Raw 1000

Coffee Table Thoughts {14} : Raw 1000

The Hype and The Social Media

Raw’s 1000th episode is right down the corner and I, as much as anyone else, am pretty much excited for this historic event. The WWE hype machine has done a very commendable job of creating fan interest in the milestone achieving episode.

Unfortunately, I would be busy preparing tax returns in a very taxing season in my office and wouldn’t be having the free wifi connection that I use to watch all the wrestling events, while the Raw goes live. I will surely be catching up the event, but it will be a little late. It will be Tuesday morning here in India, when the show gets aired live in the United States of America, and I would literally be craving for the office hours to end and reach back home to see Raw.

On the non television front, they have made quite a deal about the social media experience and are seriously pursuing new methods of involving the fans, hilariously known as WWE Universe (A Vince McMahon-Paul Heyman Shoot joke). Regulars over here seem to be up in the arms about this new addiction of the WWE, but I actually like this new initiative.

They have appointed Charlie Sheen as their Social Media something something for this 1000th episode especially and it would be a fun to follow his tweets on that day. I have heard that his tweets are entertaining in very Scott Steiner way and I wouldn’t want to miss out on the fun. Reading tweets is one enjoyable experience if you are not going to see it unfold in front of your eyes.

Then there is Tout. Tout is quite a unique fan interaction methodology and I think WWE have made a right decision at the right time. In the e-world that is growing every single day, you wouldn’t know which side of the technological R-evolution is going to hit you hard. In my opinion, WWE is one of those companies which are most vulnerable to such kind of technological stuff. It was WWF which put all its stars on the prime time television and brought an end to the territory system. It may be difficult to digest the thought that such type of video sharing app is going to be of any impact on the WWE’s business, but you may never know. It seems an interesting concept and seems to be tailor-made for the kind of fan base that WWE enjoys. You get to upload a 15-second video which can be seen by millions as well as the WWE management and superstars. I may never personally upload such a video, but I can see how it would be attractive to someone young. I have read somewhere that WWE, apart from having a business relation with the software company, has also made investments in it. It seems to be a step in the right direction and may even create a new revenue stream for the company. The new generation is all about connectivity and it is good to know that WWE is taking very proactive approach in luring the young fans into their product through many innovative ways.

I would go as far as to say that with the kind of economy that is there in its biggest market – the home market, they will have to consider other ways of earning revenue than mere Pay Per Views. The concept of ‘Pay Per View’ hasn’t even taken off in India, so I don’t know about its details but I read on the Wikipedia that Vince McMahon was one of the pioneers of this business. And all signs point that they are going to move away from the PPV concept, at least to a certain extent, when they will be launching their own channel.

The 3 Hour Format

I have been a fan of the wrestling product for the much of my life and enjoy the WWE product most often but this 3 hour stuff that they will be carrying on now onwards seems a little Golden Goose-ish to me. There is a very fitting term called ‘market saturation’ and this step feels like it has all the makings to be the next example of the same in the management books. Many a times in the past year, it has been very difficult for me to sit through an entire episode of Raw. I have to use a lot of fast-forwarding. Sometimes, I just skip entire episodes of Raw or Smackdown. It may result in a lot of similar sentiment amongst other WWE fans and this may ultimately result in a feeling of being exhausted.  

But if they have decided to go full blown on the three hour format for Raw, then they must have thought about the content beforehand. As per the news on the main page, it is being said that the added hour will be featuring more of the fan-interaction social media stuff that most of us have come to hate. I don’t particularly hate the idea. I may not like this part of the show myself, but some other fan-group may be interested in this type of stuff.

However, I would want the first hour, in such a case to be only about the fan-interaction, social media stuff. Because if it does involve some sort of storyline development or a match, then what you are doing is forcing your fans to make a decision. You are essentially forcing them to ask themselves whether they are ready to sit there the entire hour to go through a lot of shit in order to not miss out on something important. And if they do decide to drop the first hour (which they most certainly will), then they are forced to ask themselves this next question, whether they are ready to go through the entirety of two hours without knowing whether something important took place in the first hour or not. That may become very frustrating for a lot of the casual fans and ultimately result in them abandoning the product altogether.

At this point, however, these are just rumours. Instead of assigning the new hour to the social media, they may go with a completely new content, like the Cruiserweight division or they may even go the old school way and try to make their product more balanced by giving the mid-card and the lower-card something well worth to do. God knows the Tag Team division, United States and Intercontinental Division (if these things exist, that is) and the Divas division could do with some more time and at least some type of storyline. And if they have decided to go this route than I am all for it.

The Raw 1000 itself

As I said before, they have put all of their (best) effort in hyping up this show. The biggest angles and stuff that are already advertised are:

1. DX Reunion featuring Triple H and Shawn Michaels

2. Brock Lesnar answers the Triple H challenge

3. CM Punk vs John Cena for the WWE Championship match

4. Appearance from The Rock

5. Christian defends his Intercontinental Championship

6. Chris Jericho will make his presence felt

7. Daniel Bryan-AJ Lee wedding

8. Heath Slater faces off against another Legend

Wow, that’s hell of a too much for an episode of Raw.

This isn’t the episode that you can afford to miss. Whether you are a fan of nostalgia shows/special attractions or not, this is just the kind of epicness that you just can not hate or complain much about. I am looking forward to all of the above attractions. The least interesting of all those seems to be the DX Reunion. But boy, oh boy, if it does turn out to be what it is rumoured to be, I am going to mark the f out and this will instantaneously become one of my most favourite moments in the wrestling, period.

I won’t go in detail on what I am expecting from the each of the above segments or what else I expect to see, but there is this WWE Championship match which in my opinion is a very vital particle of the WWE’s future. The build to this match has been quite simple, John Cena won the WWE MITB Contract and decided to face CM Punk for the WWE Championship. He hasn’t been the WWE Champion in almost a year and for him, it is about time that he regains that Championship. It’s that simple. Or is it?

I agree it has been a very thin build on the surface but if you dig a little deep, isn’t this a subtle, yet very hard hitting scenario? From the epic shoot promo of CM Punk to two top notch matches, which by the way, did not result in a pure clean victory for CM Punk. That desire and resolve of Punk to rise to the top, the solid stance of John Cena to be himself no matter what.

Those little nuggets that began in the IWC that John Cena was still The Man, those same views were expressed in not so unclear words on the WWE television. Eve mocking Punk that AJ Lee will steal the spotlight from Punk just like John Cena, The Rock, Triple H and Brock Lesnar. The remark by the Big Show ‘Do you really think these fans care for you? This company revolves around one person’. Is that one person, John Cena?

That very little confrontation between the two just before the Money in the Bank, ‘If you win, John, then that’s back to you and me’. One year after one of the most exciting periods in wrestling, we are back there, just where we started.

We need answer to just one little question.

Who really is the best in the world?