Raw 3/6: Did They Really Do FastLane with Raw in Chicago?

Nothing will happen because the Chicago crowd sucks now.

Balor and Taker supposedly returning tonight.

Are we really chanting Goldberg? Lol.

Welp, cheering for Goldberg like dumb-dumbs.......CHECK.


At least they're starting with the only interesting feud to come out of the show last night (and has been for a long time). KO saying he used Jericho. I dig it.

WHY DID JERICHO COST KO THE TITLE IF HE WAS JUST GOING TO CHALLENGE HIM FOR THE TITLE TONIGHT??? MAKES NO DAMN SENSE!! Feuding for the secondary title, wonderful. At least the storyline has been damn near flawless.

Joe and Owens!

So I'm guessing we get a tag team main event.

Or not

Joe and Jericho are wrestling too.

Not bad

You know what? Someone else needs to grab the brass ring out of the creative team and tell Vince that this sucks. Someone should have stepped in and said you are shitting on everything we just built over the last year. I bet no one did.

Here's some more context around what's going on. When I was interviewing at the E back in 13, I found out two people had a much bigger influence on who to position as top stars of the company than what I originally thought. These two people have continued to focus on the gap of where they believe they can generate more subscription based customers. CMO Michelle Wilson and CFO George Barrios aren't isolated from Vince doing their own thing. They very much influence Vince, Stephanie and the board on how to continue to generate predictable revenue for their shareholders. This is one reason I believe Triple H really loves his NXT brand. The board and shareholders really don't give a shit about it. It's not a top drawing revenue stream.

So back to what's currently happening. Barrios and Wilson are big believers in getting the fan from 20 years ago hooked on the network. They believe they currently have the die-hard. They don't see a ton of upside with the family or kid-only fan to have an annual subscription. They aren't trying to reach the traditional casual fan like a sports team would. Wrestling doesn't really draw that way. They still see the white space in the past fan. The fan that at one time was the die-hard. That is where they believe they can drive subscription rates up and with the library of content they have, they believe it's their best chance to keep these people sticky as customers.

This is why Goldberg has the championship right now. It's another big push to bring back the WCW fans again (like they did with Sting). It's also a way to spike their merchandise sales to maximize that revenue stream.

Now, does Goldberg need the title for this? No. But here's what I think happened. Sting didn't draw as much as they thought he would on merchandise and subscription. We all know that there are other reasons why that may be the case. Michelle and George would tell you that they didn't give their new hot asset enough shine. What if we not only brought back Goldberg but we could market him as champion? They are all in on this thing to drive as much revenue possible out of this Goldberg run. Vince still is in charge of creative but you damn well better believe these two - along with Stephanie - made their pitch on how to position Goldberg and they made their case with a revenue based business plan.

CM Punk chants in a CW segment..........CHECK.

You never cease to amaze me Chicago crowd.

The CW group is gaining some traction. Aries v Neville will be absolutely awesome.

Shouldn't they do this interview at the top of the ramp, or even the bottom of Lake Michigan, so the ring change can start now?

Aries as a babyface is a mistake.

Hopefully it's not the way they go.