Welcome to the Monday edition of the Phat Daily Column. Today, instead of hyping RAW, we're going to list some reasons on how to possibly help the RAW shows do better. It shall be fun.
I missed confidential, but thanks to Retro Rob, I was able to read the whole transcript of what was said by the former WCW wrestlers or personalities from the recent WWE Confidential. The point was that WCW was killed off from high expenses, and while that is true in a sense, if the company remained profitable from a successful product, then the high salaries or production costs wouldn't have been a factor.
However, WCW let their shows get creatively out of hand. The TRUE turning point was NOT the signing of Bret Hart, although he was involved with the point. The turning point, and I'll say it again and again, was at Starrcade 1997 when Hollywood Hulk Hogan did NOT put over Sting cleanly without controversy, and secondly, undermining Sting's botched title run by getting the title back a few months later by beating Macho Man, who beat Sting the night before at a Pay Per View, and then Hogan held the title months afterward until losing to Bill Goldberg. Those months with Hogan as champion was when the WWF exploded with the Steve Austin vs. Vince McMahon feud.
Yes, Bischoff did have a good hand in the destruction by letting his ego get out of control. Hogan, as champ, and Bischoff hogged so much television time, even spending a shitload of money to buy a television set that resembled the Tonight Show. Even after Hogan lost to Goldberg, the Hulkster and Bischoff still took up loads of television time, and that in effect killed their ratings in the long run and killed WCW, especially when it came to fresh faces seen every week on television.
You have to wonder, though, if the comments by Big Show were worked on Confidential. I was under the assumption that Big Show liked Bischoff, and only left WCW when the bookers there didn't have much to do with his out-of-shape-ass then. Big Show is on RAW, afterall, and presently doing nothing besides somewhat feuding with Bubba Ray Dudley or possibly being the man who attacked Shawn Michaels.
Oh well. On to the PDC.
Suggestions to Improve RAW
So what does this show need? Firstly, the roster contains lots of older talent or WWE wrestlers with some tenure, as compaired to what is going on from Smackdown. Also, this show has the Hardcore division, Tag Team titles, and I guess the Women's division. Lots of improvement needs to be done to this show, such as...
Push the tag team division! And I don't mean Main Eventer teams dominating everyone, *cough* Undertaker and Kane *cough*. From Smackdown, import Chuck and Billy as a heel team, and then bring D'Von onto the show, reuniting him with Bubba Ray. So what if D'Von attacked Bubba on a Pay Per View. Everything else gets scrapped, and since everyone has short term memories, according to the WWE, why not just reunite them and say they had a long phone conversation or say that Bautista brainwashed D'Von or something? Also, push the HELL out of the WWE developmental wrestlers as tag teams. Island Boys should be pushed to the limits and maybe pairing some OVW wrestlers together, such Shelton Benjamin and another wrestler, or maybe reunite Jindrak and O'Haire to get a lot of hardcore WCW marks, such as myself, to drool at the mouth.
Keep it up with Eric Bischoff! His personality is soooo fresh right now, as compared to the dry Ric Flair one we saw a while ago and the overdone Vince McMahon. Just have Bischoff be an asshole and pushing the envelope, yet don't try to attempt any "top face vs. boss" feuds, such as what they are hinting on doing with the Undertaker and Bischoff. Bischoff at least makes RAW watchable right now, in my opinion.
Reality Check for Undertaker and Triple H. Take a look, first, at the Rock. Did you see what he did at Smackdown this past Thursday? He tapped out, cleanly, to Chris Benoit's Crippler Crossface. This is a man who is the next big action star and a man who has made MORE MONEY for the WWE than the Undertaker and Triple H combined. That's the truth. Hell, Mr. Rock helped Triple H get where he is in the Summer of 2000 by putting over the Game several times. Both the Undertaker and Triple H have had their primes, and the Rock is still in his prime, yet the Rock is the only one willing to put over up and coming talent. Ask Chris Jericho, eh? It's time for Triple H and Undertaker to step back. God, just imagine the situation if Kevin Nash was still healthy...
Send Shawn Michaels home. Who cares about his character right now? Because of his ongoing personal problems, he was never a full time character on WWE television, even when he was the commissioner. His starpower dropped because of that, and he lacked reaction while he was a member of the New World Order. Face it, his drawing power is long gone and nobody will care if he has one more match. Send him home or just pawn him off for autograph sessions or ticket sales. Yes, this is mean, but it's the truth.
More competition for Trish Stratus. And I'm not talking about some borderline supermodel wrestling her, I'm talking someone like Victoria, an OVW women's wrestler, who has great looks, yet knows the fundamentals of being a wrestler. It's becoming tiring to see Trish fighting "fatass" Molly Holly every week, or fighting in those inter-gender matches. Trish is damn good as a women's wrestler and very popular, so why not try to feed off that? That way, the division could actually be interesting for a change.
Sign some cheap talent for the Hardcore title matches. There are plenty of ballsy independent wrestlers out there that are WILLING to get the living shit beat out of them for just pennies a day. The WWE could sign them by the bundles, if they wanted to, and have that division alive and kicking. Hell, if you have a breakout star from the division, then so be it. The next big thing. The problem now with the hardcore division is that the wrestlers are paid $100,000 or more per year, and the WWE isn't risking anything with injuries with those wrestlers. Hence, the lame trashcans and whatever else is contained in the hardcore matches. By buying cheap indy talent, that risk of investment is much less, therefore you could let the wrestlers just go at it. Maybe add incentives if the wrestlers make the division popular?
Send Chris Nowinski to Ohio Valley Wrestling. He's a great personality, but he lacks any wrestling skills right now to be on live television every week. That personality will still be with him next year, so why not fine tune his wrestling ability? And it's not like in OVW that you don't practice doing promos there. I'm very sure that Jim Cornette has fine tuned many heel wrestlers in his time being one of the best guys in the business for making talent.
Improve promos or interviews. Lots of dry interviews on RAW last week, in my opinion. I mean, giving guys like 10-20 minutes of interview time in front of a quiet crowd should tell you something. Bischoff's promos are good, Triple H needs to be MEANER as a heel to make his promos better, and the Undertaker needs to talk less. Also, if you are going to explain past incidents, at least provide some footage from that time or better explanations for newer fans.
And finally, the one that is likely to get me in the MOST trouble of all............
Get a NEW announcing team! Yes, it's time to admit it. Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler suck right now. Their commentating is old and repetitive, and because of their tenure in the WWE, they've grown to be very grumpy and protective of their spots as announcers. For instance, the story about Ross and Lawler being upset with the Smackdown announcers getting a piece of the commentating at Vengeance. Secondly, we are hearing the story about the King and Ross being upset about the new announcing set up, as they are now away from the ring like Nitro instead of ringside. Now those could be just rumors, note that, but assuming that 2 stories popping up in recent times could lead you to something about Lawler and Ross. Point being, it's to clean house and change RAW's announcing team a bit. I would suggest ditching Lawler and putting Heyman back in, which forces Jim Ross to pay more attention to the matches instead of "what's ahead later in the show", but that's a long shot. Maybe offer Mike Tenay a big money deal to commentate on RAW? That's a dream, sorry. But my point is that Lawler and Ross are very stale right now, in my opinion, and RAW could use some changes. Maybe have Bischoff back as an announcer
Just some suggestions... I'm sure a lot of this represents my own personal tastes and I'm sure some might like RAW as it is, or have their own ideas on how to improve RAW.
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@I'll be back, tomorrow, with my RAW review. I hope you enjoyed today's column, a somewhat change up from the normal format. Until tomorrow, why not chill?
Take Care, and Thanks for Reading.
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