It's kind of difficult to ignore, but being a wrestling blogger (a fancy title for my irregular muck) I feel obliged to write about the milestone that RAW is about to reach. One thousand episodes (!). If you didn't know, you haven't watched any WWE produced programming recently as they leave no opportunity to slap it in our faces.
The longest running tv show... well kind of. In terms of episodes: yup. In terms of duration not quite. British programmes such as Doctor Who (1963-1989 and 2005-present) and Last of the Summer Wine (1973-2010) run/ran for longer and so does the soap opera "the bold and the beautiful" which holds another dubious record for being able to singlehandedly suck and blow every episode again. Anyways
It's by no means a small feat to run uninterrupted since 1993 (no off-seasons either) so kudos. If there's one thing that undoubtedly describes Monday Night Raw (is War), it would be "Hit and Miss". Make no mistake, for all those sucking the Attitude Era cock, that's RAW to a T. Many wrestling fans will describe the Attitude Era as an era where nothing went wrong. Yeah, think again. The product has been so different (and thus shit accordingly) that many mistakes made during the AE have been buried in the sand.
I wouldn't recall the Oddities as a particular success. Neither was Right to Censor even though they were over as heels. Naked Mideon springs to mind as well. The combination Mae Young, Mark Henry and greasy hand shouldn't even be considered as possibly successful. It went decidedly downhill afterwards with such gems as the Katie Vick debacle and well, John Cena. John Cena's debut on RAW in 2005 was the beginning of a bad period on the show as every bit of focus was shifted to Triple H, Cena and a little bit of Edge. Others would hardly get any tv time. SmackDown was easily the better show during that time. After Cena's injury and Randy Orton's subsequent reign, it didn't get better. Orton had transformed from a cocky blue chipper and Legend Killer to being a dead boring automaton. That's when I grew to dislike Orton's work.
It's safe to say that during the Attitude Era, RAW was more hit than miss. Since 2006 specifically the balance has shifted to more miss than hit. The CM Punk storyline from last year is a great example. He was getting momentum like a motherfucker until Triple H got himself and Kevin Nash involved. It was like gelatine pudding cracking under the weight of Nash and his clickedy knees. This year sees another interesting storyline happening, once again with Punk. I'm serious the Punk/Bryan/AJ trifecta was interesting (especially when Kane wasn't involved) but I fear that the story is off hunting for sharks to jump over. It seems to be ending at Money in the Bank though.
Now, the same event will probably be John Cena's re-entrance in the title picture which is disappointing. His absence from the WWE title matches and general programming was a breath of fresh air, but alas.
Fortunately, it's not all gloom and doom. If you've been following the news closely, WWE has made some interesting signings. British flipflopper Ben "PAC" Satterly for instance. He's called "The Man that Gravity forgot" and while figuratively spoken, it's not too far off from the truth. If you considered Evan Bourne impressive, PAC will make you jizz all over. Apparently though, he's not the only one. TNA's Alex Shelley and Matt Morgan are rumoured to jump ship as well. Indie star (and I mean STAR) Johnny Gargano is apparently headed there and it's pretty much confirmed that Sara Del Rey has signed a deal to wrestle as well as train the divas. If you haven't heard of Sara, it's your loss. Del Rey is literally the best female wrestler on the American indies and her signing is probably the biggest asset WWE has made in years. Apparently, the Amazingly Awesome Kong-like woman Kharma got her pink slip at the same time. Of course, the timing of her pregnancy (and unfortunate miscarriage) was bad, but she was if anything ready to return.
Talking about under-used talent. The new NXT format is gold. I've always had a slight preference towards NXT, but the way it is presented now, as a showcase for FCW and lower card talent is gold. More wrestling, less bullshit. It made me able to watch some indie guys in the WWE routine. Seth Rollins should be far higher on the roster by now. Here's a tip creative. Bring him up to the top, have him re-adopt God's Last Gift (Small Package Driver for those unfamiliar) and put the intercontinental title on him. Stat!
One last thing. Can you imagine a brilliant decision being made by TNA? Yeah, me neither. Austin Aries being world champion is one though. I'd almost applaud them if the news didn't float around that Hogan would be wrestling again. Can't win 'em all.
Sigh
~D.
No comments:
Post a Comment