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| Guest Columns | Ross Mowery |
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THE BENEDICTION It is good to write to you again! After a stressful transition into a new church, I finally have the chance to send an article to you. I also have had a chance to watch and reflect on the product that the WWE is putting on the airwaves, especially Monday Night Raw. And I want to share those thoughts with you. Frankly, the Raw product stinks. I am not just talking about the incredibly inane angle with HHH and Kane, I am not just talking about the fizzled push of the Island Boyz, I am not just talking about the live crowds being bored into silence by the terrible product I am watching in the ring, I am talking about the total package--and no, I don't mean Lex Luger. Let's be honest to start out with: is there anyone on the Raw roster right now you would push the remote to TNN to see? What wrestler has the star power to catch the mainstream fan's eye? What angle has people actually wanting to turn the channel to see what happens next? And what about diehard fans like you and me? Other than the TLC match, can you remember anything above a 2 1/2 star match lately? Has there been any new stars developed that deserves any attention? If we can't give any affirmative answer to any of the preceding questions, then we are only scratching the surface of how bad things are in the Raw brand. To continue, it doesn't help that Jerry Lawler is squealing like a girl about anything to do with the Kane/HHH angle at the expense of any meaningful buildup with any other program. Plus, the novelty and surprise of Eric Bischoff's debut has worn off, the only real bright spots of the Raw debuts of Randy Orton and the Hurricane have been stopped by a shoulder injury and bad writing, respectively, and the somewhat innovative angle of the Three Minute Warning is also stopped when you job them out to the Big Show--and then have the Big Show traded to Velocity, oops, I mean Smackdown. I am a frustrated wrestling fan--as I am sure you can relate. Look, I know that Smackdown has far superior talent, and better writers, to boot. But the fact is that Raw SHOULD NOT BE THIS BAD!! Jim Ross, whom I respect, can say all that he wants about how they are trying to distinguish the products from one another, that wrestling pushes the envelope (I think that is a McMahon quote--actually). Fine. That philosophy worked with Steve Austin, it doesn't work now. So change the writing to angles that people actually will get into instead of a monumentally inane angle with necrophilia as its calling card. Then put wrestlers in programs that can get the story across. They have decent talent that can tell a good story in the ring and on the mike--find the right mix of wrestlers who can get that done. And for goodness sake, find an announcer who will get the story across instead of Lawler badly-acting as a ten year old boy and sticking to that lame gimmick at the expense of the story. I only watch a few hours of TV a week, because my schedule is filled from Sunday morning to Saturday night. In the midst of work, moving into a new house, and keeping up with a two year old daughter, I treasure the two hours I can spend watching wrestling. But this utter nonsense of the product that the WWE has been putting on TV on Monday nights really tempts me to find alternate means of entertainment between the hours of 9:00 pm and 11:00 pm EST. So I challenge the WWE to start fixing the many problems that they have on Raw, instead of trying to blindly go where WCW has went before. I look forward to your responses. May God bless you and yours. Yours in Christ Jesus, "The Right Reverend" Ross Mowery [slash] wrestling |
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