[Mr. Nerfect]

Originally Posted by Splaya Nous will be back next week. He thinks we need his 2000 word posts dissecting RAW when in all reality nobody gives a shit

Haha, I haven't watched a full Raw in over a year, probably longer. Nice try though. Are you salty because I shut you down in the NXT thread?

By the way, people have replied to me and are engaging in the conversation, so in all reality, you are full shit.

Originally Posted by Stickman Yeah this has really bothered me for the last year or so. The shows typically don’t build towards the main event anymore. I find the closing segment tends to be anti climatic. Any time there is a disagreement in the opening promo that match is almost always next. So it’s like, here is 10 mins of talking to build the match, but we will just roll that over into the next segment, commercial, and the next segment, commercial, next segment with the match ending, commercial, recap. It’s like the first 45 mins is about one feud so it’s hard to stay hooked for the main event so they don’t even try anymore for the main events

I was just thinking about how much I hate Raw opening segments. They are such bad television, objectively. I came in late to this one, so I didn't see it, but they set up shit that they could seriously just set up with a screen. "Six-man tag tonight." Michael Cole could let us know on commentary that Braun Strowman won at Survivor Series so now he's got a match with Baron Corbin at TLC.

Why do you need Stephanie McMahon walking out to the ring to cut an entirely redundant promo? So much on this show is redundant. I'm not talking about just filler or fluff, but I mean it's actually redundant.

Originally Posted by Conspiracy Victim Vito I can only speak to my own opinion, but I generally view Raw 1000 (July 2012) as something of a turning point for me. By then, I had already stopped watching SmackDown. Once the initial brand split ended, the show felt entirely pointless. I remember there was a stretch where any good match on SmackDown would just get run again on Raw, so there was no need to ever tune in for it. So I only watched Raw. There was still a whole ton of shit going on, but there were good things too (Punk, Bryan's descent into madness, Ryback looking like he could be a big deal), and the good things were enough to keep me tuning in. Raw 1000 was pretty damn lame, even by nostalgia show standards. But the bigger thing is that's when they announced that they were moving Raw to three hours full-time and that was just so deflating for me. I still had the show on most weeks but spent 90% of it with my back turned as I was on the computer and stuff. Various points between 2014-16 I stopped watching entirely. When the brand split came back I decided to give the company a chance. I actually watched both shows intently for several months and found myself really enjoying most of it. But by the end of the year I was right back to being indifferent about Raw.

I remember being down on the product around then. I watched, I can't remember how religiously, but I remember the Punk/Heyman alliance was kind of...not all I wanted to pretend it was. The Shield really gave things a shot in the arm, from memory. And then you had the rise of Bryan.

The 2015 Royal Rumble was a huge choke-point for me too. That happened and I was just like "Fuuuuck this company," and I have never really truly forgiven them for that. I feel like I've secretly been down on the company for ages though. I guess it's all been downhill since the Attitude era, with minor spikes of personal enjoyment here and there.

But I wonder where it got really bad. Like, this Raw is so much different from the Raws even a few years ago. It has gotten really sterile.

Originally Posted by Slik update on braun's injury in news/rumors thread RAW has been 'pretty bad' for about two years now imo, with a few exceptional episodes every now and then. The most recent 'superstar shakeup' made it incredibly noticeable.

Interesting. This makes me wonder if I missed the real point where it went from "eh" to "whoa, what the fuck is this?". Seriously, to anyone who wouldn't mind giving it a try, if you stop watching for a while and then come back, it's really jarring and eerie how fucking weird it is watching Raw. Everyone is like a puppet dancing for Vince.

Originally Posted by Loose Cannon Agreed. it's so difficult to watch these guys cut promos and i know it's the writers for the most part. they give them the corniest shit to say. I feel like Ronda goes out there and does it in her own words and surprise surprise it comes off so much better. The wrestling is always going to be good. the workers overall are the best the company has ever had. but everything else involved in putting on a good show is really bad. Like the whole Bobby Roode and Chad Gable laughing at the AOP's manager for saying You're in (urine). Like why ????

Behind the writers is the philosophy of the company. I don't understand it, but I guess they think they are legitimate entertainment and want SAGs and Emmys and shit. They want that complete control for whatever reason. No one sounds like a real person and no one seems comfortable though. I don't know how anyone can see people acting like this and not be creeped out.

I disagree on the wrestling, but I think we just look for different things. I personally find it very routine and inorganic. Mechanical and cold. Everyone seems to try and do the same things as everyone else instead of doing things that makes them stand out. Like, they have different moves, but the moves fit into matches in the exact same way. I feel like it lacks genuine fight psychology and therefore emotion is rarely wrenched out, and disbelief is never really suspended.

That "comedy" was just fucking awful. The whole "reality" behind the show is below grade school in terms of maturity. Just because you are aiming at kids doesn't mean you have to have your adult performers act like the stupidest most sheltered ones. Do they really think kids are going to think jokes about how "bladder" sounds like "better" (which it doesn't) is going to hook them?

This is a company that hates kids. You see this in dumb-ass movies like Beverly Hills Chihuahua or whatever. They think you can shit on the floor and go "poooooop!" and kids will laugh and laugh and laugh and beg their parents to take them to see more. They don't appreciate that kids can appreciate good content too.

Originally Posted by Simple Fan Feel like the Raw sweep that really wasn't a sweep will be what they use to turn Smackdown into the sports oriented show that Fox wants.

I was thinking that myself. I definitely think that it's a way of "resetting" the show. Not in a "strip everyone of the belts" way, but to bring about some kayfabe and maybe even some presentation changes if they want to go that far. I'm suspicious they will though. FOX knows what they bought.