5 Ways WWE Can Fix Its Broken Product
1. Freshen Up The Structure Of The Show
This first point was briefly touched upon in the introduction, and is by far the simplest thing that the company needs to do in order to make their flagship show must-see once more. I haven’t watched RAW for three weeks now, but I’m pretty sure I can accurately predict how it began; Seth Rollins came out with the rest of The Authority and spoke for 10 minutes or so about what he’s done, what he’s going to do and how. Then, to the shock of absolutely no-one, Dean Ambrose or Roman Reigns interrupted to tell a couple of bad jokes and set up some matches for later in the show that probably involved Kane. We’ve seen it constantly for the last year. We also know that the show is going to end with one of those matches, the finish won’t be clean and the cycle repeats.
It all just smacks of lazy writing and it doesn’t take a booking genius to find a different way to open the show. How about starting with some actual wrestling? If there’s any interest in making secondary championships matter, why not start off the show now and then with title matches, number one contender matches and so on. If you have to start the show with a promo segment, why not change it up now and then and have a babyface out first? If we’re taking logic into account, isn’t interruption a heel-move anyway?
The opening segment of any form of media is vital. If The Wire opened every episode with Avon Barksdale telling us in overly simplified language what had happened previously, would we have kept watching? You don’t need to answer that.