10 Things You Learn Binge Watching Every WWE Raw From 2008
8. A Political Insert Was Super Awkward
You'd think it'd be obvious by now that religion and/or politics don't mix with pro wrestling. Companies keep trying to force the issue though, and WWE top brass have been ringleaders of that for decades. On the 21 April '08 Raw, they dedicated valuable time to something that genuinely had nothing to do with wrestling or the product fans had tuned in to see.
Vince let Hillary Clinton, Barack Obana and John McCain cut short pre-taped promos on the show. Hillary dropped references about King Of The Ring and called herself “Hill-Rod” (good lord), Obama pretended to be The Rock then flashed an insincere smile, and McCain went all Hulk Hogan with his speech.
It was pretty bizarre to see WWE use time on their main show to let politicians in the US Presidential fight put forward their case for office. Keep politics out of wrestling, man. It isn't hard to do. Going out of your way to bring this sort of stuff in either bores fans or takes them out of the moment with ongoing storylines.
As if that wasn't torturous enough, some seriously poor Clinton and Obama impersonators came out to have a brief scuffle that ended with Umaga destroying them both. That nearly turned the Samoan into the biggest babyface going. This was on par with the dire "Donald Trump" vs. "Rosie O'Donnell" nonsense WWE had put on in 2007.
Gifting so much time to all of this when you had a pay-per-view (Backlash) that coming weekend was certainly a choice, and not a good one.