Neil's Highlight Reel: 30 Minutes and Change

I’m a big-time internet surfer at work. As a matter of fact, I’m writing this from my cubicle as we speak! Anyways, yea, I surf the net for all things that interest me; namely poker, sports, politics, World of Warcraft, and yea, the WWE too.

So one day I stumble across a Youtube clip of WWE legend Bret Hart basically talking about how the WWE was shooting themselves in the foot through a number of their own actions. The main point he brought up was that he’s been timing the matches during television events, and on average, he was only seeing a half hour of wrestling, maybe a little more, per show.

Jaw dropping number, ain’t it? To think, out of 120 minutes, well, 80 if you factor in commercials, we fans were only being shown 30 minutes of ACTUAL MATCHES per Raw or Smackdown?!? At first I couldn’t believe it, and I just figured a bitter ex-employee of the WWE was complaining about his former company. After all, wouldn’t somebody who left the WWE in such a controversial way do what he could to bash the company? I know that, if I was on the wrong side of an atrocity as sleazy as the Montreal Screwjob, hell yea I’d do the same thing!

But then one day, before my family huddled up in front of the television to watch an edition of RAW (as has become our custom), I told them about what Hart had said, and we decided to do a rough check of his math. Lo-and-behold the Hitman was right, and my family nor I couldn’t believe it. We checked again the following week… same thing. The week after? Yea, all held the same.

So where is that, on average, 45 to 50 minutes of wasted time going? You’ll laugh, well, maybe cry when I tell you – basically re-watching the match you just saw… or re-watching the highlights from last week’s episode… or re-watching what happened on the opposing brand. Well, either that or listening to poor promos being cut by the roster (although I’ll admit Smackdown’s promos are improving).

It’s mind-boggling to witness how much filler crap is thrown into each episode when that time could be used to easily, that’s right easily, throw in a combo of another three matches or promos… you know, time when the roster can work on new ideas and get better each week with the experience they gain. But no, instead we have to be subjected to a “RAW Rebound” highlight package, or yet another video that picks out the major happenings of the Edge controversy… or better yet, watch the highlights of the match you just saw (which they already show the highlights for mid-match with their split-screen replays that I fucking hate).

Go ahead, if you don’t believe me, try timing an episode of RAW or Smackdown yourself. You’ll see just what I’m talking about, and you’ll see why I’ve been such a Debbie Downer about the WWE. It’s garbage… it really is. The roster isn’t the major problem though. As a matter of fact, the roster is loaded with wrestlers who have potential to be great, but it’s creative holding them down (case-in-point John Cena).

I’m sorry that, almost every time you read my column here you read about my bitching and moaning; I really am. You probably roll your eyes, and leave to go read one of the other fine columns here at XHeadlines. Some may even ask why I bother watching the WWE, which is a fair point. Well, I watch because I still have hope, as tacky as that sounds. Team creative actually has thrown a good episode here and there into the mix of garbage we’ve become accustomed to, and I’m hoping that, if they start stringing a few of those together, they’ll catch on to what they’re doing, and maybe we’ll finally have a product worthy of appraise.