{"id":54390,"date":"2018-01-23T15:24:52","date_gmt":"2018-01-23T21:24:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/?p=54390"},"modified":"2018-01-23T15:24:52","modified_gmt":"2018-01-23T21:24:52","slug":"editorial-got-worked-raw-25-got-hyped-ended-disappointed-another-corporate-agenda-pushing-episode","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2018\/01\/23\/editorial-got-worked-raw-25-got-hyped-ended-disappointed-another-corporate-agenda-pushing-episode\/","title":{"rendered":"EDITORIAL: I got worked by Raw 25 &#8211; I got too hyped and ended up disappointed with another corporate agenda-pushing episode"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"pwtor-994744245\" class=\"pwtor-before-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><hr \/><b>SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)... <\/b>\r\n\r\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/player?show_id=3076978&theme=light&playlist=false&playlist-continuous=false&autoplay=false&live-autoplay=false&chapters-image=true&episode_image_position=right&hide-logo=false&hide-likes=false&hide-comments=false&hide-sharing=false&hide-download=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"140px\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\r\n<hr \/><\/div><hr \/>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><em>Send a guest editorial submission for consideration to <a href=\"pwtorch@pwtorch.com\">pwtorch@pwtorch.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">WWE Monday Night Raw\u2019s 25th Anniversary was WWE\u2019s perfect moment to right the sails with its fans, both longtime and returning. With the returning of legends from several different eras, WWE couldn\u2019t have asked for a better opportunity to make this a \u201cState of The Union\u201d show.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">For all the self-aggrandizing, corporate buzzwords, and the agenda-pushing that we\u2019ve been spoon fed every Monday, the McMahons could have extended the olive branch on both a branding and storyline level with of all people, the McMahons, still remaining at the focal point. Thanking every wrestler, every crew member, and every fan could have cleansed the palette of any sort of bitterness before we were treated with a hardy meal of nostalgia and hype for this Sunday\u2019s Royal Rumble. Instead, we were given that same, dry turkey sandwich that we\u2019re all used to getting when a themed show rolls around &#8211; all with the buzzwords, agenda pushing, and self-aggrandizing with the legends just being used as a backdrop.<\/p>\n<p>I got worked, so in that regard, this Raw was definitely old school.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">When the biggest star in the show\u2019s history, Steve Austin, wasn\u2019t given a mic to speak during the opening segment, reality began setting in that this was going to be like every other reunion show we\u2019ve gotten. Most of the legends we saw were shoe-horned into segments that didn\u2019t add any significance to the current day product, which was still chock-full of disjointed commercial breaks. The matches that we were given could have happened on Raw 23, let alone last week &#8211; and I\u2019ve never felt more empathy for a wrestling audience than I did for the fans at the Manhattan Center, who dolled out $400 just to get a vague Undertaker promo, some guest appearances, a commemorative chair, and some flat screens on roller carts to watch a product that they were missing out on. The presence of Jerry Lawler and Jim Ross was solid, but they had about as much airtime as Jimmy Fallon did. Even Matt Hardy senselessly losing to Bray Wyatt got lost in the shuffle.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Instead of witnessing another Heath Slater beating, what would be the harm of a Ted DiBiase offering his management services to The Bar for one night as they kicked the pocket change out of the returning Dudleys? Or have Austin come out again to help moderate the confrontation of Sunday\u2019s main event three-way? I\u2019d like to think there was something bigger planned if it wasn\u2019t for the time constraint corner they painted themselves in, but trotting out Harvey Whippleman instead of Stone Cold seems like a bit of a misstep.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Granted, I probably got myself way too hyped for Raw 25. The gullible, die-hard 13 year old fanboy from 1998 was being conjured up inside me, creating and formulating possible outcomes that would have been near impossible when you consider who everybody is answering to and the publicly traded universe that particular person resides in. The \u201cnever say never\u201d attitude (a WWE buzzword in its own right) can make professional wrestling fun, especially when the new talent isn\u2019t being promoted properly, but it\u2019s a deadly game to play.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cAlways say never\u201d may be the most beneficial mindset to have, that way one wouldn\u2019t be totally stunned when Stone Cold doesn\u2019t talk.<\/p><div id=\"pwtor-2762059447\" class=\"pwtor-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<hr \/>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><em>Send a guest editorial submission for consideration to <a href=\"pwtorch@pwtorch.com\">pwtorch@pwtorch.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\n<div class=\"pwtor-end-article-groups pwtor-entity-placement\" id=\"pwtor-1388263786\"><div id=\"pwtor-1738854731\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\nTHANK YOU FOR VISITING<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>Send a guest editorial submission for consideration to pwtorch@pwtorch.com. WWE Monday Night Raw\u2019s 25th Anniversary was WWE\u2019s perfect moment to right the sails with its fans, both longtime and returning. With the returning of legends <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2018\/01\/23\/editorial-got-worked-raw-25-got-hyped-ended-disappointed-another-corporate-agenda-pushing-episode\/\" title=\"EDITORIAL: I got worked by Raw 25 &#8211; I got too hyped and ended up disappointed with another corporate agenda-pushing episode\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32996,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[52,61],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-54390","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opnionandanalysis","category-guesteditorials"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/post\/2016\/10\/RawLogo_Original_3x2_600.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54390","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54390"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54390\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54391,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54390\/revisions\/54391"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32996"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}