WWE til' Survivor Series

He probably sleeps in a hyperbaric chamber and has a dialysis machine for breakfast.

WWE Has Forgotten What Great Television Looks Like
Mike Killam
August 31, 2014
If a show stays on the air long enough, over time it’s inevitable that there will be rough patches, and times when the product is just plain bad. Take The Simpsons for instance. It’s been on the air since 1989 – over 550 episodes over the course of 25 seasons. There was a time when The Simpsons was must-watch television. Their rise and fall actually mirrors pro wrestling. There was the “Golden Age” right at the start of the ’90s, with viewership in the teens for several years. Then came the 5-6 years of stagnation, followed by a rebirth and their best ratings ever – the “Attitude Era” of Evergreen Terrace, if you will. It has since been on a gradual decline, and is currently sitting in the worst position its ever been.

I’m talking about The Simpsons because, in case you weren’t aware, the FXX channel has been playing every episode of the show from start to finish, for the last week.

There are fans that stuck with the show – the 5.6 million viewers that tuned in for season 25 – that either don’t know any better, or are still around for the nostalgia. Remind you of anything? What happens with any show that remains on air past its prime, is that the aforementioned hangers-on will defend the product, because over a long enough timeline, what’s “bad” becomes “good”, and what’s “good” becomes “great.” Human nature is to lower your expectations when presented with the same thing over and over again. Like a husband or wife that says they’ll clean the house every day while you’re at work, but rarely ever does. There are moments when that person can surprise you, but mostly you’ve grown comfortable in your mediocre, less than ideal situation, and have found a reasonable amount of contentment with your life. Newton’s First Law.

Monday Night RAW is just OK. Sometimes it’s GOOD, but it hasn’t been GREAT in a long time. Smark crowds can bring fun to a show once or twice a year, but they don’t leave any lasting enjoyment on the product. The fans with Stockholm Syndrome defend RAW, legitimately believing it’s GREAT, but with 6 hours of TV every week, how can it be?

I guess anything looks good in comparison to the vapidity of Honey Boo Boo and the Real Housewives. It’s always interesting to me to listen to people complain about the evaporation of the middle class, and the wealthy getting wealthier, and then see some of the same people watching TV shows about rich people being rich.

Game of Thrones is GREAT television. For three or four seasons, Dexter was GREAT television. It wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but LOST made its fanbase tune in every single week to experience – and that’s a key word here, “experience” – what would happen next. I don’t watch it, but the amount of people who do and rave about their fandom tell me that Walking Dead is probably GREAT television. I personally think The Newsroom is a brilliantly written show. I’m just now getting into it, but from the one episode I’ve seen, True Detective is INCREDIBLE television.

Monday Night RAW is OK television. It’s spinning its wheels trying to be a family sitcom, a reality series and a STARZ drama. It’s what happens when The Big Bang Theory meets Survivor meets Spartacus; all shows well past their prime, by the way. RAW is missing an identity. An identity that they clearly had during the Attitude Era. They don’t have a single target audience, so they can’t have a vision for meeting their needs, so they can’t produce a show with any semblance of decent writing. It’s just not possible. They’re trying to take all the soon-to-be expired ingredients in the fridge, throw them in a bowl, and call it salad.

I’m not just needlessly bullying WWE. There is a message behind my rambling. Almost every television show overstays its welcome. You can hardly blame them – when you’re making steady money, it’s hard to imagine stepping away and trying something completely different. House is a great example of a show that could have ended two years before it did, and went out as one of the best series ever written. I’m sad that there will never be another episode of Breaking Bad, but it’s one of the only TV series that took its leave before it ruined its legacy. Boardwalk Empire is another I hear is getting ready to do the same thing.

Monday Night RAW, I believe, is the one exception to the rule. That’s because it isn’t a normal TV series – it’s professional wrestling. It will have its ups and downs, but it could still be around in 50 years with enough care and dedication from great writers, creative minds, and intelligent members of senior management. But that doesn’t mean it gets to skip all the other laws that every good TV show must follow. It must have a key demographic. It must have a clear, attainable goal and vision. It must have an identity that allows its fans to have a real, ongoing “EXPERIENCE” – there’s that key word again – that will keep them coming back.

Right now WWE is trying to promote a brand, and not a television show. The “WWE” brand is a higher priority than Monday Night RAW. That is, in a very concise nutshell, why the show isn’t great anymore. Ratings in the Attitude Era were high because of a number of reasons, but if you actually strip away everything, at its core the WWF vision was to bring people to Monday Night RAW at all costs. It wasn’t to sell PPV – that’s putting the cart before the horse; if RAW is good enough, people will buy the PPV.

WCW Nitro kept them on that course. They had to be a great TV show, or they would lose the war. Competition breeds success. Now they have no competition just because there are no legitimate wrestling companies on TV that approach their ratings. But when you try and act like pop culture, and not wrestling, your competition is EVERYONE. Now they spend all their time promoting a brand that’s about to be dropkicked off the stock exchange.

The WWE’s vision now is to promote a brand by slapping their logo on everything possible, and getting people to pay for it. The problem with that is the product behind the brand just isn’t great anymore. They seem to have forgotten that Monday Night RAW is the driving force behind their entire business model. Now the equation is backwards. They’re banking on a PPV not to suck, in hopes the RAW ratings are decent the next night.

I really hope people don’t mistake this for a rant condemning any of the performers in the WWE currently. The roster is actually at a point where it has more potential than I’ve seen in a decade, if you include a dozen names in NXT, and the recent batch of new acquisitions. There’s a talent pool in WWE that could put on the best show you’ve ever seen in your life, if given the opportunity to succeed. But until Monday Night RAW returns to the focus of their business model, I really have no interest in the company’s future, no matter who they sign to a contract.

Richard Gray ‏@wnwdotcom 1m
#WWE is bringing Jerry Springer to #Raw next Monday to "moderate discussion" between Nikki & Brie Bella.

I'm guessing Michael Sam turned them down?

Smackdown is staying on Friday nights apparently.

Cena wins and then faces the big show later?? Is vince just taking his ball sac and dangling it on every fans face with this?

Why do I fear this will be at the expense of Bray Wyatt? Show just mows over the Wyatt Family, making himself look like a "contender"

I realize Vince thinks wrestling (sorry, sports entertainment) fans attention spans are incredibly short (and to an extent they are), but how can people forget Brock beating the piss out of Show at the Rumble.....this year already!!! I mean c'mon, for fuck sake, I hope his time to get a shot is coming, but seriously, why not Cesaro? People wouldn't expect him to best Brock, but it'd be a new fresh name for Brock to face, work the Heyman angle & boom, PPV match. Fans would get behind him. A hell of a lot more than they'd get behind Show.

Show is fine in the spot he's at, hoss team with Henry. No more, no less.

And the WWE just happens to be in Baltimore tonight.

Looks like the few remaining CM Punk items are going ultra cheap if you're in the market for that kind of thing:

shop.wwe.com/CM-Punk/cmpunk,default,sc.html

WWE Potentially Reacting to CM Punk 22 Page Royalty Letter, Punk Merchandise Removed from WWE.com

September 9, 2014


As we reported last week, CM Punk’s attorneys sent WWE a 22 page letter regarding non-payment of royalties Punk feels he’s owed, as the company continues to use his name and likeness, particularly where WWE 2k15 is concerned.

Interestingly, or perhaps coincidentally, WWE has pulled almost all the CM Punk merchandise from Punk’s WWEShop.com Alumni page. Only four items remain for Punk, with the most expensive being a set of CM Punk wrist sleeves for $2.99. A few of the other remaining Punk pieces are redirecting to an “item not found” page.

As we originally noted, the discrepancy stems from WWE feeling CM Punk was in breach of contract when he quit the company this year, and therefore feel they do not owe him anymore money. It should also be noted that Punk’s 22 page letter sent to WWE is not a lawsuit, it’s simply an attorney sent letter regarding what Punk feels are owed monies.


It takes a special kind of guy to ask for royalties after essentially violating your contract. 

I thought Jindrak and O'Haire were gonna be the next great tag team.

How wrong I was.

I hope he hadn't actually turned his life around, only to have the past catch up with him.  The guy I met a couple times was not what I would call a study in Buddism.  


Sean Christopher Haire, 43, of Spartanburg, SC, died Monday, September 8, 2014, at his home. Born February 25, 1971, in Atlanta, GA, he was the son of John Ernest Haire of the home and the late Sheila Scoggins Zeek.



Sean was a former WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) wrestler for many years as "Sean O'Haire". He was a very gentle and kind person that studied Buddism and was employed as a personal trainer at Exzel Fitness in Spartanburg.



In addition to his father, he is survived by a sister, Erin Alverson Haire of Spartanburg, SC; brothers, Andrew Renny Lands of Spartanburg, SC, Shane Cecil Joseph Haire of Rock Hill, SC, Shan Ezra Haire of Statesville, GA; and Theodore the cat.



A Celebration of Life visitation will be held 1:00-3:00 PM Saturday, September 13, 2014, at his home at 510 Hampton Drive, Spartanburg, SC 29306.



In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to The YMCA, 151 Ribault Street, Spartanburg, SC 29302 or online at www.spartanburgymca.org/give.php.



Floyd's North Church Street Chapel