Just call ECW what it really is, a talent feeder for Raw & Smackdown. In a poorly planned & executed maneuver, the WWE basically raided ECW of all its young talent, spreading them out between Raw & Smackdown. The storyline stated that it was a trade mandated by Donald Trump BEFORE he sold Raw back to Vince McMahon, with the announcement of the trade coming a week AFTERWARDS. The trade shows us what McMahon really thinks of his SyFy red-headed stepchild brand.
Just as ECW was starting to pick up steam with relevant storylines & action, McMahon & his writers, killed it. Evan Bourne, The Hart Dynasty & Jack Swagger made ECW fresh, interesting & worth the 1-hour Tuesday night investment. The mix of established talent & budding superstars was compelling & created match-ups that people wanted to see. Now, it's gone. So, Swagger's victory over Dreamer for an ECW title shot meant nothing. Smith's victory over Christian meant nothing. Bourne getting demolished by Henry meant nothing. McMahon's shortsightedness creates more confusion than viewership.
An example of this is the fact that Tiffany is no longer the Interim ECW General Manager, but the full time ECW General Manager. When did this happen? Another example is the New Talent Initiative. Just like that, the General Manager pulls it out of thin air. What a horribly executed way to explain the FCW call-up debuts. Four rookies get shoved down our throats without any warning & we're supposed to have a reaction?
One of the intricate beauties of pro wrestling is that fans can be trained. Admittedly, the Shelton Benjamin vs. Yoshi Tatsu "match" was entertaining, but without Benjamin's performance, who would have known whether to cheer or boo Tatsu? Sheamus (who really needs a surname & a tan) showed some promise, but again, the crowd was unsure whether to boo or cheer. The Abraham Washington segment was a disaster, both because nobody knew who he was & because the Bella Twins have no business near a microphone. Tyler Reks didn't even wrestle on the show. Instead, his debut occurred on Superstars, on a WGN channel that not everybody gets.
All of this confusion could have easily been avoided with a few short vignettes announcing their New Talent Initiative arrivals. The way these call-ups debuted was unfair to them. Sure, they got called up, but in a sink-or-swim fashion that had them standing on a melting ice sheet wearing 300 lbs of weight.
The first ever commercial-free Raw was entertaining & well done amid the Trump storyline & the overall pressure of putting on a live show without the safety net of breaks. The matches were good & most of the segments were funny & advanced storylines.
The Jeff Hardy/CM Punk storyline remains compelling with Punk seemingly on the straightedge between heel & face. Stealing Hardy's thunder after his victory by posing in the ring with the World Heavyweight Championship was a nice touch.
As is usually the case, the Divas match was flat as both Micky James & Beth Phoenix had to wrestle down to their counterparts. Only Maryse shows any real advancement & promise.
The segment with McMahon looking for his office was extremely funny with Festus handing him the Wall Street Journal after leaving his mark. Any Goldust appearance is a good thing.
The most negative aspect of the night was the end of the Trump storyline. The Green Bay fans reacted well to it, but ending it just after a single week was disappointing. I suspect that the drop in the WWE Stock last week after the storyline debut was the reason. Though the storyline received negative press, even bad publicity is good publicity. It will be interesting to see where Raw goes from here.
Welcom to the IWR Blog. Here, I will blog about independent wrestling, WWE, TNA, ROH or whatever. Comments with vulgarity will not be tolerated & any such comments will not be approved. I look forward to reading interesting discussions.
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