High Road/Low Road 06.26.09: Commercial Free Raw
Posted by Sat & Chad Nevett on 06.26.2009
Would you have taken the refund?
Welcome back to the High Road/Low Road!
A brief explanation of the column: Sat takes the High Road (positive view) on angles, gimmicks, and other wrestling related "stuff" while Uncletrunx takes the Low Road (negative view).
Sat: This past week, I went ahead and created a special Sat & Uncletrunx twitter account which can be found at http://www.twitter.com/satuncletrunx. I will update it each time our column is posted.
Uncletrunx:and I'll think to myself that at some point, I have to try this Twittering thing out…
Results for RAW: 3 For All:
High Road: 07%
Low Road: 79%
Both Roads: 14%
Commercial Free RAW
High Low Road:
First off, I have to comment on the Donald Trump stuff. I had all of the High Roads written for him as Owner of RAW and it turns out to be a one week thing. That makes no sense whatsoever. I think the reason that they took away is ownership is because of fear from the SEC, but that is really something that they should have thought of before going forward with the angle..
Low Road:
Is it too lazy of me to just write "I agree"? Well, ok, I'll make an effort for the rest of the column, I promise!
High Road:
The WWE is always pretending that they are doing something groundbreaking and usually that is not the case. However, this past Monday's episode of RAW was historic and groundbreaking because it was the first commercial free show.
Low Road:
Well, it would have been groundbreaking had it actually been commercial free. What we had instead was the first "Almost commercial free Raw". That really isn't the same thing at all. For the record, I do count utterly blatant and intrusive product placement as a commercial.
High Road:
Anybody who thought that RAW was going to be commercial free is insane. You had to expect there to be some type of commercial and we got that with Kentucky Fried Chicken.
Low Road:
If something is advertised as being commercial free, I think the viewers have the right to expect no commercials of any sort. Otherwise, it's not delivering on the promise.
High Road:
I think that there are probably some of you that have problems with a SmackDown match on RAW. I really do not have a problem with it because it was SmackDown wrestlers versus SmackDown wrestlers. Plus, you can pretty much come with a reason for why they were there and that was because Donald Trump decided to have them there.
Low Road:
So Trump can book wrestlers from a show he doesn't own? That makes no sense. (Nor, for the record, does Trump appearing with Divas from another show which he doesn't own.) Given the talent available on Raw, and especially given the storyline that Raw is the show Trump owns, can they not keep at least some tiny bit of continuity and use the brand split properly for one week?
High Road:
A pay per view is basically a commercial free show. I think that the commercial free RAW was a good idea because it showed the fans that have never purchased a pay per view what they can expect. I think that if you can get a few viewers to purchase a pay per view because they liked the commercial free RAW, then I think it is a win for the WWE.
Low Road:
I cannot see that there is anyone out there who watches Raw and thinks to themselves "I wonder what this would be like without commercials? I know; it would be like a Pay Per View event! If only I knew that I'd enjoy the experience of watching that, I might buy one. Sadly, I guess I'll never get that opportunity…"
I think the opposite is true. If people are watching Raw with no commercials, why would they pay cash for basically the same thing? Especially if refunds were on offer for the show where they won't be for the PPV.
High Road:
It was nice that RAW was commercial free, but the thing that the WWE had to do was they had to deliver a very good show. Thankfully, they did that. Triple H and Randy Orton had one of the best matches on RAW in a long time, and I loved the promo between the Miz and John Cena.
Low Road:
Those elements were good. However, they were overshadowed by the nonsensical Trump storyline, which had no logic to it whatsoever and then ended with possibly the worst pay off to an angle I think I've seen since Fake Kane simply vanished and we were all expected to forget he had ever existed. No, I take that back. This was worse.
High Road:
The WWE has gotten some media coverage from the angle with Donald Trump buying RAW. I think with the WWE struggling to get with ratings it is always a smart thing to keep their name in the media coverage. We have seen the WWE do stupid things to get some media attention and this is not one of them. I think that the media coverage will continue if Donald Trump does some interesting things as owner of RAW.
Low Road:
This may have attracted a response from the media at large but it also backfired in a major way for WWE; it caused a drop in the share price. That in turn led to a frantic climbdown as it was all shown to be just a storyline. That's a failure of spectacular proportions.
High Road:
I had to resent an update to Uncletrunx, but it was definitely needed because this high road is very important. As we all know, the RAW rating was a 4.5 which was one of the higher ratings that RAW has had. Now, the question is, was this rating due to Donald Trump or the fact that RAW was commercial free? I honestly think it was because of the fact that RAW was commercial free because people are less likely to change the channel and the fact that Donald Trump has appeared on RAW before and there was no huge spike in the ratings.
Low Road:
One rating spiked is a small high road, I'll grant that. The question is, will it remain? With a show as poor as that one, I can't see people deciding to tune in week after week; this is doubly true when the major, shocking twist turns out to be a very short term storyline with the weakest payoff in recent memory. WWE had a huge opportunity with the mainstream news coverage of Trump and a commercial free show, and they blew it. Sadly, it seems to be a frequent occurrence with WWE.
Simply write "High Road", "Low Road", or "Both Roads" in the comment section.
E-Mails:
These are all of the e-mails that we received this week. We do not respond to the actual e-mail, but the reply to your e-mail will be below.
Sat: As usual, the only emails we received were for voting purposes.
Comments:
Below are the comments for last week's columns and our responses. Every comment will not be included because it makes our lives a lot easier. The comments section was last looked at on Tuesday Morning Pacific Time.
Mark Writes:
Low Road. Definitely.
What's Night of Champions for exactly if you're going to throw away four title matches in an edition of Raw anyway??
Sat: At first, I was all for Superstars, but I think all these shows are stopping the WWE from thinking long term. Honestly, the only difference between The Bash and the Night of Champions is going to be a Divas Title Match and the United States Title match.
Uncletrunx: It's a good point. Why give away the gimmick of a PPV on free TV? I can't imagine a 30 man Rumble match taking place on Raw, for example.
Luna Writes:
Low road, low road, low road. When I fall asleep in my chair because Raw is just THAT boring, then there's a problem.
And even though I recorded it, I still couldn't watch the rest of it.
Sat: I think a three hour TV show is hard to watch. I watched until the WWE title match and then came back for the number one contender's match.
Uncletrunx: I used to fall asleep watching live Raw on TV, but that's because I'm in the UK and it's on at 1am here.
The Gold Standard Writes:
Low Road.I say this because they didnt use this 3 hour Raw to have a King of the Ring tournament to crown a number 1 contender which i would have preferred.Instead we were giving a battle royal consisting of people who had already competed in the wwe title match ealier in the night with the predictable outcome.Triple H vs Orton is so tired knowing no one gains anything from the feud other than Triple H title reign of conquer or Orton barely defeated the odds and suffering more of the H burial.
Sat: I'll agree. Triple H and Randy Orton has been done so many times. They have had like three Last Man Standing Matches.
Uncletrunx: It was more of the same, and I agree that a King of the Ring tournament would have been a lot more fun and could have been used to elevate a midcarder up to main event level. Unless they used it to set up HHH vs Orton yet again, which based on the evidence of this show, would have been the outcome.
Str8EdgeCoop Writes:
Low Road,what a letdown;it was 1 thorwaway match(ECW title),1 good match(World),and a match where the results will be negated(WWE).The Trump agnle is retarded( cause Trump can't read lines) and KOTR at least gives someone a boost for at least a night,didn't Regal make a IC title run out of his win?
Sat: Honestly, I do not want to see a KOTR because the WWE is going to screw it up.
Uncletrunx: I have to agree with Sat and with the comment. Which is a great shame, as a well booked KOTR tournament could be a great evenings entertainment.
The Get Some Kid Writes:
I'm gonna take the high road because you gotta try new things. We all bitch when the don't then bitch when they do. I will go ahead and say that a three hour wrestling show on TV with no real build to it is no big deal. I willsay it is not an unprecedented things. Those of us old enough to have enjoyed the first few years of CLASH OF THE CHAMPIONS will remember tha tthose generally went off well and were promoted as a big deal. I actually found them to be better than most pay per views I watched. I like big shows but I'm all for a pretty good match from everybody over forcing importance to things that aren't. I am not even alwya in favor of a feud. I'd like to see Evan Bourne go at like...Charlie Haas cuz I think they have enough talent to make it worth a damn. High road if they are gonna do it they should do one every quarter(or at least sweeps time) and make a big deal of it. And then cancel a PPV. I know it is a good revenue stream but I am sure the cost of putting it on can be offset elsewhere with a decently promoted TV event. Like...why not make a big deal on free TV?
Sat: I think main reason people are bitching is because of RAW being so bad.
Uncletrunx: That's why I'm bitching! Seriously, I'm all for trying new things but this show didn't try anything new at all.
Guest #4981 Writes:
It was interesting that there was an IC title match, but no US or Tag title match. You can argue the history of the IC vs US title, but the fact is that the US title is the secondary title men's title of RAW. This made it look like the WWE doesn't think much at all of RAW's chances of putting on a good mid-card match. It shows how little they value the Tag and US titles.
If you think that little of the booking and talent on your flagship show, it is time to reassess the whole plan, from booking to roster.
Sat: I would have not put the IC Title match on RAW. I would have had that match at the Bash and then gone with the Title vs Mask at Night of Champions.
Uncletrunx: I think we all know exactly how highly WWE values the tag team titles.
The Great Captain Smooth Writes:
Both Roads, leaning high. Low, because almost nothing really changed, except for Trump and that's not an automatic win. I will give it a chance. (A quick note: I have heard some rumblings that Batista will be named GM of RAW. He has accepted that he will not be able to go on much longer and this will be a way for him to stay involved. Perhaps Trump could name him the GM?) High, because we got some good matches, a midget got blast in the nuts, and when it all comes down to it, I enjoyed myself.
Sat: I will say that Batista as GM would be something new and I would be interested in seeing it play out.
Uncletrunx: Amusing as a midget getting "a blast in the nuts" is, it's not enough for a high road in my opinion.
Sid Writes:
hi guys..i will disagree with alot of people on the hhh vs orton topic..i think hhh vs orton is giving orton that kind of push that not many have gotten from hhh..i feel that ortons in ring skills and moves..even the way he walks with his focus..is just like his former master triple h..i think the way he is taking out ppl n making the groups..its just how triple h was..orton is gaining alot from fueding and taking the title off hhh again n again..i think wwe did the best thing by having an evolution fued..its sad to see batista go out..coz with flair around as well we were gonna see something special..right now orton needs the push by defeating hhh n then totally take the torch..his run in 2009 has been his best..and he has become a heel who will be a force in the future years for wwe..all hes gaining from hhh is fabulous..and the fued is just about as perfect as it can be..i dont see it crossing the bash..coz orton will burry cena soon..cant wait..guys like hhh n orton should have a hell in a cell soon..i mean i cant wait for their rivalry to reach that end..i think thats a plan by wwe..coz they have used every other match..however when it comes to the game..he settles his scores in a hell in a cell..
mvp is a solid performer..wwe needs to change his get up and style before he ever embraces the wwe title..his music too..mvp doesnt need to be put over..his ring psychology is pretty rock solid..the way he moves in the ring it shows he knows the ring..unlike guys like superman cena and dave roidista the 'delicate' animal..mvp needs a wrestler to take him up there..someone like hhh or hbk..like they did with hardy..but hardy has had a couple of legendary title matches..and the worst wwe and world title runs in wwe history..the most meaningless title reigns..with no defense..anyway..or i can see mvp beating orton..and becoming that new face wwe really needs..with proper in ring ability as well..
somehow i know every one feels bad about jeff not keeping the title..well its because wwe knows his third suspension and termination is just around the corner..and it would be a disgrace to have jeff drop the belt again via drugs..jeff is one of the best superstars of today..he should behave more responsible towards the fans he claims he loves..coz the kinds of things he tries and does..drugs of anykind can even take his life..
i cant wait for hbk's retrn..it should bring life to raw
Sat: I think the easiest way to make RAW interesting is to give MVP the title. I think having all of the wrestlers chasing him for the title would be interesting to see.
Uncletrunx: Jeff is a difficult one for WWE; he's one wellness violation from looking for a new job (and WWE is one failed wellness test from losing one of the most popular stars to TNA). As such I can't see him ever getting a decent length title run despite the legions of fans he has. Personally, I've always thought that he's severely over rated. Rey Mysterio is a better flier by a huge distance and has a better look and natural charisma to boot. Just my opinion, legion of Hardy fans…
JLAJRC Writes:
I gotta go Low Road. Even with the title matches, this felt like just another RAW episode. Couldn't they have put the title on someone else besides Orton? It makes him losing it in the first place feel redundant. The only things that stood out were the Edge/Vicki and Donald Trump segments.
Sat: Honestly, I was hoping for the title to go to either Big Show or Cena to change the title picture a little bit.
Uncletrunx: It did feel like just another Raw and not even a very good one.
17 Writes:
High Road for the Smackdown matches and the midget getting it in the balls. Low Road for the same old same old title picture and the return of Trump. In total, Both Roads.
Sat: I understand why they have Hornswoggle, but I have to say that I can't stand him at all.
Uncletrunx: To me, the Low Roads there are far more significant than the High Roads. A midget taking a shot in the clockweights is amusing, but it won't make me tune in next week. The Smackdown matches just serve to show how poor a show Raw is without them.
Your reasons for taking the High Road, Low Road, or Both Roads and suggestions for future High Road/Low Road are welcome at satuncletrunx@gmail.com or in the comment section. Your reply will be included in next week's column. And don't forget the Twitter!
Low Road.Good concept bad execution.The reason was the whole show was based around the Trump BS and the Last Man Standing match which we all knew would end up leading to a rematch at The Bash.Honestly RAW seems like its been twittering with the TNA writers on how to make their show stink.
Posted By: The Gold Standard (Guest) on June 26, 2009 at 12:34 AM
High Road.
It scored a F'N 4.5 rating. How can you not say high road.
We get a Last Man Standing match, a good showing from the Smackdown guys, good storyline progression and all people can do is complain.
Product placement is NOT the same as other advertising. If Trux (BTW, this is the first time I'm reading this.. use your read damn names) is that upset by product placement I really hope he hates Transformers.
When I heard "commercial free"... to me that means we won't get matches broken in half, we won't cut away from the arena, and the KFC buckets on the announce table I thought was funny.
As another writer said elsewhere, I was amazed Lawler was able to restrain himself from making a breast and thighs joke during the Divas match... PG rating or not.
Posted By: Guest#1613 (Guest) on June 26, 2009 at 01:20 AM
both roads
low road: no payoff to the Trump angle unless something happens next Raw.
smackdown matches as good as they are do not need to be on Monday nights.
Jim Ross stealing the Kings chicken.
high road: good last man standing match
Finally an end to Miz/Cena verbal matches with announced fight for The Bash.
decent build up to Legacy vs The Colons
Posted By: king boo (Guest) on June 26, 2009 at 05:12 AM
high road
Posted By: RareStorm (Guest) on June 26, 2009 at 07:53 AM
You talk about it not being commercial free because of the KFC bucket, and that is fine, but this is common practice. The Masters every year has 56 minutes of the hour commercial free, but there is also ad placement during the broadcast. The Masters. At least that is my memory of it, especially in the first couple of years that they did this.
I mean the Trump thing was kinda lame, and who listens to FOX News and takes it seriously anyway? The rating bump, and a pretty good WWE Title Match both outweigh the fact that Raw is bland, and it had me tuning in and paying attention for the night.
So High Road for the broadcast.
Low Road for retaining viewers, there is nothing there that would make me want to tune in as a must see Raw on Monday. I may watch it if I get home from practice early enough, but I may not.
Posted By: Jake (Guest) on June 26, 2009 at 08:06 AM
High Road
Posted By: BPN (Guest) on June 26, 2009 at 10:43 AM
Both roads. They popped the rating like they wanted, they gave us something a little different to try and shake up the stagnant RAW, and they MAY get a few thousand extra casual viewers that stick.
That said, it was bad execution of a good idea. You have to book a great show to properly translate a gimmicky ratings pop into long-term ratings increases, and they didn't.
Posted By: The Glide (Guest) on June 26, 2009 at 11:14 AM
I'm going high road here. Everyone got a refund... we didn't have to sit through fifty thousand "just for men" ads. Nothing about fruity fruity skittles-- yeah, there was some crap but there is ALWAYS some crap. Trunx you seem to think anything craptacular on the show ALWAYS "overshadows" the good. We had the Smackdown guys do there thing, we had some twists & turns, we got rid of Santina and got Santino back, Miz & Cena was pretty awesome. So what if we had to endure a little trump silliness here. They did everything in their power to make this as "free" as possible-- do you bitch about a free sandwich just cause there's too much mayo or something? If I was at that show live I'd be giving them a free pass on ALL of that just for the fact that I was getting entertained live for free-- perhaps you wish Trump had refunded their parking too? ;-)
And on a personal note-- watching Raw and not having to see any of those BS AWFUL Partnership for a Drug Free America commericials was simply glorious (like the stupid judgemental dog giving the kid crap for burning a J...) Whatever the normal "logic" is for having them, it was an extreme high road to me to not have them at all for a night.
Posted By: M:-X (Guest) on June 26, 2009 at 11:21 AM
i am gonna have to take the low road on this one. what a dumb payoff. am i the only one who got a little excited when Trump said that he didn't believe in gm's(probably am, lol), but instead he was gonna have a celebrity host each week? the reason i got a lil excited was because you never know which celebrity is gonna be the host and i would assume that they would kinda have to be wrestling fans. you never know who their favorite wrestler is or most hated wrestler is gonna be, and what they're going to do with both, etc...they could have had a lot of different storylines with this for various wrestlers. not to mention the fact that i am pretty sure that a whole collection of celebrities would be lining up to host the damn show, finally coming out of the closet to show their love for wrestling(and bump shoulders with "the Donald"). talk about getting your product mainstream publicity again. but alas, it was not meant to be, instead in the end we all got "McMahon'ed". or maybe i just smoked too much weed while watching raw on monday...whatever the case, that was my vision damnit, lol.
Posted By: hartfan (Guest) on June 26, 2009 at 01:05 PM
as far as the wrestling on the show goes, it was pretty damn good. thought i would clear that up. the only problem i had was the payoff to the trump thing...it would be great if they did it commercial free once a month or once every two months or something like that(living in dreamworld i know)...and i did not mind the shameless plugging of kentucky grilled chicken either.
Posted By: hartfan (Guest) on June 26, 2009 at 01:10 PM
Once again, I have to take the low road. I didn't fall asleep this time (surprisingly -- but I was hopped up on caffeine) but the commercial free RAW was a good concept that just failed miserably in execution.
The product placement didn't bother me at all, but the whole show had very poor pacing. It was as if they were stumbling around to figure out something to do where the commercials normally were -- odd, considering they have little problems with that in Pay-Per-Views. Show a GOOD video package or something!
I feel sorry for Sat right now, trying to defend the trainwreck that is Monday Night Raw. Throw him a bone and do a Smackdown column next week!
Posted By: luna (Guest) on June 26, 2009 at 02:18 PM
High Road. We had some nice matches, Cena respond to Miz, a cool ass camera trick with Santino, Vince going piggy back riding, a "Donald Trump" chant?, a better flow for matches without the breaks, some nice carnage in the LMS match, and shameless plugging for Kentucky Grilled Chicken. I will say the Trump angle ended rather abruptly, but I've heard that it is not over.
Posted By: The Great Capt. Smooth (Guest) on June 26, 2009 at 03:17 PM
The WWE has the fans wanting a good show, I believe we would follow a bad storyline for a while to see where it goes rather than the BS of one week storylines. I can honestly say, I will watch RAW every week until it stops or I do, I am a wrestling fan and a WWE fan. They have lost their way over the last few years, but if they would just build up more storylines and when the payoff happens, do not keep doing it afterward. Why is Cena v. Show still going on? HHH v. Orton is ok, but only because HHH was gone for 6 weeks. Focus on The US title and tag titles a bit more. You can have the same 4 guys at the top forever, but not building up the rest of the roster really backs you into a corner. An injury happens to HHH and we will have Orton/Cena for the next 4 months.
Think long term WWE and have back up plans for injuries. This is not new to you guys, you should be ashamed.
Posted By: SuperJeff (Guest) on June 27, 2009 at 01:11 AM
I gotta go High Road. This is what they should have done for the 3 hour RAW. The matches were good and the comedy bits were actually kind of funny. I was actually kind of hoping that they were going through with Trump's plan for dumping GM's in favor of celeb guest hosts. Plus, there was actually a ratings bump, something that whole WWE/Denver Nuggets fiasco didn't do.
Posted By: JLAJRC (Guest) on June 27, 2009 at 07:55 PM
