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RADICAN'S TAKE
RADICAN'S RAW REAX 7/2 - WWE promotes entertainment over titles at the expense of their own bottom line

Jul 3, 2012 - 11:20:39 AM
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By Sean Radican, Torch columnist

Raw seemed to simply be another placeholder show. As I’ve noted before, the WWE Championship program had been kept out of the spotlight of the main event spot on Raw for several weeks until last night. Some people will be happy about this, but bigger issues with the title still exist.
Staff07Sean2_28.jpg


I liked how the beginning of Raw put the focus on the WWE Championship with Bryan, Cena, and Punk putting the focus on the Bryan-Punk match at MITB and hinting at a possible future match between Cena and Punk if Cena wins MITB. The entire thing was surrounded by an annoying play on catch phrases with Punk mocking Bryan and then Jericho trolling anyone that has a catch phrase. I didn’t get the sense that any of these guys really wanted to fight.

That brings us to A.J. She has been pushed hard recently and was all over Raw last night furthering her crazy girl persona. A.J. is really good at her role, but in the end, will she bring fans to house shows and make them want to purchase PPVs? In her current role, I don’t think that’s going to happen.

WWE continues to follow a path to ensure that their stance that WWE is an “entertainment” company and not a “wrestling” company becomes cemented in the minds of viewers. It’s a stance that even TNA is falling victim to with the recent A.J. is a crack baby daddy angle. The hope that viewers that don’t normally watch wrestling with suddenly be hooked with an “entertainment” angle presented on the show is something that many people in creative in WWE and TNA forgetting that it was stars that drew business to new heights during the last boom period.

A.J.’s character is nothing more than an entertainment angle. She’s not going to drive ratings up, she’s not going to bring droves of fans to house shows, and she’s certainly not going to drive up PPV buyrates. Whenever wrestling has drawn it has featured two star wrestlers with an issue fighting over a title, although there have been some exceptions of course when it comes to a title being involved.

Looking at the Daniel Bryan-C.M. Punk match at MITB, it’s clear the main focus will be on A.J. It won’t be based on an issue between Punk and Bryan. WWE is hoping fans order the show to see what A.J. does in her role as the guest referee. When has something like that ever drawn serious money?

As WWE becomes more of a brand-oriented company with only Cena truly pushed like a true star on a regular basis these days, it seems WWE is falling into the trap of pushing the brand and trying to brainwash fans into thinking outlandish angles and ridiculous match stipulations are what wrestling has evolved to in 2012.

Cena was recently involved in back-to-back main events built around entertainment angles that resulted in some truly horrible main events. One only needs to watch and listen to Anderson Silva and Chael Sonnen promote their UFC bout this weekend to get a glimpse of the elements that should be present in wrestling. UFC will draw a huge buyrate this weekend and although they’ve fallen a few notches from their height of popularity, the company is still capable of putting together two fighters with star power that engage their audience using their words with the promise that the action in the octagon will match the hype.

On the other hand WWE’s prize title is being pushed to the backburner as A.J. plays mind games with the two men feuding over the title, or A.J., or whatever it is their feuding over that has nothing to do with the desire to win the WWE Championship and be the better man in the feud.

***

Please click HERE and click “like” to join the Radican’s Wrestling Community Facebook fan page.

Follow Sean on Twitter at Twitter.com/SeanRadican

Contact Sean at PWTorchSean@gmail.com


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