WWE Chairman and CEO Vince McMahon was not at Raw last night, which meant that Triple H was left to run the show according to Wrestling Observer Radio. McMahon's long time Executive Producer Kevin Dunn was also not at Raw because they were both in Orlando for the debut of Tough Enough tonight. It was noted that even though McMahon missed Raw, he still wrote the show with his creative team. What was noteworthy about Raw is that it ran long going 17 minutes past the 11pmET hour. Normally it goes about 5-7 minutes past 11pmET, so there may have been some timing issues without Vince around. It takes a whole team of people to put on an episode of Raw and they are used to answering to Vince. While Triple H is very capable of running the show, things are different with another voice anchoring it. Raw running long is significant because a lot of WWE fans have a tough time sitting through three hours, especially when the show doesn't feature a lot of great in-ring action. It's a big reason why the third hour often times has less viewers than the first two hours even though the main event angle is supposed to be the most important. https://twitter.com/VinceMcMahon/status/613041785246453760 The fact that McMahon would go to Orlando a day in advance of Tough Enough airing shows how important WWE views the show. It airs tonight on USA Network at 8pmET and also will be shown on WWE's Youtube channel for fans that live in countries that aren't airing the program.
John wrote at WhatCulture from December 2013 to December 2015. It was fun, but it's over for now. Follow him on Twitter @johnreport. You can also send an email to mrjohncanton@gmail.com with any questions or comments as well.
