Guest Host a permanent thing?

[Headfirst For Hardcore]

via Perez. wow.

In the past two months, the WWE has allowed their Monday Night Raw show on USA to be used as a promotional vehicle for guest hosts.

The alternative talk show format has been so well received that rotating hosts will continue to appear on the program until the end of the year.

"We wanted a different way to get our product out there and talked about," says Stephanie McMahon, WWE's executive VP of creative development and operations. "Tying us in with celebrities in Hollywood raises our awareness and gets a variety of people talking about us, which is always a positive place to be. Hopefully it will translate to new viewers."

Jeremy Piven was the most recent douche celebrity to interact with the wrestlers to whore out his new film, along with Seth Green and Shaquille O'Neal.

"They have something to promote, and we have the platform they need," says Chris McCumber, USA Network's executive VP for marketing and brand strategy.

Viewership for Raw is up 10% since the hosts were introduced in June - bringing in audiences of about 5.6 million per week.

That's huge for wrestling!

Upcoming talent includes Bob Barker, Rev. Al Sharpton, Nancy O'Dell and LeBron James. Yet,
Pete Wentz, Asslee Simpson, the Osbournes, Danny DeVito, Regis Philbin and Kelly Ripa, Jimmy Fallon, Rachael Ray, MC Hammer, Woody Harrelson and Ashton Kutcher are all considering hosting gigs.

Lebron as guest host could be good. Bob Barker could be the greatest shit ever. Al Sharpton will give John Cena all the belts, I'm thinking. lol at Pete Wentz.

Does this mean Guest Host on Raw will become a permanent thing? It's done pretty well so far ratings wise.

 

[Kaedon]

It will be "permanent" as long as the fans keep interest in it. As soon as Vince sees that no one cares, which happens with everything, he'll pull the plug. It's the cirrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrcle of liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiife

 

[Airfixx]

The Osbournes sounds like a good'n, but otherwise....

MC FUCKING HAMMER??????

.....W-D-FUCKING-FUCK?????

That they would be considering hiring this tool for ANYTHING all but 20 years after his 5 mins of fame is, considering what it infers about WWE creative, possibly the most disconcerting thing I've EVER read about WWE.

...Couldn't be much more of an indication as to how detatched from other popular culture they are.

So in answer to some saying peeps disliking the guest GMs are purists whom are missing the point as it's about entertainment rather than just wrestling...

Fuck that! ...Pick some peeps based on who they are and what they might bring to the product, don't just give us some thinly masked marketting scheme!

 

[phantomgerald]

I'm fine if they bring in true celebs like Shaq, but not when they bring in people like ZZ Top who I've never heard of before. Maybe they should have a earn 20 million a year to be guest host rule

 

[Soulpower]

If they plan on doing Show vs Shaq, then having Lebron (Shaq's new teammate) as a guest host makes perfect sense. Maybe use James as a special ref for the match.

 

[Airfixx]

I'm fine if they bring in true celebs like Shaq, but not when they bring in people like ZZ Top who I've never heard of before. Maybe they should have a earn 20 million a year to be guest host rule

ZZTop may not be big with 'the kids', but they are internationally renowned. The problem I have with appearances such as theirs is that they did nothing to interact with the product (apart from dick around a bit with Santino)... They just had adverts for their tour every 10-15mins(*).

That's not "entertainment" or even 'clever marketing', that's just cold, hard selling.

(It's a good job they weren't simultaneously promoting 12 Rounds that week otherwise, when you consider ACTUAL ad breaks into the bargain, there'd have barely been enough time on the show for ONE match!)

 

[JurassicBonez]

They need to tweek the guest host thing abit imo. There seeems to be too much focus on the guest and what they are promoting rather than WWE's own product. I mean Summerslam is this Sunday, maybe I missed it, but besides going through 2 or 3 matches that are on the card (for some reason they didn't go through all of them) that was the only time they even mentioned Summerslam.

 

[the dark knight]

i still want paris hilton.

 

[NinoBrown]

Jeremy Piven's movie came in 6th in the box office with the exact same numbers as of those watching RAW. 5.6 million lol.

 

[Christian]

wtf is there some mc hammer hate in this topic?????????????

 

[Wordlife]

that is ODD Nino!

 

[xtremebadass]

Regis, Michael Kelso, MC Hammer, and the Osbournes?

Sounds like a circus more than RAW

 

[chessarmy]

I don't like the guest host idea and would much rather see a permanent GM in place. Someone like Bischoff, Flair, or Austin.

 

[Chuck Taylor's Grenade]

Upcoming talent includes Bob Barker, Rev. Al Sharpton, Nancy O'Dell and LeBron James. Yet, Pete Wentz, Asslee Simpson, the Osbournes, Danny DeVito, Regis Philbin and Kelly Ripa, Jimmy Fallon, Rachael Ray, MC Hammer, Woody Harrelson and Ashton Kutcher are all considering hosting gigs.

Heh...Asslee.

Danny Devito is what 4 feet tall with boots on? I can just see him standing next to big show trying to boss him around. Although he was pretty entertaining as the boss on Taxi.

Jimmy Fallon is barely entertaining on his own show. I can just see him trying to get through a comedy skit with Santino without laughing.

Ashton Kutcher and Woody Harrelson could be good. At least they have the potential to be the least shitty out of the names mentioned.

 

[Headfirst For Hardcore]

it doesn't matter much to me, Raw wouldn't be any different if they had a real GM. It's not like the guest host is dominating the whole show, they probably get 15 minutes of tv time. If they do the Bob Barker thing, then I'm sold.