The Joke That is RAW's Mid-Card

[JurassicBonez]

I was on Wiki looking up WWE's roster trying to beef up my roster on my BTB, and couldn't help but notice Raw's mid card. They have imo the best talent of the three brands. But upon further view, most of their mid card are jobbers or just plain jokes, holding little to no credibility at all. Santino, Carlito, Chavo, Evan Bourne, Jack Swagger, Primo, Chris Masters and Mark Henry. That's over half their mid card. The Miz, Kingston, and MVP are the only one's that hold any type of credibilty (MVP's can be argued though) and it's rediculous.

ALL of those guys have potential to be in higher places. The over-ness that they have had at one point has been tarnished. The position that they are in now and where they could be are at a huge difference. What are your thoughts on the joke that is Raw's mid card?

 

[noumenon]

It obviously stands to be one of the strongest divisions in the company. You've got Smackdown on the other hand who's mid-card is for some odd reason more entertaining, yet resting completely upon the shoulders essentially of three people. Morrison, Drew and Dolph are really the only three men who have given any interest to the card over there. Though I suppose you could argue R-Truth and (atm) CM Punk are also in that bracket.
However, I think a lot of the problem with RAW lies in the fact that the show is EXTREMELY entertainment based, rather than focusing on wrestling. Guys like Swagger, Chavo, Bourne and Carlito who are some of the more talented people of the roster are rather delegated to horrible comedy roles and chasing around midgets. When a mid-carder is booked to look like he's starting to build some steam it's immediately ripped away from them if they fail to get over in the course of a week or two.
Guys like Miz can't hold the division on their shoulders forever because undeniably, by the end of 2010 the guy will without a doubt be ready to move on to bigger and better things, if not... much sooner. Instead of consistently jobbing and made to look like fools guys like Bourne (who's insanely over), Masters, Carlito, Swagger and others could be putting on some potentially amazing feuds.

Another problem is that with the whole PG guidelines when WWE does try to alter someone's character to get them over they just come off looking like fucking idiots. See the Kool Aid man that is Mark Henry, Chris Masters doing titty dances and Jack Swagger becoming a grunting, baffling idiot of a frat boy over the past few weeks.

 

[MizMasta3000]

ALL of those guys have potential to be in higher places

yea...

Mark Henry

Maybe not

The RAW mid card crisis has been in full effect since the draft of last year. To make it worse, they keep adding on to it. RAW is not a wrestling show tbh and it is not a show for hot young talent to shine. Sheamus is the luckiest of them all and The Miz has undeniable heat or he would have been with the rest. It's the guest hosts. It's Cena. It's HHH/HBK. We can blame anyone for taking up TV time from those who could use it. Minor feuds that end the next week or that aren't followed up on. Talent that job out to leprechons (SP). Ridiculous is an understatement

 

[noumenon]

What the fuck does this have ANYTHING to do with Cena, HHH and HBK???

 

[JurassicBonez]

I asume he mean that they burry the younger talent (mid card) or don't work with them enough, I guess anyway. As for what MizMasta said about Mark Henry, go back and watch how over Henry was when he turned RAW when he got drated to RAW in 09 and the next 2 maybe 3 weeks after.

I don't have a problem with having jobbers/jokes on the roster, you need those type of guys. But over half of the team are jobbers. And when they do step up, it wont feel right. Why did I not care that Sheamus won the WWE title, because prior to that he was beating Jamie Noble and Jerry Lawler. MVP and Henry were "boys", they were a tag team, now Henry randomly teams with Bourne and Bourne randomly teams with Primo. Carlito and Primo have done nothing since their epic feud when they spilt, Swagger is having trouble gettting the upper on Santino, Bourne hasn't won a match in weeks, months maybe. Their no direction with these guys. And when something happens where it seems like it could be good, they shit all over it.

What's going to happen when MVP/Miz is over. If one of these steps up and challenges for the belt, the champ will look like a bigger joke losing to a jobber.

 

[Axis]

It's not a matter of them needing to work with main event talent. It's a matter of them needed to work amongst themselves. The Miz, Jack Swagger, Mark Henry, MVP, and Evan Bourne are all good - great workers, and they need to be put in programs against each other.

 

[noumenon]

Although I personally am not a Mark Henry fan I thought it was damn shame that they didn't capitalize on how over he was after defeating Orton on his RAW debut. They definitely could have had something there...AT LEAST a one off PPV match against Orton.
And yes, you always need that comedy character and a few jobbers on the roster. But there was. That's what Santino was on RAW for, to look like a complete asshole. There was no need to fuck with Carlito, Masters, Swagger and especially Chavo. People still bitch that he has a job because of Eddie. No, he has a job because he's an incredible worker and when given the chance will have amazing matches.

And back the the HHH/HBK/Cena thing. There is no way you can blame any of them for that.
First of all, all HHH has done for the past 5 years is put over young talent. You know damn well HHH doesn't have a problem putting people over. But why would they put any of these people of HHH with the way they're booked?
A feud with HBK warrants another level of competitor. There are only a handful of guys on the roster I would say are ready to step up and carry a feud with HBK.
And yeah, what they had Cena do to Miz over the summer was bullshit. But you know what. Miz was good enough to bounce back and get himself more over than he has ever been. Other than just looking good in a match against Cena can do worlds for a young star's appearance.

 

[Axis]

I would argue that The Miz is where he is today because of John Cena. Before his feud with John Cena, he was just an annoying shit-talker like every other generic heel. After that, he was pretty much everybody's least favorite person; being a prick to Evan Bourne or Chris Masters is one thing, being a prick to John Cena is another.

 

[noumenon]

Yeah, it helped him without a doubt. At the time it really seemed like any other crush. I think that Miz really has enough mic skills, charisma and talent that he was able to turn it into a positive.
Besides..did anyone expect any different at that point? I'm sure if we'd see Cena/Miz today the result would be identical.

 

[xtremebadass]

Raw has alot of good talent in the mid card it is just that the WWE rarely if ever gives them worth while lengthy programs. It is like they have Swagger, Bourne, Henry, Miz, MVP, Carlito, Kofi, Rhodes, and DiBiase but all they do is rotate them around each week without keeping any of them constant. I understand guys like Miz and Kofi shouldn't really be included, but I am including them anyways.

Like you have a heel midcarder in the ring and the guest host comes out and says he has a mystery opponent or something, 10-1 the stupidest fan could even predict it will be Mark Henry.

 

[straight_edge76]

Yeah, it helped him without a doubt. At the time it really seemed like any other crush. I think that Miz really has enough mic skills, charisma and talent that he was able to turn it into a positive.
Besides..did anyone expect any different at that point? I'm sure if we'd see Cena/Miz today the result would be identical.

I totally agree. The Cena/Miz feud isntantly got The Miz some legit heat, the first promo he cut on Cena "ducking him" was plain and simplly epic. Before that I was already a fan of his tbh and I wondered what he could do on his own. I am not going to lie I totally thought he would end up getting lost in the shuffle. But after that promo I instantly thought "I think he is onto something major" now, I know many mid-carders before him had tried a feud with Cena after being moved to Smackdown but failed miserably but just the mere fact that the promos were a weekly thing made me think that this was going to become a full fledged feud. Even though it ended up him being squahsed by Cena it still garnished him some heat, he continued to build on that heat and I honestly think that he is a strong contender for the MitB. After him and Kofi (and a case could be made for MVP) the Raw mid-card has no real contender's for a possible push, guys liek Swagger, Masters and Carlito could all have been strong choices for the people to take over the mid-card when The Miz and likely Kofi move onto bigger and better things.

 

[He who knows more than Nation]

Yep, basically been summed up pretty well by everyone in here, the Raw mid card is filled with missed boats.

At one point or another Mark Henry, Evan Bourne, MVP(multiple times) and Swagger had something going, then for no apparent reason *poof* gone with the wind. I think MVP could have sustained his momentum if he didn't like the reefer so much, but they really did do something with Mark Henry that he has never done, and that was get him over. Shit, he even had the crowd doing that wave thing, but they blew it and killed his momentum with MVP's in that tag team. But yeah, lots of missed boats.

 

[xFrenchKissx]

I think a lot of it has to do with the lack of titles. Or in the case of the US title, lack of focus. Back in the days, it was a big deal to be a contender for ANY title, be it the intercontinental title, cruiserweight title, european title etc. They put a lot of focus and importance on getting those title shots. That is SUPPOSED to be the purpose for being there. Everyone wants to be a champion. But with the way they have been carrying on these last few years, swapping titles like trading cards, it has belittled the credibility of the titles.

Being a champion and holding a belt is supposed to distinguish who is the best at what they do. I remember the days when The Rock and Austin were way over, but they still treated their feud for number one contender for the IC title as the end all of their careers. The way they put over the importance of just being a contender gave merit to what the title was SUPPOSED to be. There is no motivation for anybody to do that if the angles favor more towards 'flavor of the week' champions then it does to actually award someone for anything.

As far as the tag team titles, I frankly don't know why they even have them anymore as there has not been a really good tag team division in a LONG time. Who is a tag team? Legacy is the only credible team even worthy of holding titles. And even if they DID have them there is nobody else who can legitimately compete for them. DX? Come on.

They have the talent but don't know what to do with it. It has been a long time that the mid card has had any real organization. It's like the writers cannot find a way to balance the two different levels. So instead of finding a way to harmonize they just let these guys flounder around with no real purpose. Instead of creating a storyline that will allow these wrestlers to grow as entertainers, they yoyo them back and forth, pushing them one week and jobbing them out to someone else the next. I fail to see the purpose of having someone like Evan Bourne demolished by Sheamus.

Guys like Cena, Sheamus, HBK, Orton, HHH, all of them are already established as the cream of the crop. There is no need to prove that to anyone by burying someone in the mid card. The two need to be kept seperate.

 

[noumenon]

Mark Henry was just odd. He went from being on ECW and getting mild heat/no reaction to coming to RAW and his first night getting the biggest pop on the fucking show. And it wasn't just because of the thing with Orton, it carried on for a few weeks.

 

[noumenon]

I think a lot of it has to do with the lack of titles. Or in the case of the US title, lack of focus. Back in the days, it was a big deal to be a contender for ANY title, be it the intercontinental title, cruiserweight title, european title etc. They put a lot of focus and importance on getting those title shots. That is SUPPOSED to be the purpose for being there. Everyone wants to be a champion. But with the way they have been carrying on these last few years, swapping titles like trading cards, it has belittled the credibility of the titles.

Being a champion and holding a belt is supposed to distinguish who is the best at what they do. I remember the days when The Rock and Austin were way over, but they still treated their feud for number one contender for the IC title as the end all of their careers. The way they put over the importance of just being a contender gave merit to what the title was SUPPOSED to be. There is no motivation for anybody to do that if the angles favor more towards 'flavor of the week' champions then it does to actually award someone for anything.

As far as the tag team titles, I frankly don't know why they even have them anymore as there has not been a really good tag team division in a LONG time. Who is a tag team? Legacy is the only credible team even worthy of holding titles. And even if they DID have them there is nobody else who can legitimately compete for them. DX? Come on.

They have the talent but don't know what to do with it. It has been a long time that the mid card has had any real organization. It's like the writers cannot find a way to balance the two different levels. So instead of finding a way to harmonize they just let these guys flounder around with no real purpose. Instead of creating a storyline that will allow these wrestlers to grow as entertainers, they yoyo them back and forth, pushing them one week and jobbing them out to someone else the next. I fail to see the purpose of having someone like Evan Bourne demolished by Sheamus.

Guys like Cena, Sheamus, HBK, Orton, HHH, all of them are already established as the cream of the crop. There is no need to prove that to anyone by burying someone in the mid card. The two need to be kept seperate.

I see what you're saying but I think it's more of the opposite in a sense. The WWE if anything has become far too title-centric and the mid-card is a perfect example. Unless you're holding that belt (US or IC) you're jobbing. It's almost as if they can only focus on the 2 or 3 people who are in the title feud at that time. Sure there have been some stand out feuds in the main event that weren't for the title but that's only because it was involving people that WWE couldn't realistically leave out of a story line.
What they don't understand is that people can't be left to get stagnant. Just because they're not in a title program doesn't mean they can just sit there and do nothing and wait their turn until the next time the bookers decide to care.