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I agree with a lot of what Blake said.
E+C as heels would have been great on Smackdown, because of the shortage, but on RAW its all about Orton, as it should be!
In terms of Benoit as a face, looking at Edmonton and Calgary to judge his overness is a bit misleading, just like using El Paso Texas would be misleading to judge how over Eddie is. I dont think they should turn him heel at this point, no he wont be as over as Austin, but he could be a steady champion who people respect kinda like Bret Hart was.
I thought Benoit was getting the shaft after Mania, but since Backlash, he's been in all the main events (its only 2, but still), and he's been the featured guy. But last week the crowd was really behind him, and I thought that was positive. The only thing I'd like to see with Benoit for me to really take him seriously as a main eventer would be to see them have a feud with someone other than HHH and HBK.
In terms of comparing pops, thats really irrelevant. Cena gets tons of pops (maybe more than anyone on RAW or SD) but what does that really mean? Pops dont increase ratings, they dont sell tix, and they dont get people to order PPVs. Benoit was lucky because he was on a show with Mick Foley's return to the ring as a singles, so I'm sure that helped the Backlash buyrate, but a more accurate test for his drawing ability will be the Bad Blood PPV. Houses have been decent, and RAW TV tapings are drawing better houses and the ratings are up from before Mania. So with all the stuff that counts, you cant really say Benoit is doing bad, he's not tearing up business, but at this point nobody will.
Speaking of ratings, I always laugh where I see these posts that say "turn so and so heel, and ratings will skyrocket". What people have to understand is that a heel turn, a face turn, a new faction isn't going to skyrocket ratings. Ratings will only go up when they can find a fresh new star to lead the company, push them right and make consistantly good television. HHH and HBK as a babyface faction WILL NOT make ratings skyrocket. They should worry about moving forward, not looking back, if you want to look back watch some old tapes, it was probably better the first time.
Orton is not ready for a babyface push. Eventually the fans will turn him face, until then, keep him heel. HHH sucks either way (face or heel), so we're doomed either way. Plus he's going to be on top for the next 20 years, so in that time I'm sure he'll have many face/heel turns.
This is my last post on anything to do with "pushing Kane", he's dead as potential draw, and really could be released and nobody would miss him. Maybe we can make Shane McMahon the new Big Red Machine.
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