Get Ready: Mr.McMahon Character Back on RAW Monday
As we reported yesterday, you knew that the WWE would not simply sit back and watch the ratings for the flagship show - RAW, drop to the lowest rankings they had in close to 10 years. Well, the company got some good news in that regard on Thursday, as indeed it did appear that there was some sort of glitch when putting the ratings together, meaning that the 2.5 rating may be totally off. Now I would not expect the new rating to be anything more than .5 to .7 points higher, meaning we may be looking at a 3.0 or 3.2, which would still be lower than last weeks 3.4.
But as usual with the company, the panic button was quickly pushed after the ratings came out, and of course, now we're going to have to brace for a hotshot angle, and as almost anyone that watches the WWE on a regular basis could imagine - that angle is going to involve Vince McMahon. Not the "actual" Vince of course, but the character: Mr.McMahon, who on Monday night on RAW will make his comeback to TV after his "death" angle that took place and was scrapped after the Chris Benoit murder-suicide back the last weekend in June.
The official RAW preview for Monday night states "Mr.McMahon strikes back," meaning that it appears in some fashion that they are going to intertwine the death angle back into a current storyline. The storyline all along was "who killed Mr.McMahon," and the person that "did it" was confirmed to be Linda McMahon, and then a storyline would develop from that. Now though that the angle was dumped after the Benoit saga, I am not sure how they will reintroduce him to the audience or put that storyline back in motion.
Leave it to Vince to right away think that he is the solution to a problem that is getting worse, and that is the product right now is just stale. Many people that watched just for the fun of it are turned off with the Benoit tragedy, and those that do watch are still talking so much about that it's really hard sometimes to focus on the in-ring product. Let's face it - the roster right now is weak. The wrestlers are putting forth effort, but the characters are not getting over like before. Love him or hate him, and from the SHOUTBOX comments it seems like you all hate him - John Cena is the face of the company, and the character that makes everything go.
But now Cena is in that position of having had the belt too long, and basically having beaten every top contender out there. Since first winning the belt at WrestleMania 21 in Los Angeles in April of 2005, Cena has been pushed and protected in everyway possible. While the crowd in Tuscon and in most RAW arenas are hot for him each week, the internet community simply hates him, as well as the fan base of the company that is tired of the act and wants to see something new. Knowing how fans in New Jersey are, I would be willing to bet my last dollar that Cena gets booed out of the building during SummerSlam when he takes on Randy Orton.
On the other side, the SmackDown brand has been so slammed by the injury bug, that they can't seem to have any long-term champ because he always gets hurt. And now because of that, they put the strap on a guy that can't wrestle his way out of a paper bag. The Great Khali is a solid monster heel, but he is just an awful wrestler, and having him walk around with a championship belt totally devalues it in everyway. But truth be told, they really don't have a lot of room to move right now due to major injuries to guys like the Undertaker and Edge, who over a span of three months were both slated for long title runs.
So it's back to Vince for now to try and recreate some intrigue and excitement into the RAW brand. Will it work? I can't see longterm how the Mr.McMahon character is going to bring people back to the TV to watch, but they are grasping for straws, and they figure for one week this is the way to go. Hopefully they don't forget about the wrestling in the ring, but with this angle, I am thinking we'll all be lucky to see a handful of matches if we're lucky.
