rey saga. While at first I loved the feud, the more they got into the angle with Rey’s son really being Eddie’s the more I got tired of the whole feud. Listen Eddie Guerrero’s acting has been outstanding and Rey Mysterio has also shined very brightly on the mic. But I’m not watching Smackdown for the old soap opera angle. I think most of us are losing out on not seeing Eddie week after week putting on one his top matches. I have been waiting for months for Eddie and Rey move on to new opponents. And while I’m so happy that Eddie has basically been the top heel on Smackdown, watching this angle unwind week after week has gotten very tiresome.
I guess maybe if this storyline wasn’t out there as much and we got some really top matches it would all balance out perfectly. I’m having a very hard time with Vince’s decision to toss out the wrestling aspect of the show in favor of a soap opera theme. It’s just getting to be an insult to all of us that want to see WWE’s best do their “best” in the ring. I feel like both shows are in somewhat of a tailspin. Look at Raw. For months how often did I complain about Triple H doing the same promo week after week? How many times did we see Hunter and Batista have a contract signing and it was the same old stuff? And look at the Matt Hardy situation. What started as something exciting was just repeated too many times and by last week even though Matt did a good promo, having him run out and get arrested three weeks in a row took away from his first real appearance. Everything with Matt became very predictable. Let’s face it Vince makes ALL the final decisions, but if he thinks he has a terrific creative team he’s way off. I’m totally disappointed in some of the miserable promos that I have heard. And some of the crap matches that we have been given, like the midget match with the Heart Throbs and Viscera, talk about a waste of time.
And finally last night I watched Velocity. Paul London lost his title to Nunzio. God for bid he should lose it on Smackdown, but that’s another matter. So he lost the title thanks to Big Vito interfering. You then get Paul London asking the fans to come together and march to WWE headquarters and protest his loss. My God not only was this script one of the dumbest things I have ever heard. It was totally senseless, but London put nothing into it. Could it be because he can’t act? Sure, Or maybe he found this script as bad as I did. He might have been reading the script word for word, but I swear he didn’t seem upset over the loss at all, in fact I found him to be very unconvincing. There have just been so many dud segments in the last few months that I wonder how they got the name “creative.” How many of you read, and yes it’s a rumor but if this is true this is sad. How many of you read that someone on that team, a woman hired from Nickelodeon asked JBL how he gets the fake blood on his head to keep coming out? How many of you read that some of the writers no nothing about wrestling terms? Just these two things alone give us all an idea why the shows have lost so much momentum. His staff or at least many on his staff don’t know what the hell they are doing. I’m saddened and angry that the writing on the shows have brought things down so badly. You know it would be great that after Summer Slam things start to pick up. Not only do I want to see more matches, GOOD matches, but new promos, fresh, new and filled with heart, anger and just something that will make each and every one of us want more. I think we’ve all pretty much suffered enough so I say let the night after Summer Slam be the beginning of much improved shows. MUCH IMPROVED.
Okay a reader of mine Johnny O weeks ago, maybe even a few months ago emailed me and said that WWE is going back in time. Johnny mentioned how the Lita/Edge/Matt angle was very similar to the Stephanie/Test/HHH angle. Remember when Paul Bearer with the Kane secret hanging over ‘Taker’s head? When UT set fire to his house and Kane became disfigured? Paul Bearer held that over Taker’s head, much like Eddie is doing to Rey. But the one that really hits home is that Cena/Bischoff are the 2005, Austin/McMahon. Now I’m going to be totally honest with you, I missed quite a bit of the Steve Austin/Vince McMahon feud. But I did catch some of it, and I know it was one hot feud. So now we have Eric Bischoff playing the role of Vince McMahon, and John Cena is the Steve Austin role. Each week Bisch is doing all he can to get rid of Cena or at least make his life miserable. Let’s face it, Cena is no Austin, and Eric is no Vince, yet this seems to be the strongest feud on Raw along with the Hogan/HBK feud.
So let’s talk about the Cena/Bischoff feud. It definitely seems to be working. It certainly has put Cena out there as the top baby face. And Eric gets to cement his role even more as a guy you DO NOT want to cross. There is definite chemistry with Cena and Bischoff and it’s a feud that is coming along just fine. I would not like to see it go on too long but for now it’s all good as far as I’m concerned. In the 7 seven years that I’ve been watching I have noticed that Vince goes back to things that were used years earlier. And I have no problem with that, not if it works. I mean I’m sure Val Venis is no Rick Rude, yet when I started watching Val was one of Raw’s funnier characters. It’s when you bring back gimmicks that were used a long time ago or even recently that went nowhere when you need to worry. Like Viscera taking over where Sexual Chocolate, Mark Henry left off. I think Vis has done a good job with his new ladies man role, however what started out fairly entertaining has now started to lose some steam. But Viscera’s character at least for me has been a lot more fun to watch than Mark Henry. Hey didn’t Mae Young carry that storyline? Okay just kidding. Anyway I think we will always see some of the past become part of the present, and that’s fine. I see nothing wrong wit that. But you also need new ideas, things to keep it fresh and new. And it goes back to that creative team. If the creative team continues to ruin things like they have, then I’m afraid we are going to see a lot of gimmicks coming back to haunt all of us.
Okay it’s on to Raw in Pittsburg, Pa. It’s a face to face meeting with Hulk Hogan and Shawn Michaels. And I guess Kurt Angle will take part in the Eugene Invitational, oh that should be worth watching. I’m hoping to see more of Jericho’s temper come out against Cena and I would love Cena to really show his anger tomorrow night. I don’t need him playing up to the fans; I need to see nothing but intensity with him. With two shows left before Summer Slam I’m looking forward to a nice buildup for the show. Also for those of you that have been emailing me asking me when Hunter is coming back. And yes believe me I have gotten many emails asking me about his return. Well the latest rumor is that Hunter along with Ric Flair will return the night that Raw goes back to the USA network which is on October 3rd. Okay I’ll be back on Tuesday with my Raw thoughts, my very “positive” Raw thoughts.
Email lindarobin3@yahoo.com
