Interesting opinions from former WWE writer on 3 hour RAW and more

[Stopspot]

It's the WrestlingInc podcast. What Court Bauer, a former WWE writer says about the 3 hour RAWs. Could a restructuring off how RAW is done help make the 3 hours more interesting? Like maybe do something special with one hour.

 

[Crayo]

Would be cool if you could just post what minutes are specifically interesting, or summarise what was actually said. I'm predicting a "tldw" reaction.

 

[Stopspot]

First ten minutes is all you need to listen to. He discusses how he feels that WWE needs to do something to make it worth watching the 3 hours of RAW since they have now just stretched out the two hour formula. He also discusses how the 3 hours have benefited them with getting new talent over (his examples are Sandow and Cesaro) who he thinks would have gotten lost in the fray on 2 hour shows.

 

[Lady Deathbane]

First ten minutes is all you need to listen to. He discusses how he feels that WWE needs to do something to make it worth watching the 3 hours of RAW since they have now just stretched out the two hour formula. He also discusses how the 3 hours have benefited them with getting new talent over (his examples are Sandow and Cesaro) who he thinks would have gotten lost in the fray on 2 hour shows.

That's actually a pretty solid reason. I'm rather enjoying these two new talents atm with all the screen time they've had recently but at what cost, though? They've had quite horrible ratings of late...

 

[catlady]

I think the 3 hour idea was a bad choice. Since then the ratings have dropped. No one wants to watch that much wrestling every single Monday. I liked it when they only used 3 hours for special Raws, like if they had a special guest or something like that.

 

[Leo C]

My favorite point he made was short term vs long term. On the short term they're making money and putting some new guys on TV longer, but in the long term, if they don't change the format people won't want to watch anymore. Good interview.

 

[Cloud]

They need to do something more with the extra hour. I mean i personally think the NXT belt should be defended on RAW sometimes for exposure for those guys.

 

[Swift]

The three hours are just boring.

 

[Lady Deathbane]

They need to do something more with the extra hour. I mean i personally think the NXT belt should be defended on RAW sometimes for exposure for those guys.

I'd rather have Cruiserweight back to be completely honest.

 

[Cloud]

I'd rather have Cruiserweight back to be completely honest.

Or Cruiserweight. I just wouldnt mind the NXT guys getting some prime time tv time.

But a cruiserweight division would be awesome an im sure would produce some quality spots.

 

[Dat Kid1]

Found myself agreeing with most of what the guy had to say. I will disagree that there's no long term benfit in making Raw 3 hours & that's because of another point he made with getting newer superstars over. The faster these superstars get over the less WWE has to worry about the stars of tomorrow when Cena, Orton, Punk & etc retire. Same applies to the generation after that. The only problem with it is that current WWE creative is sucking, so are the ratings because of it. If the writing was fixed we'll get a better quality product and ratings will increase just because of that.

 

[Wacokid27]

He's right in saying that something special or different needs to happen with that extra hour. As it's going right now, it just drags, which hurts the quality of good segments. It also seems that they're doing as much filler (recaps, updates on what happened on Smackdown, last week, and on Main Event) as new time for promos, wrestling, introducing new talent.

The three hour Raw would be terrific if they went back to a stricter brand split, where it's rare for Smackdown talent to appear on Raw and vice-versa. This means you'd need to have a larger Raw roster than Smackdown roster, but it's very workable (there's your space for Cruiserweights, NXT guys, whatever).

Of course, I would also make the Tag Titles basically exclusive to Smackdown, but that's just me.



Raw - WWE Championship, IC Belt, Divas Title, Cruiserweight Championship or NXT Chaampionship (I would prefer Cruiserweights myself)
Smackdown - WHC, US Title, Tag Titles

That's the way I'd start the conversation. Again, but that's just me.

wk

 

[Farooq]

I think WWE needs to cut down on everything else. Main Event, and Morning Slam along with Smackdown and Superstars is just to much now. They need to cut down and have about two shows at least. Raw and Smackdown could work perfectly themselves and if booked right would be great. I think the world championships should be unified though, and bring back the light heavyweight division. That way Smackdown can work off of the light heavyweight division and tag team championships could be the main focus on smackdown and everything else on Raw.