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In my Keller's Blog today, I asked readers to submit their theories on Raw's rating crashing this week. The following are the first batch of those. Send yours to the email listed below...
L Deslauriers of Winnipeg Manitoba: (1) I refuse to watch a two hour wrestling show, where only less than 30 minutes is devoted to actual wrestling. Who finds 15 second squashes entertaining? Why do we need contract signings instead of a main event wrestling match? (2) I live in Canada, and we luckily get The Fight Network and it just so happens that ROH is on every Monday during the same time that Raw is on. Two hours of quality, fast-paced, entertaining wrestling or two hours of hit and miss comedy, maybe one good match (if we're so fortunate), and lame contests like the Let's-hire-a-model-who-knows-nothing-of-wrestling-because-she's-willing-to-pose-for-Playboy-around-WrestleMania-Diva Search? (3) Why can't the talent that the crowd is into (Hardys, Kennedy, Punk), the talent the crowd would get into, get some decent ring time? Or mic time for that matter? Make me care about these people so I have a reason to tune in and watch them. It's a disgrace that ECW's champion has yet to cut a decent promo. I don't blame Punk. I blame WWE's inability to allow for unscripted promos that show a wrestler's true character, and their refusal to give up the time that's used for Vince's feuds, Trips' cock jokes, and Cena's Rock-extra-light promos to allow for the younger talent to grow. Vince says he knows what I want. But did he know why I haven't been watching Raw lately?
Vinnie Zoom: The recent ratings decline can ultimately be traced back to when Vince and company believed that they didn't need to listen to the fans anymore. Back when WCW was kicking the WWF's ass, those in charge at Titan decided to become fan-friendly. They stopped confescating signs and spoke frankly to the fans on AOL chats without insulting anyone's intelligence. They pushed the guys who were over regardless of backstage political alliances (there's no way the up-and-coming 1997 versions of Steve Austin and Rock would have made it in today's WWE with Triple H having the political influence that he does). When Road Dogg & Billy Gunn got over, Vince tore up their original contracts and gave them raises - now they'd just be sent to do more autograph signings. I personally got tired of seeing the wants and needs of paying customers like me be ignored while Vince, Stephanie, Triple H, and Kevin Dunn force-feed their vision of sports entertainment down everyone's throats. Viewers that paid attention were no longer rewarded with storylines that brought up the past, like when Kane's childhood of isolation was erased and replaced with him driving drunk in high school and killing Katie Vick. I eventually refused to continue to put money in the pockets of people that felt it was okay todo things like fire a pregnant woman. The tired heel commisioner characters aren't helping matters, either. WWE as a company and a television show is going to have to make a 180 degree turn in order for me to even think about becoming a regular viewer again. I'd much rather follow the businesss through The Torch.
Jerry Tkachuk of Piper City, Ill.: My friends and I have felt for a few years now that Raw needs to bring in some managers, especially when it comes to dealing with aging veterans. It is one way to get established stars to work with up and coming talent and also adds an element to the match that has been missing. Imagine what it might have brought to the brand if Ric Flair had taken Carlito, Kennedy, Booker, and Finlay and formed a new group of Horsemen. I know that some of the wrestlers are no longer as dynamic, but even having "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan (no one really wants to see him wrestle anymore!), Sgt. Slaughter, Mick Foley, even Stone Cold working the outside of the ring as a manager (heel or face) would add an element that has been lacking. Also, bring interviews back into the ring where the fans in the arena can react and participate. There is too much going on backstage to keep the arenas hot for the entire show. Cutting down on pay-per-views to ten per year would allow stories to develop and bring people back to Monday night. It is too easy, albeit costly, to catch up for $40 every three weeks. You just don't miss much if you miss a Monday.
Want your voice to be heard inside of WWE headquarters tomorrow morning? Or in TNA headquarters? This is the independent site many people in both groups read to gauge fan feedback. We still welcome your 1-10 score and comments. To contribute your thoughts on Raw Ratings, click here. Please keep your thoughts to around 10-15 lines if possible to increase your odds of being published.
PWTORCH FORMAT CONVENTIONS
For the sake of clarity to our readers (and to save us time editing these same things over and over), please follow these simple conventions when writing Torch Reax:
-Wrestlers teaming together should be connected with "&" symbol (e.g. Hunter & Michaels, Devon & Ray) or with a "/" (e.g. Animal/Hawk, Harris/Storm), but not dashes and not the word "and."
-To designate wrestlers who are fighting, feuding, or wrestling each other, put a dash (-) between them (e.g. Michaels-McMahon, Jarrett-Sting, Hogan-Andre) or use "vs."
-The word versus should always be abbreviated this way: "vs." with a period afterward (not "v." or "v/s" or "VS" or "VS." or any other way).
-Plus, it's just our policy, but we don't indulge wrestling promotions' strange spelling fetishes where they spell Raw, Smackdown, Heat, Impact, etc. with the haphazard capitalization of various leTTeRz. It seems very "junior high," so no Raw (it's Raw), no iMPACT (it's Impact), etc.
-Please try to avoid overuse of dot-dot-dots. If you have a thought that's "trailing off," you can use for effect, but otherwise, just use periods, commas, and our personal favorite, semicolons if you dare. We have always had a policy of only one exclamation point and no ALL CAPS. Let your words convey the meaning of your point. There's many to choose from out there.
Send feedback on this article to pwtorch@gmail.com and we'll regularly publish reader feedback in the "Torch Feedback" category on the Main Listing.
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