Going in, I wasn’t expecting much from “RAW is XXX.” Despite all the hype and the build-up, the anniversary shows of the past have been nothing but huge letdowns, not even reaching mediocre status. A DX in-ring, a Ron Simmons “DAMN,” a mean nothing “Hurricane” cameo backstage, perhaps a Ric Flair “WOOO,” Trish Stratus STILL looking amazing, all stand-alone nostalgia acts that never really amounted to
anything.
Over the course of the year, “RAW” has only two shows that mean anything; the Anniversary Show and the Show after “Mania.” These two shows are GUARANTEED to bring in a larger viewing audience than the typical ho-hum “RAW.” With that being said, these shows NEED to have an IMPACT. The idea is that they are SO GOOD that the new viewer now gets “hooked” and comes back the following week. But, every year, the WWE fails to achieve that. Both shows are always disappointing, and whatever new viewers they gain, they fail to return the following week because nothing warrants their return. It’s called—DROPPING THE BALL.
So, no, my expectations were not high going into this show. However, serving as a Paid Professional Critic, my mind will always be open. I’m not going to have a pre-determined bias based on the SCHIZNIT of years gone past.
The show opened with “The Bloodline,” putting Sammy Zayn on trial. Now, if I’m going to be completely honest, I’m not a fan of Sammy Zayn, and I feel that “The Bloodline” may have run its course. But again—OPEN MINDED. So, as I’m watching this, I’m saying to myself, “SELF—not bad.” The hard cores are definitely into this, and the performances are good, except for the ridiculous over the, top acting of Paul Heyman. I’ve always said, animate Heyman. He acts like a Cartoon Character, so why not just make him one—it would also save the company money.
After the opening in-ring, a match followed that got Sammy even more over with the hard cores and even made Damien Priest look like a star. Forty-eight minutes in, and the show was definitely off to a good start. Man, I hardly EVER say that. Now, I’m not going to go blow-by-blow here. I get BORED TO TEARS when the Dirt Sheets do that. So, I’m just going to sum it up. Bray/Taker—very well done. Bayley/Becky cage was what it was, but I was SURE they would bring it back later, or else Becky would be buried. Of course, they didn’t, so they, in turn, buried Becky. Why? Because she wasn’t hurt enough not to march right back out there an hour later and demand that the cage once again be lowered. Maybe they ran short on time, I don’t know, but in my opinion, Becky not doing the “Spirit of 76’” hurt her character. But, regardless—I’m still good with this. The Poker Tournament was stupid, campy, and cheesy—I’m not going to lie—but at least it was somewhat short, so I could grin and bear it.
DX/Imperium? Again, it was what it was, a little Mozzarella, but entertaining as Vince would say—“NONETHELESS.” So we are still OK. I’m still with you. But then came . . . HOUR THREE. I don’t know if the feeling in WWE was to KICK ARSE for two hours and then give up or what, but that’s EXACTLY WHAT THEY DID. It started with the continuation of shoving Cody Rhodes down our throats. The dude tore a pec; he didn’t lose a limb. Then we had Bianca BelAir against Cecil B. DeVille in a match NOBDY cared about with a predictable ending that Mr. FREAKIN’ Magoo could have seen from 10 miles away. Then there was Kevin Owens pretending to be “Stone Cold,” followed by Theory vs. Lashley, with EVERYBODY already having gone to bed by then. “RAW XXX lost 600,000 viewers from hour one to hour three. 600,000. Yeah, that’s a lot, but the ridiculous part is that they could have perhaps CUT THAT NUMBER IN HALF had they, not KAY-FABED themselves.
Man, this is just unacceptable. With the experience these guys have over there, Trips, Road Dog, Hayes, Heyman, Dunn, Prichard, and YES, even VINCE—you guys need to get and understand this. The fact that you didn’t makes me raise the question . . . “WHY.” Look, you know, hour three is a STINKER. You know the audience is going to tune out the later the night becomes, and you also know BROCK LESNAR IS COMING OUT AT THE END OF THE SHOW!!! Bro— all you had to do was have a pick-up show up at the end of hour two and keep going back to it throughout the third hour!!! Viewers would have stayed tuned in HOPING it was Steve Austin, but not being disappointed when it was Brock Lesnar! How and WHY would you keep that a SECRET? If you wanted the pop from the live Philly crowd, you had to show the pick-up footage TO THE PEOPLE AT HOME!
Guys, you can’t make these absolute “ROOKIE MISTAKES” at this level. You cost yourself HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF VIEWERS, potentially staying tuned in for hour three. Did NOBODY bring this up in the Production meeting? And, if someone did and it was POO-POOED . . . WHY? This is “Television Writing 101”. This is how you keep an audience engaged. THIS IS HOW YOU GET RATINGS!!! So, in the end, what could have been a great night became an OK one. They drew a good number, which I knew they would, but the question is: How will they follow up on it next week? We shall see.
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