Another Monday night, which means another episode of WWE Raw, which also means another new edition of A RAW Opinion, I’m Joe and as always I bring you through this weeks episode of WWE Raw, as well as give my opinions on the show.
We start the show with Triple H walking backstage, John Laurinaitis stops him and tells him he didn’t know Brock was going to attack him and it was painful for him to watch Brock embitters and break HHH’s arm. Triple H is going out to the ring to start the show. Triple H says he’s offended Brock Lesnars arrogance and stupidity because he said he had to bring legitimacy back to the WWE, he said It’s a slap in the face to guys like himself, HBK, Flair, Hogan, Cena. Paul Heyman interrupts him and says Brock Lesnar is suing the WWE for breach of contract, Triple H grabs Heyman and pushes him up against the ropes but then lets him go, Triple H leaves the ring and Heyman says that now Triple H and the WWE have two lawsuits to worry about because Heyman is suing for assault and battery.
First match of the evening is CM Punk and Santino Marella taking on Daniel Bryan and Cody Rhodes. Decent match, Santinos act is getting old quick to me, Santino and Punk get the win after a pretty good length match after Punk hit a GTS on Rhodes.
They’re hyping up tonight possibly being Big Shows last match since John Laurinaitis is set to fire him if he doesn’t apologize for making fun of his voice last week.
Alicia Fox VS Beth Phoenix up next, Layla came out to watch, Beth gets a win fairly quick, Beth went to attack Alicia again but Layla hit the ring and chased her off.
Big Show VS Kane is up next, John Laurinaitis is ringside to watch. Bad match, Laurinaitis interrupted and told Show mid match he wanted that apology, Big Show turned around into such a terrible looking Choke slam. After the match Laurinaitis made Big Show get on his knees and beg to keep his job, Big Show does after a while but Laurinaitis fires him anyway, that segment went on way to long and it was dumb.
Up next Brodus Clay teams with R Truth and Kofi Kingston to take on Miz, Dolph Ziggler and Jack Swagger. Brodus is the same as Santino, his act is getting very old as well, the only good thing about Brodus are his dancers. What a shock, Brodus, Kofi and Truth get the win, so tired of Clay now.
Randy Orton going one on one with Chris Jericho next. Sheamus is on commentary for this one. Chris Jericho wins by DQ, Jericho threw Orton into Sheamus and Sheamus attacked Jericho, Sheamus and Orton were going to fight each other in the ring but a bunch of refs came out to keep them apart.
John Laurinaitis comes out next and says that John Cena is a loser, and that the fans are losers because they cheer him. Laurinaitis says he’s better then Dwayne and Lesnar combined. John Cena interrupts him and goes to the ring, Cena calls Laurinaitis the “undisputed king of douche bags” Or so I think, they bleeped it out. Cena goes over a list of ways Laurinaitis is a loser, Cena says Laurinaitis failed at taking the title off CM Punk and failed at having Brock Lesnar beat him at Extreme Rules, then Cena goes Ace Ventura on Laurinaitis by repeating over and over calling him a loser. Laurinaitis is going on a tirade about how he can change whatever match that is made when Eve comes out with papers, Cena rips it out of his hands, and reads it, the match will be one on one, anyone who interferes will be terminated. If Laurinaitis loses to Cena, Laurinaitis will be TERMINATED! The crowd erupts into “Yes” chants.
Overall, this weeks was better then last weeks, I thought tonight was pretty enjoyable, I’ll give it 2.5/5 tonight, I’m really hoping Laurinaitis is canned as an on air talent, he’s growing stale quick.
No Zack Ryder again tonight, although they plugged his Over The Limit pre show match… With Kane, thanks for coming Zack. Such a shame how misused he is.
Can Dolph Ziggler ever stop jobbing? Just a thought.
This crowd tonight was pretty bad until the end, they were even really dead when Heyman came out, which is surprising considering the state they were in.
That’s all for this weeks column, I hope you enjoyed the show and the column, I apologize It’s pretty short this week, my computer wouldn’t cooperate with me almost the entire show and I had to write this based mostly on what I remembered happened in order.
Ringsidehustle.com 
I don’t think this RAW was better than last week’s RAW. This was terrible! No progression in any of the storyline. Building up a GM as your top heel. I don’t get it!!!
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I hope this is the end of Laurinaitis! (or however it’s spelled)
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Horrendous!
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Good acting by Show. And I like the way Ace says, “You’re fired.”. Cena going “Ace Ventura” on Johnny “Ace” made me laugh for some reason.
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I’m predicting Big Show will interfere in Laurinaitis/Cena and help Johnny Ace win.
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People have to realise wrestling will never be like it was 12 years ago 🙂
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There is no way in Death Valley that you can honestly defend this episode.
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I’m not going to defend it because it was bland, had no direction or nothing. Too many RAW’s throughout the year are like this, yet they’re still being successful. That means they are doing something right, doesn’t it?
Anyway, too many people are wanting RAW to be as good like it was 12 years ago, but sadly I don’t think it’ll ever be that watch-able again. I’m probably gonna be wrong but who knows.
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Wrestling goes in cycles, the cycle we’re in now, it almost seems like the 80’s-early 90’s all over again (Except the writing back then was better) My only problem with the product right now is the writing isn’t that good, then again there are PG things they could do in order to insult each other, but there’s too many organizations looking to get ANY kind of publicity they can, could you imagine Bobby Heenan in this era? 99% of his act would get phone calls up the ass for WWE, despite it being PG, it was offensive to certain people.
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That being said, Raw wasn’t good by any means, it was better then last week, but that isn’t saying much. I thought Sheamus telling off Michael Cole on commentary was one of the best things on the show, because everyone thinks that about him lol.
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Wrestling is a cycle, I always say that to my cousins who don’t watch WWE in particular any more, it’s going to have good stages and bad.
I don’t think fans should expect to be as excited as much as they were during the AE. Hopefully I’m wrong.
What I’m trying to say now, whatever WWE are doing, it’s obviously working. WM 28 was like the highest ever PPV buys for wrestling. And with that there was tons of people streaming it. With WWE being PG, they don’t need to be creative as it’s the younger fans who buy most of the merchandise and attract the likes of Mattel in as sponsors. WWE are probably making more money now than ever before. They’re much more global and whatever they are doing, it’s working. Whether we like it or not.
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Just because they’re able to keep their base audience tuning in from week to week, does not mean they’re being successful. Unless, of course, your definition of success, is trending water.
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They’re making more money that ever, you can’t disagree that they’re not being successful, can you?
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Change in fans>change in booking.
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Thought it was a decent raw, not great but better than some.
Where the Big show, Johnny segment went on a bit long it got the job done and agreeing with JW_Punk Show may interfere with the match at Over The Limit (if not show then Lensar)
Cole asking what the hell is wrong with these people who were tweeting ‘it’s clobbering time’. That came across as an insult as he is the one who has been jabbering on about twitter.
Hey an is just gold on the mic, up and comers take note. Although I feel it may be more impactful if he came out to his own, old ECW music.
John Cena… Are we in fucking school? That is all.
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Cena cracked me up! It was just so over the top, it worked for me. It was kinda like DB doing the “YES!” at the start. There was an oddball charm to it. Plus it was great to see Ace trying not to laugh.
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@Ray No they’re not. I don’t want to sound like a “PG sucks! WOOHOO AE” person here,but they did make more money during the Attitude Era. Which should tell you something considering today they have all these big name advertisers/sponsors.
And I get the whole wrestling goes in cycles thing, but that’s no excuse to not give a damn.
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I doubt they made more money in the AE. If they made so much from the AE, they probably would of released their network. There’s a reason why it’s only coming soon like.
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Yeah, no one wants to take it on, lol.
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They tried to start their own damn football league to compete with the NFL during the AE! Ratings were through the roof; today they barely manage 3.0 the day after major ppvs and big returns. Take a look at their Quarterly reports- nearly all categories decline every quarter/year, and it’s been that way for years.
But yeah, you’re right, because Vince McMahon is so full of himself, in thinking that an entire wrestling network will be successful even though no cable provider wants it,totally means that THE biggest boom period in wrestling history doesn’t compare to how much money they pull in today.
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Still though, just because ratings aren’t as high compared to AE, it doesn’t mean people aren’t watching it. A year back my TV package went for like two weeks, so I watched RAW on YT and on WMR-Sports.net the next week. I still watched it.
Back to WWE part. How much do WWE make from their films? I imagine a helluva lot. That boots up their revenue each year. It must do, if it didn’t, then they wouldn’t be making them.
People don’t add how much WWE. com makes either. That brings in millions each year too.
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Ray, back in the AE, there were like 20 million people tuning into wrestling in the US. Today, it’s down to around 5. Are you seriously going to try to convince me, that 15 million people are watching on YT and streams?
Nearly every film WWE has produced, has lost them money, hence why they were forced to switch to direct-to-dvd releases, in an attempt to hold down costs. Oh, and the last movie that was released in theaters, didn’t even draw enough to just make it on the charts; meaning, it drew less than like $1000 at each theater combined.
Sure, wwe. com makes them a lot of money, mostly from merch sales and obviously advertising, but like I said previously, the numbers are down, and have been falling for years.
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Raw rating was 2.94 this week. Down from last week which is no surprise.
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NBA Playoofs send the rating down every year at this time. Plus, now that it’s on youtube, people don’t watch it on tv.
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Yeah, NBA playoffs this time of the year. NFL games from the Fall through Winter. Baseball and people playing outside in the Summer.
Unless the freaking Super Bowl is on a Monday, I consider these simply more excuses.
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They’re not excuses, but the truth. Ratings have always taken dips during these times.
The youtube thing is interesting. Even though fewer people watch the show on tv, the revenue from youtube makes up for the money they lose from fewer tv viewers.
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Exactly.
Whenever a wrestling website releases the ratings it’s always accompanied by something along the lines of ‘It had stiff competition from the blah blah game’
It is an excuse, I don’t believe for one minute Vince stands there at meetings and says ‘Dont worry about this weeks ratings, that Vikings game was on, we had no chance’
Wrestling fans will watch wrestling as long as its worth watching.
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No they won’t. Viewing habits have changed(for everybody, not just wrestling fans) People go in and out of programs. If a segment comes on that a certain part of the audience won’t ever care about, they change the channel for a couple minutes, then come back. If something doesn’t tickle a person’s fancy instantly, the same thing happens. We’ve never had this much control or this many options.
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That’s the worst in months.
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Probably because the last two shows have been poor. Ratings don’t lie.
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Well a lot didn’t watch RAW live on USA, that doesn’t mean they didn’t watch it though. The lost ones could have recorded it or watched it on YT or something.
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Yeah, the ratings for a bunch of shows go up as much as 25 percent whrn you factor in the DVR/Tivo numbers. Some shows stay on the air only due to that.
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@J – There wasn’t 20 million people during the AE tuning in to RAW. That’s absurd. The highest of high average ratings was around the 6.2 mark. Sure that’s a helluva lot more people than now.
But I see it this way. When WWE come to Ireland, they go to the O2 arena/the point. 10 years ago, there is no way they could do that. Why? Simply because it wouldn’t of nearly sold out. In recent years, the WWE in O2 have been sold out every time WWE comes, just ask Clare if you don’t believe me. The same situation can be said for Belfast, just ask Ryan.
It’s like that all across Europe. Now honestly, you can’t tell me that doesn’t make up a huge proportion of new fans.
There’s no doubt a lot of fans have stopped watching and due to the change in rating etc.. that’s because WWE attract more of a wider fan base, hence why they do a lot more European tours.
You can’t tell me WWE studios are making a loss, if they are,then they are total and utter idiots with no business sense. Like they literally couldn’t be that stupid.
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Internationally, yes, they have grown, but domestically is a whole other ballpark. Remember back not too many months ago, when reports were coming out about audience members having to be reseated so the crowd would look full at Smackdown events? And ever since (at least) WM 25, WrestleMania hasn’t been a legitimate sell out. Those that do attend the shows, look half at sleep most times, or are texting.
International growth is great, and yes, it has brought in countless new fans, but how many ppvs do you have to pay for each year again?
Regarding the Films division- In their 2012 First Quarter press release, WWE stated, and I quote:
“In the current quarter, we released Bending the Rules, which has generated lower than anticipated home video receipts in its initial weeks of release. As a result, we revised our long-term ultimate projections for this film and recorded an impairment charge of $0.8 million contributing to an overall WWE Studios loss of $1.0 million in the current year quarter. This result compared to a loss of $3.6 million in the prior year quarter driven by the $2.8 million impairment for our film 12 Rounds.”
Oh, and you’re right about that average rating of 6.2.
Currently, there are 131million people in the US age 18-49. Take that number, divide it by 20, and you’ll get a 6.5 rating.
Why yes, I do know how Nielson ratings work 🙂
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But not everybody ages 18-49(in the US) watches tv. 6.5 would be the percent of people tuning in, not the number in millions…and millions of The Rock’s fans. Sorry, I had to.
Plus, it’s based on averages, not the exact number of people watching. 1 person could be watching on 1 tv. Or 3. Or 6. And so on. Kind of a flawed system. Major guess work.
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Mixed feelings on this week’s Raw.
First off the Big Show match/segment was bad. I wasn’t really expecting a classic from him and Kane, obviously. But it just seemed so poor, and the chokeslap that ended it was pathetic (no, I didn’t make a typo, it looked more of a chokeslap than chokeslam). While I do agree it made sense with the “firing”, it dragged on way too long. It also makes me think Show will help Johnny, especially considering he’s already fired, so can’t get fired if he helps out (but no doubt will be re-hired).
CM Punk/Santino vs Bryan/Rhodes tag match was enjoyable, and I did like the opening segment between Heyman/HHH. Really intrigued how this will all play out on TV the next few weeks.
As for Brodus, I’ve never been keen on him, and really don’t like seeing him picking up wins over the likes of Swagger, Ziggler or Miz.
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