Actually, I’m not going to be mad at the 1000th episode. The program has been on the upswing in terms of keeping me interested, and with a good Money In The Bank PPV this past Sunday, I’m feeling like the WWE might have a pretty hot summer. The 1000th edition of Raw will feature CM Punk defending the WWE Title against John Cena, who’s cashing in his MITB briefcase for this one. Cena’s not been in the title hunt for many moons (i.e. most of 2012), so seeing him actively seeking that title will at least make him headlining every PPV a tad more exciting. Plus, with the Money In The Bank match these two put on last summer, I have hopes that it will definitely be entertaining. That’s not all, though…
The 1000th edition of Raw is set to feature a number of former WWE stars being paraded around. Names already mentioned are The Rock, Mick Foley, Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels, who is reuniting with Triple H for this very event (feeling is that this DX Reunion might bring out other former DX members as well). Brock Lesnar will be on hand to answer Triple H’s challenge, and while Dave Meltzer isn’t at liberty to name names, he has advised that a LOT of former mid-card talent are booked for this night. Jim Ross is said to be there, and with CM Punk tweeting that Ross should call the WWE Title Main Event match, we might be in for a special night on that end.
The other big highlight will be the weeding between Daniel Bryan and AJ. Never mind that they just got engaged this week. Bryan and AJ, while full of melodramatics, have also been one of the best things happening right now. Bryan’s excelling with this heel turn, and the AJ saga has been captivating, as she’s truly been elevated into a Diva that matters. It can get annoying, but wrestling weddings bring ratings, and I imagine no shortage of hilarity and randomness will be on hand during this one.
And those are just the main highlights. There’s talk of a big angle wanting to be worked into this show, ala the introduction of Nexus a few summers ago, or CM Punk’s legendary promo from last year. There is also feelings that The Undertaker might make some kind of appearance. They’ve definitely inflated a huge balloon for this show… which is what worries me, and I’ll tell you why.
WWE Creative is already having troubles filling up three hours worth of programming this year. Remember the CM Drunk bit that dragged for entirely too long? We’ve seen many times where some scripted segments just hang on, bombing. We’re getting a multitude of things for this show, but if we can’t capitalize on any of these programs during episodes 1001, 1002, etc., we’re in trouble. I say we because we invest just as much time into this show as the writers do. And on the flipside, some two hour shows drag, too! You have the surefire hot segments (i.e. anything with Cena in them), but poor writing/planning has caused many pushes and programs to fall to the wayside. Which won’t help when they add an additional hour of programming weekly.
Many feel that the 8PM-9PM hour will be more of a “preview” show, hyping up social media and what’s been going on/will be going on during that night’s program. This could get stale fast if they don’t inject some life into it. Who wants an hour-long infomercial on Tout or whatever other Social Media craze they’ve invested in? You can do a LOT with three hours, but right now, the WWE isn’t proving that they can pull this off regularly, and past #RAW1000, I have no faith right now in their ability to pull this off. Many of the behind the scenes sources feel that this will end up being a failed experiment, and the WWE will move back to two hours at some point – possibly before the end of 2012. I just hope they get the WWE Network on and popping so we can get more rasslin’ all the time.
For anything else rasslin’ related, hit the Black Rasslin podcast for this week. It features full recaps on the Money In The Bank PPV, Raw, more on what you might find at #RAW1000 and a bunch of other news. Catch you next week!
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