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The Perspective with James Caldwell
By James Caldwell, Torch columnist
Original Headline: The Raw party is over, so now what?
Subheadline: Haas, D.H., Murdoch, and London can boost undercard in '08
Torch Newsletter #1002 (Originally Posted 12-13-07)

The party is over. Everyone back home until 2012. Now that the Raw 15-year anniversary is in the books and the calendar is approaching 2008, WWE has some serious evaluating to do. They have an Armageddon PPV on Sunday that was an afterthought on Raw, then WWE has one week of first-run TV on Dec. 17 before the holiday programming season.

That break for the holidays should serve as a serious time of reflection. Taking away the fun nostalgia from the 15-year anniversary show reveals a serious issue that WWE needs to address in 2008.

As video after video came across the screen on Raw to highlight the great moments in the 15-year history of Raw, it was obvious that those great moments came 5-10 years ago. So, what's the big deal with Raw now? What is WWE doing to create great, memorable moments with the current slate of stars?

Well, apparently not much. Definitely not enough to convince nostalgia fans to tune in next week for the current storylines, despite Raw having a strong group of stars on top. Randy Orton, Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Ric Flair, Chris Jericho, Mr. Kennedy, Jeff Hardy, and Umaga provide a good frontline, but only Jeff Hardy had any progressive TV time with his ladder match against Carlito.

To fans who aren't in tune with current storylines, Triple H and Flair seemed to be on a nostalgia tour, not really involved in anything current. Same with Randy Orton being in the Evolution six-man tag match, then interrupting Chris Jericho's promo exchange with Eric Bischoff. There was an indirect mention to a title match at Armageddon, but Jericho carries that vibe of not being deeply integrated into current storylines despite gunning for a World Title belt.

Mr. Kennedy had an uninteresting match against Marty Jannetty. Shawn Michaels didn't have a showcase match, but a basic promo. He then saved his old Rocker buddy and did a one-time-only... um, or whenever we feel like it... DX reunion with Triple H.

WWE missed an opportunity to strike a balance between showcasing Raw's history, while also trying to sell the audience on why today's storylines are just as compelling as Austin whacking McMahon with a bed pan and Kurt Angle spraying milk all over the ring.

Instead, the current storylines that were showcased included a completely random and meaningless tag title match, Ron Simmons shouting "Damn!", Hornswoggle cutting up, a very, very brief Santino promo, Jillian Hall's inability to sing, and assorted "oh yeah, we have a PPV on Sunday" references to matches at Armageddon. There was never a sense that WWE has a monumental storyline going on that absolutely needed to be showcased on this nostalgia edition of Raw.

Most telling to drive home my point was that the main event featured Mr. 3,000 chances, Marty Jannetty, and the final segment delivered the usual Steve Austin procedural involving Vince McMahon. It didn't exactly highlight the big feuds and stars of the present and the future.

It's a wake up call that WWE hasn't done a good enough job of creating stars on Raw since the end of the Monday Night Wars. It's not all about creating great TV moments, as the business model is to deliver PPV buys, but the quality of TV storylines is a strong indicator of how well a wrestling promotion is building toward its PPVs.

WWE has to take a step back and look at how they are building up the roster. The nostalgia tour should be over for a while with this 15-year anniversary show out of the way. No more DX one-time-only reunions. No Steve Austin beer bashes, unless he's coming back in a regular role. No Hulk Hogan making random appearances if he needs a payday or if he needs to plug American Gladiators.

Get Jericho more deeply involved in the storylines so he doesn't seem like a special guest each week. Figure out how Ric Flair's retirement storyline is going to carry out. Get Shawn Michaels back in the ring having great singles matches. Make the inevitable Orton vs. Hunter program for the WWE Title about the present and the future, not the past.

WWE had a great Raw show two months ago where Shelton Benjamin had promo time, the undercard was treated with respect, and the wrestling was compelling. Since then, they've departed from the formula of using the underneath talent to boost the show for the main event feuds. They need to re-visit that formula because it's their ticket to sustaining business growth over the long-haul.

Recent history indicates WWE will continue to utilize Vince McMahon in multiple segments that would be devoted to the undercard, while continuing to find a way to include older stars on the show. I'm not reading into Hogan's mockery of Randy Savage yet, but that would be one example of WWE continuing to look to the past to fill TV time instead of looking to the future and the long-term interest of Raw.

With WrestleMania four months away, now is the time to start laying the groundwork by creating some interesting match-ups with wrestlers on the undercard. Does WWE rebuild and create some intriguing match-ups that aren't even on the radar right now, or do they go back to the old names? I'm all for new faces and new feuds. I'll give you four underutilized wrestlers who can help bolster the line-up and create compelling TV in 2008......


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