Reaction Zone - 5 Ways to Improve Monday Night Raw

Jan 24, 2012 - 10:58:54 PM by Jacob Gilbert

With the Royal Rumble just around the corner as I write this, I cannot stress enough the fact that there still exists a need for change in the WWE. Not quite in line with what CM Punk has been campaigning for since last summer, but I think viewers in general are tired of the same old, same old. Heels winning via distraction/leverage violations are just so tired, period. There's no originality anymore, a sure sign of complacency in the creative office, and the blame lies squarely on the shoulders of Vince McMahon, who is just so resistant to change in general. Well, the reality of it all is, in 2012, in order for WWE to remain relevant to today's audience, which otherwise is gravitating more and more toward MMA and the expanding UFC empire, change needs to be made from the ground up.

You start with the flagship show, Monday Night Raw, which is approaching its 20th anniversary next year. Let me count the ways the show can be improved or saved from ruin.

1. Get rid of the current Raw creative team.

I can't stress this enough. McMahon won't train them to understand the psychology of the business and coordinate it with preparing the live broadcast. The current angle involving Kane & John Cena is just an example of poorly conceived storytelling. Cena & Kane are veterans, and both have had some experience with movies. In case you haven't been paying attention, the early part of the angle borrowed components from any number of horror flicks, not including Kane's own 2006 opus, "See No Evil". Rather than run the risk of them lifting a plot device from that, Sunday's throwdown between two former champs needs to be the end of the angle. If they're so desperate to have Cena turn heel for his Wrestlemania match vs. Rock in Miami on 4/1, there are other, better ways to do so that can be discussed in a later column.

The core vets on the roster, and we'll include Triple H in this group, as he'll be returning next week, all come from an era where there were no writers, and wrestlers were encouraged to create their own promos. We need to go back to the basics, and this is a good way to start. Cena, Punk, Kane, HHH, Chris Jericho, and maybe even reality-TV vets like Michael "The Miz" Mizanin & David Otunga, can be trusted to do their own thing. You can blame the writers for some of Cena's dumber promos the last few years. A heel turn might bring back those swank freestyle rap promos that got Cena so much attention in the first place, and that would be a good thing.

2. Get rid of Michael Cole.

He's been with the company nearly 15 years, so he's up there in terms of seniority, but his heel play-by-play announcer act is beyond stale. The problem here is that McMahon doesn't know any better and will stick with it for as long as HE decides it's needed, not when the audience tires of it. Exhibit B, of course, is Vickie Guerrero, whose antics went moldy a long time ago. Cole is overexposed now as a heel and is due for a downgrade. The two best announcers in the business still collect paychecks, but Joey Styles & Jim Ross are both being paid, basically, to do something other than announce. Styles was forced to retire from broadcasting. Ross is routinely treated like a joke every few years simply because he's from the South, but then again, Vince McMahon spent his formative years in the South, too, and that may be at the root of a lot of his hatred. Cole, meanwhile, has worn out his welcome on Raw. I say, he has to be confined to Smackdown, and let Ross return, this time for good. The constant shuffling of the announce teams the last few years has contributed to an extent to WWE's ratings problems.

Cole is better served now, though, not as an announcer, but as a manager. End of story.

3. Make sure all of the brand's championships are addressed on a regular basis.

Divas champ Beth Phoenix is back on the road after missing time due to some facial swelling resulting from a match with Alicia Fox last month. One of Raw's problems over the last several years has been creative neglect of the lower-tier belts. By devoting equal time to the WWE men's & women's titles (it's time to revive the women's title and dump the butterfly belt Vickie Guerrero introduced in '08), along with the US title and the tag belts, which are cross-brand anyway, it allows for more spotlight time for more talent.

4. No more heel GM's.

John Laurinaitis should be the last one. Period. The gimmick is stale because the angle where it has its roots, the infamous Austin-McMahon wars of the Attitude Era, has been recycled way, way too much, such that the heat's been completely drained. If that sounds familiar, well, think of how WCW collapsed. Eric Bischoff rode the NWO money train past its expiration point, and, well, you know the rest. Teddy Long has demonstrated on Smackdown that a GM can function best as an impartial observer/administrator.

Solution: Move Long to Raw, and have one of the producer-agents, like incoming Hall of Famer Arn Anderson, for example, take over Smackdown. Problem solved.

5. Get rid of Vince McMahon!

Now, this was obvious, wasn't it? Of course. McMahon is 66, and creatively is past his prime. By refusing to step down, he is holding down his own daughter, Stephanie, from ascending to the top. That same stubborn refusal to see reality may have led Shane to leave the company a couple of years ago, and, well, he's doing okay, isn't he? I've been saying this for a while. Vince should be home, bouncing the grandkids on his knees and reading them bedtime stories. It's time Hunter & Steph took over, for real, and for good.

Without Vince barking instructions, the announce team will be a little more confortable, and so will the rest of the talent. In truth, the same applies to Smackdown, but they're not as much in need of help. Or are they? I'll have the answer to that one next time.