Major Miscommunications With RAW

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

It's that, and it's also WHY. WHY does the WWE keep doing all this stupid stuff?

[The Amazing Rando 0]

Because the writers aren't wrestling fans... but they ARE failed sitcom and soap opera writers.

 

And guess WHAT... we can EASILY tell why they failed.

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

Vince Russo was a wrestling fan, he still did a lot of really stupid stuff that really should have been checked at the door. The Vince Russo Virus is still in the WWE System - the mentality is still there.

[The Amazing Rando 0]

yeah, well Vince Russo was a mostly moronic wrestling fan. They need a smart wrestling fan in there. Luckily there are actually a few of them around. WWE just doesn't seem to want to find them.

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

You think that will stop Vince or Kevin Dunn from going:

 

"We need to do something edgy! We need to grab peoples attention! We need to shock people!"

[The Amazing Rando 0]

And if it was me as a writer/booker I would look each in the eyes and say:

 

"Guess what, it's not 1998 anymore. The edge that you once thought was so great is now haphazard, lazy, and is seen more like a joke than an innovation.

 

In 1996, look at the two biggest things to cause a boost in popularity for the entire industry...the nWo and Steve Austin. If you notice, neither of them are around anymore because they can no longer survive. Vince, you made the nWo a watered-down version of a watered-down version of a watered-down version of his original being. And Steve Austin should never be allowed back into the ring or into WWE again, not because he's not a great guy, but it's because he does not bring anything new to the table anymore. It's hard for him to put people over in his physical shape and the entertainment value of "What?" grew old a few weeks after it started. You need to look into the roster you have and look for the diamond in the rough. Just the crap and keep only those you KNOW can create profit for you. It's about the wrestling, Vince, not whose the father of someone's baby. It's not about dead girls or guys, and it is most certainly not about who the evil boss is going to mess with next. Times are changing, and the only thing you can do is cling on to the past. Look at your supposed superstars.

 

Val Venis, edgy in 1997, but not really now especially after being Chief of Staff Sean Morley and a member of the RTC. Carlito Cool, a rip-off of Razor Ramon. Simon Dean - A bodydonna. Stevie Richards becomes the leader of a hated mid-card faction, and then comes back after an injury and is his old crazy self again! How do you explain these things, Vince...oh wait, that's right...YOU DON'T!

 

You think that what's in the past is meant to be forgotten, yet you constantly dredge it out so that we can all get a whiff of things that were bad back then and are even worse now. You seem to go of two ways with just about everything you do anymore! You either do something way too fast, such as the Evolution dissention, or you do it way too slow... like the Steiner/Test feud, Hurricane's heel turn, and Kane losing his mask. Even the things you pull off somewhat right, like Trish's heel turn, don't even make sense nor are they talked about in continuity anymore!

 

Pay attention, Vince, as you are watching all those years of claiming to be number one slowly pull you back underwater, and just when you hope someone will be there to come out of the shadows and pull you to safety...you'll find nothing. You buried them all, and it's going to take a miracle to bring some of the potential you had and killed back from the dead."

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

Why aren't they saying that? Why isn't anybody saying that? Right there, in the answers, you have 2 separate and fundamental problems afflicting the WWE right now, which we really should be discussing.

[The Amazing Rando 0]

I'm fairly certain I just had an entire conversation with myself. I'm hoping Vince was listening, though i'm sure he's thinking "pft, why start now?"

 

(oh...and right there's a third fundamental problem)

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

Vince and co don't think wrestling should be taken seriously, so they probably think that continuity doesn't matter either. And nobody who wants to keep their job is going to speak up, and tell Vince that he's a fucking idiot for having that mindset.

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

While they may (or may not) want wrestling to be taken seriously, they sure-as-hell want the WWE as an organizaton to be taken seriously. Hell, it's been Vince's goal for the past 20 years to become "legitimate" in the Entertainment world.

[iliketurtles 0]

I think it's because they are making too many new stars at once. I understand that losing tons of guys like Hogan, Austin, Lesnar, Rock, Foley, Nash (useless but a name), Goldberg (useless but a a name) etc. on a full time basis is a big loss and you have to full their shoes, but why can't you use the guys you have over right now and put them in the main event scene (Jericho anyone?).

 

Why should I honestly care about Batistia vs. Randy Orton IN THE MAIN EVENT on Raw?

 

Look at 1997 and tell me the 2 new stars that worked. Rock. Austin. Granted, they both debuted in 1996 and the WWF didn't need to make nany new stars at that time, but they didn't shove Austin down our throats and he just evolved over time. Rock got shoved down our throats and turned into a great heel and that's what WWE tried to do with Orton...except it didn't work and Orton has the Jeff Hardy heat (girls are the only ones I hear cheering him when I see him on Raw.)

 

But look at all the new guys...

 

Why do I care about Colon? Stinsky? Mordecai? Suzuki? Luther Reigns? Mark Jindrak? Orlando Jordan? Simon Dean? Garrison Cade (from earlier this spring with his push with the Coach)? The current La Reistiance who have held the fucking titles forever (Granted they are both from 2003, but they are still new and unintresting)? These are all 2004 creations that were/are set in line for a big push.

 

I'll be perfectly fair. The only one that worked was Shelton Benjmain. They had the thing going with Eugene, but they killed that character by pushing him way too much when they thought just because he was over, he could main event.

 

You can only stuff these new guys down your throat, all at once, before the crowd just doesn't care.

[Promoter 0]

I think the biggest thing in all of this is WHY as stated in posts. Why does the wwe seem to do boneheaded things and CONTINUOUSLY do it. Now, this is not to say I was in the least bit offended by the comment by Kane because honestly it did not cross my mind with Owen(then again I wasn't paying all that attention and didn't even realize they were in the same arena as Owen's death), but to have that line said would obviously draw attention to SOME fans. It was just boneheaded to do.

 

Hmmm....failed writers come to Vince's company. You would think Vince would get a clue. Damn, I got to admit I didn't even realize the irony all this time. Kudos to the amazing one.

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

I think the WHY is so much more important in solving the problem. Dumbass Writers, Dumb Storylines, Dumb Booking is a symptom of the real problems.

[The Amazing Rando 0]

I would only call the actually booking dumb in that the writers are given what comes down to a list of people that they need to put over and or a list of feuds that they need to build. So for Raw they have:

 

1. Evolution vs. mostly everyone but focused on Orton and to a lesser extent Benoit, possibly Edge, and Shelton Benjamin. Shawn Michaels isn't really even in the fold of this one.

 

2. Christian vs. Chris Jericho, with HBK and Tomko playing supporting roles.

 

3. Trish vs. random woman of the moment.

 

4. La Resistance vs. Rhyno/Tajiri (?)

 

5. Eric Bischoff vs. Eugene with William Regal and possibly the Coach as supporting characters.

 

6. The Kane/Lita/Matt/Gene storyline.

 

7. The Diva Search Fights.

 

8. Hurricane's new story with Rosey as a supporting character.

 

9. Simon Dean vignettes.

 

 

So there is a basic rundown of most if not all of the storylines currently on Raw. That is roughly about 35 people to keep track of at any given moment. Notice that these are the people I left out:

 

Val Venis

Maven

Chuck Palumbo

A-Train

Garrison Cade

Mark Henry

Rodney Mack & Jazz

Stevie Richards

 

That's 9 people right there, though I just counted a random number for the women up top, so she may or may not make that cut. So roughly 9 superstars are unaccounted for during Raw, so they take up the space on Heat, where there are usually NO storylines whatsoever outside of "oh, so and so has defeated whatshisface 93 times in a row! Can he keep the streak alive?"

 

The sad fact is, through that whole roster there is a few key contenders for each title, except for the tag championships. I do not see why not they can use some of those 9 guys and slap them together and push them. Even Mark Henry and Rodney Mack could be used as a good monster midcard tag team that could get a slightly good push, though I wouldn't push them past Team ECW or my made-up team of Palumbo and Venis (and possibly Richards in there as well).

 

 

People say that Heat is a lost cause, well it is if the WWE doesn't do anything with it. They hardly ever promote anything that is going on. They never show clips, never show anything like that. Hell, I can even make it so that fans aren't hearing about Heat matches they already watched! All you have to do is book them 2 weeks in advance. You don't even really need to even put the Heat guys live on Raw, as taped segments could work just as well. Do a small clipshow type job with some music, hype the show, and then show a list of matches for Sunday. The fans in the arena have already seen them, but the nearly 3 million fans watching at home haven't. I'd rather push the show for those 3 million than leave it be for the sake of the few thousand in the arena.

 

It can be two or three minutes of Raw's time every week. Shit, have Bischoff show up on Heat every once in a while and get involved in things. That is his show, too. It is not outside the realm of being brought back to live, taped or not. Hell, do the same thing for house shows! You don't even have to really show any of the matches besides quick shots of the ring. Throw a cameraman in there, have him talk to some fans and to some wrestlers and BOOM, hype the house shows too.

 

Here's the big thing with "sheep" and with most people: If they see other people giving a shit, they will start to give a shit too. It's only a matter of how long it takes for the first few people to start giving enough attention to something that it catches on. If the TSM Heat Thread had 10 or 12 guys in it doing really great discussion about the show, the wrestlers, and what-not, and others saw it going up to 3 or 4 pages during the show or within a half hour period after it, it might make them want to read it and see what the hell happened that got so many people talking (as it's such a rarity these days).

 

I know that I rarely go into the Heat thread unless i happen to stumble upon the show, but there is always at least something small to post about. If the WWE can make it so more fans actually care that they have weekend shows, then maybe we as a group could find more and more to post about and that is exactly what they want.

 

Without us, the WWE would be nothing. That's another big thing they need to learn. The fans are everything to them and they continue to insult them and us. Even the "no wrestling fans as writers" thing is a total joke to those that care enough about professional wrestling to want to pursue a career in it.

 

I end this with a paraphrased TCR quote: "Sure, you can write about traveling for the local newspaper, but only if you have ever been outside of town and don't know an airplane from a bus."

 

 

~ Rando

More longwinded than the current Hurricane Season.

[Guest combat_rock]

I know that I'm going back quite a bit to re-adress my post, so sorry for that. Anyway, I would never advocate going through with a "Kane kills Gene Snitsky" storyline. That being said, the very character of Kane (even with this stupid face turn) is that he's a psychopath. And therefore it'd be totally consistent for him to threaten to kill someone, especially someone he blames for his wife's miscarriage.