A soap with hot guys in underpants (WWE Raw)

Member Name: iamasadlittleboy

Product:	WWE Raw
Date:	11/08/09 (33 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A bit of comedy, some grear athletic moves, some excitement

Disadvantages: Over use of some people, not eneough matches, bad booking

I've started developing quite a nasty sleeping disorder, usually catching Raw live during the hours when sleep should be forthcoming, however it seems between 2 am and 4:15 am I've been catching Raw with an alarming regularity. Raw for those that aren't aware is the WWE (formerly WWF) Monday night TV show that's been running since 1993, over a few US networks (USA Network, Spike TV and back to the USA Network), and has garnered the record for the longest running weekly show on American TV.

With the WWE business currently split into 3 parts (ECW/Smackdown/RAW) the shows each have their own cast that is only to be used on their on their shows (and the monthly PPV's). From memory Raw (Formerly "Raw is War") has always been slightly edgier and more violent than the more family orientated Smackdown brand whilst I've yet to catch any ECW since it's revival under the WWE parent company.
What this basically means is that each of the shows has a separate cast and feel to each others, their own independent personality if you will within the "WWE Universe" (a term that seems to be over used now a days).

So Raw, which was originally shown live every other week with a recorded episode in the middle during the early years of it's tenure, until the infamous Monday Night Wars which saw rival company WCW running it's own live Nitro show. With the growing internet and dirt sheets, the Raw results of the taped episodes we're being leaked, people we're turning away from the product on the taped weeks and Nitro started the 84 week ratings run that almost crippled the then WWF.
As time went on Raw, to compete with WCW went out live every Monday in direct live competition every week, this slowly drove Raw back to the top with storylines that pushed the boundaries. The infamous attitude era was born, the idea of good v evil was thrown on it's head and anarchy and violence became the words of the day and Raw started to dominate.

By the time WCW had died, Raw and the McMohan's gloated live with a simul-cast of both Raw and Nitro (in reality Vince, the WWE owner had bought his rivals out) and the wrestling landscape was going to alter once again.

However it wasn't until the brand extensions in 2002 that we had the shows running as they do currently, the rosters had become too large to operate as a single show, with too many high paid performers want the top jobs, the way to please every one was to split the company and the shows up. This in turn lead to where we stand today with Raw wrestlers only competing on Raw and Smackdown wrestlers only competing on Smackdown.

The Raw brand has in recent weeks been "hosted" by a special guest who arranges whatever matches they feel like, and they can get involved however they feel. These were started after Donald Trump "purchased" the show, and have included WWE alumni Sergeant Slaughter, NBA legend Shaquille O'neal and the actor Jeremy Piven.

Now I'll only comment on what I've seen the past few weeks, so far the roster used seems talented with youngsters like Cody Rhodes, Jack Swagger, Evan Bourne all being excellent performers to watch as well as the more well known main event wrestlers such as Randy Orton, HHH and Chris Jericho who are all hugely impressive to watch. Sadly however as good as the roster is, the bug bear that is John Cena and his terribly annoying knack of being such a super guy has drained on me already. No longer can a good guy lose it seems, it just seems this guy will win no matter what the stipulations, just as it had been last year when I was watching the PPV's. Whether your a fan of professional wrestling or not, it's annoying to see such an untalented guy repeatedly being shoved in our face just because he appeals to the kids for some reason.

The other main annoyances with the show is that they don't show enough real action, much of the TV time is spent in interviews and vignettes that are often just a waste of time and effort. If we wanted to watch people talk crap we'd watch a Ricardo Mayorga interview, and at least they were always funny. The occasional vignette can be funny, the HBK/HHH ones from this morning were hilarious (especially the final one), but with them two you always expect it to be great. Also the "return of Brett Hart" was well done and ingenious.

But sadly having 4 titles on the show (WWE Championship, WWE United States Championship, WWE Divas Championship and the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship) you'd except more than 4 or 5 matches during a 2 and a quarter hour long show. The potential seems there, especially with the young stars coming through, slowly paving their own way to the top much like Stone Cold Steve Austin, HHH and The Rock did around 10 years ago. But the time on screen for them seems limited in the extreme.

Also a quick complaint, the booking of some of the matches is dreadful, the fact the company keeps using people like Mark Henry almost hoping that the fans will one day start to get behind a slow cumbersome guy who they proclaim repeatedly is the strongest man in world. It's irritating to the extreme when you watch him and he can't do anything worth of note, and it's taking up TV time that could be spent on fighters like Santino Marello or Jamie Noble. The booking of this mornings contest between the Big Show and Randy Orton made it seem like their World Champion wasn't up to much as he was effectively squashed by the giant, in a match that made little sense.

Overall the product for what it's worth is watch able, and I may add I may just have caught a poor few weeks. The TV time is seemingly overly wasted, though every show does have some high points, the aforementioned HBK/HHH promo's this morning were excellent, as was the Attitude Adjustment/RKO combination on to Chris Jericho that looked fantastic. But things like the Ken Jeong (some actor from The Hangover and Knocked Up) screeching like a girl for 20 minutes as a guest co-host was just annoying and pointless, as is the almost weekly section of Chavo Guerrero v the midget Hornswoggle in some bizarre handicap situations. The point of which seems like the shows writers have got a bet on to see who can write the worst part.

The good is often great, the bad is often repeated and really terrible.

Summary: I Want less Cena and Henry, more HBK kicking Fast Food managers