7 Ways WWE Can Improve The Product This Year

At one point, RAW being three hours long made sense. Now, it doesn’t. And it hasn’t for a long time. The problem here is twofold. One, the size of the roster has inflated the length of the show in a desperate attempt to showcase as much talent as possible, despite a large swath of talent not being up to RAW standards. And two, the show itself is repetitive and unfocused, wasting valuable airtime rehashing what we already saw, sometimes for entire segments.

For the sake of brevity, let’s say that WWE currently is comprised of three major outlets: RAW, Smackdown, and NXT. Most wrestlers should fit neatly in one of those compartments, while some will inevitably float between them. The problem is a finite amount of time on all those shows, and attention needs to be given to those who deserve it. The harsh truth is that while the roster is very talented, it could be cut by about 30% without any detriment to the product as a whole. In fact, I would argue that this would help things, not hurt.

RAW does not need to be three hours. I cannot remember the last time I watched an entire show live. I can’t do it. There are way too many points where it is either unbearably boring, or downright unwatchable. I don’t need to see things that already happened, and I don’t need to see them multiple times in multiple segments. I don’t need to listen to Michael Cole overhype something that doesn’t deserve it. I don’t need to sit through a full-length trailer of a straight-to-DVD movie. Sorry, that’s not focused content. That’s filler material. I’m not interested.

The best idea floating around is to make the first hour NXT, and the following two hours RAW. That’s not my idea. I’ve heard it from several people in several places, and it makes perfect sense. Whether they’ll eventually give us that remains to be seen. But the product needs some serious focus on Monday nights, and as a whole.

What do you think? Agree? Disagree? Not quite sure but you have to say stuff to me? Go for it!