-- Question of the Day Reax 9/28: What should WWE do to spark interest in Raw?

Scott of Orange County, Calif.: The only thing that I look forward to on Raw is the Danielson-Miz feud, as everything else is slammed together with little common sense. First off, I would put Vince McMahon back to play-by-play and The King as the heel commentator. I recently re-watched the Ventura/Vince pairing and Vince still has it as an over-the-top seller. Cole would be an awesome heel manager and would be good with Miz/Riley against a Danielson/Kaval teaming. Also, the promos on Raw need to improve, with more time and focus. Some ideas like Cena willingly turning "Hogan Heel" looks better than a "Nexus slave" storyline. Finally, when they try to sell me a story, sell me something more realistic. Don't bore me with Russo-style booking. Use Monday Night Raw to sell me on the Tag Titles by building to the title match at the PPV and not some random title match with little or no advanced notice to the viewer.

John Kelly of Queens, N.Y.: John Cena's heel turn, in my opinion, is the last, great ace in the hole storyline for WWE. The Nexus angle has bombed, due to terrible booking. Done right, Cena's heel turn would take the coalition of women and children who cheer for him and morph them with the adult males into a monster on TV and arenas. Cena's turn will bring back despondent viewers and create some new ones. He has to turn into a cold, heartless character, with no flair about him. Drop the colors, the music, all gimmicks and turn his finisher into a menacing submission. Have him scare planted children, burn his own merchandise, etc. Don't let Cena do movies or TV appearances. Have the Kids' Choice Awards sent back mutilated to Nickelodeon and let the media cover it. He would have to carry this gimmick like The Undertaker.

Joe Kratz of State College, Pa., Penn State undergraduate student. Vince McMahon and WWE have become complacent. Their only true competition lies in the depressing economy, the stronger-than-ever UFC, and itself. Yes, as the number one wrestling promotion in the world, WWE is competing with itself rather than competing with TNA. WWE has Raw, SmackDown, NXT, Superstars, and seemingly two PPVs every month. That's a lot of new television content each week, not to mention the constant upkeep of their website, where they try to further angles such as Chris Jericho's sudden exit. Not only that, but wrestlers are occasionally pulled into Hollywood-Lite scripts. The WWE Films Division reminds me of such previous blunders as the WBF, XFL, and ICOPRO.

Vince McMahon has spread his umbrella of wrestling dominance too far and too wide. He took the throne as King of Promoters and now has no challengers in the arena. The King sits idly by until someone steps up and truly competes. The American wrestling landscape absolutely, positively needs a viable alternative to WWE. And I don't think that alternative is TNA. TNA has been in their "building phase" long enough. With Vince Russo's kiss of death all over the booking, and WCW's former stars now current TNA stars, I don't hold out much hope for TNA.

Looking at WWE, the roster is thinner than ever in the main event ranks. The ratings for Raw are darn low, too. PPV buyrates are in the toilet. The quality of commentating is arguably at its worst, and creative hasn't exactly been looking too creative lately. And despite a thin roster, certain superstars are being groomed to be the "future of WWE." Enough fresh faces are on the television screen as of late (see: NXT Invasion) that Raw can still be an entertaining program. All it takes for the ship to turn around, so to speak, is Vince McMahon getting his priorities straight and keeping his main product, WWE Raw, his top priority. Sadly, that may require a strong #2 to rise from the ashes of the scorched American pro wrestling landscape and give McMahon another run for his money.

[Torch art credit Grant Gould (c) PWTorch.com]

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