Good day to you all. I hope you are having a wonderful time during this festive period. On this occasion, we are looking at the upcoming episode of WWE’s Monday Night Raw, titled: “Raw Legends Night”
Do you think it is a ploy to get ratings back to a reasonable level? Is it a cheap trick? This is what we shall look in to, as I delve through the reactions of our users and what happened in last year’s Raw Reunion show. Let’s begin with what I can take from the comments.
Same Old Faces
Here is the list of the legends scheduled to appear on January 4th, 2021:
Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, Kurt Angle, Torrie Wilson, Beth Phoenix, Mark Henry, Hillbilly Jim, Jimmy Hart, The Big Show, Jacquelyn, Booker T, Sgt. Slaughter, Tatanka, Jeff Jarrett, Mickie James, Carlito, Candice Michelle, The Boogeyman, IRS, Melina, and Alicia Fox.
From the list, we have seen almost every single name in the past year or two; or on previous “Old School” & “Reunion” type shows. Carlito is the only exception. After years of reports that he would return to WWE, he is doing so as a guest on a “Legends” show? Think about that for a moment. Aside from attending Carlos Colon’s Hall of Fame ceremony in 2014, Carlito hasn’t been seen on WWE programming for over a decade. And this is how they bring him in? As part of the crowd? That’s not cool! If you’re going to bring him back, at least make it a surprise. Ironically, I wouldn’t be surprised if he gets no lines at all.
Carlito has been wrestling since departing the company, so it’s not like he announce his retirement. Why has WWE only just brought him back? And how come he isn’t wrestling? Well, it seems I have gone a little off track here. The main thing to take from this is that WWE always uses the same old faces. Super rarely does it ever go outside of its own bubble, and it’s detrimental to these shows. We could easily relive last year’s Reunion to get a good idea of how it will play out. I’m really not expecting WWE to go outside of its comfort zone and bring in anybody that would shock the world with their appearance. They always keep it within the family.
They Do Nothing
Much like museum pieces or parades, you stand there, look at it… and think “That’s cool”. But once it has passed, or you have moved on from it, there is no substance. No significant memory. Just the fact you can say… “I saw that”. And this is what legends are for. They wheel out these people like the oldest animals in the zoo and say:
(Steve Irwin voice) Look what we have here folks! Some of the oldest, most endangered species known to mankind! Crikey. Isn’t that thrilling? You may have seen all these superstars on the WWE Network in their primes, but now you get to see how old they are in the present. Let’s name them all as we pan the camera across, and then you can say you have seen a wild Brooklyn Brawler! Or a Tatanka! If you’re lucky, you may even see a Hulk Hogan! Wow, isn’t that rare kids?! See how they stand and wave? That’s about as much as they can do. That’s how they survive.
Seriously though, I get that they are human beings and they need to pay their way, but shoehorning ’em all in to the same show with literally no plans for the majority is lazy and wasteful. It’s also kind of sad, because it could be the last time we see some of these people we grew up watching.
Loose With The Term
Has the term “Legend” lost all meaning? It has basically become a word you use about anything you enjoyed from back in the day, no matter how bad it was. I can tell you about some terrible video games I loved as a kid, but they are definitely not legendary. Oh my god! That wrestler sucked so hard… but he’s still a legend, wow. And that’s what WWE has to do because it has made hardly any legitimate crossover stars in the past two decades. It’s like when they started using Kelly Kelly as a “legend”. She was Divas Champion for what… three months? And was the worst to hold the title, but she gets a free pass because she looks good.
At least with girls like Torrie Wilson & Stacy Keibler, they became popular figures (they were glorified eye candy and worked as such) for what they are known for. It’s a similar thing for Candice Michelle and Alicia Fox. These girls held titles in WWE, but did nothing noteworthy before, during, or after their reigns. Most of the guys have done memorable things, but I draw the line at jobbers. In WWE, anyone who is remotely remembered are classed as legends. Am I the only one annoyed by that? A legend is meant to be someone who was at the top of their game. Since the Attitude Era, there are only a handful of guys & girls who I can safely say are classed as legends in the true sense of the word.
Short Term Band-Aid
Leave a band-aid on for long enough and it will fall off to reveal the underlying wound. And that is exactly what Legends & Reunion shows appear to be. WWE responds to low ratings by playing off of nostalgia to entice casual viewers who stopped watching a long time ago. And it will work for the one show, but when the novelty wears off a week later, so many will tune out again because they aren’t connected to the product. WWE hasn’t given them enough reason to care about the present day superstars, so they aren’t addressing the actual issues here.
Now, I’m not saying WWE shouldn’t use legends. Bringing in the right people at the right time, for storylines which make sense to include them, will undoubtedly enhance the experience. There is a limit though. Bringing in 21 legends to stand around and waste time is not smart. It is contributing nothing to the long-term health of WWE. There will be some fun to be had. Older fans will revel in the callbacks, the catchphrases, finishers like the Stone Cold Stunner, and other things reminding them of when wrestling was great… but will it do anything for the product past January 4th? No, not in the slightest. All it does is make the current superstars look inferior, as they can only dream of drawing in the fans like those they admired as kids.
Not Like Celebrity Cameos Or Managers
I was asked about how this is any different to say, AEW Dynamite featuring Shaq on its programming, There’s a vast difference, because Shaq is a household name and his short segment was the highest rated in AEW’s history. He didn’t take up two-thirds of the show, in fact, his interview with Brandi Rhodes only lasted a few minutes. And he was made the victim as Brandi threw a cup of water over him. Now, if Shaq took up 20-30 minutes, I’d be annoyed because he shouldn’t be wasting time. I’m not against having Sting around either… however, I only want to see him when he’s doing something meaningful. The last time we saw Sting, he entered… stared at Darby Allin and others for a few minutes, turned around and walked to the back again (much like his debut but way worse).
I don’t like that because it dilutes his drawing power to use him repeatedly for no reason. There’s also a massive difference having Arn Anderson, Jake Roberts and Tully Blanchard on the show, because they are mouthpieces and/or advisors for their clients. The company isn’t specifically focusing on them, because it is in fact they who are putting the focus on their wrestlers; which is nothing like what WWE is doing with a Legends show. So there is a time and place for the use of celebrities and legends, but it should be if 1) it makes sense, 2) they are not being overused, and 3) it enhances the current roster and not for the sake of nostalgia.
Raw Reunion
This themed episode of Raw took place on July 22nd, 2019 and included:
John Cena, Rikishi, D-Von Dudley, Hulk Hogan, Jimmy Hart, Booker T, Alicia Fox, Kaitlyn, Torrie Wilson, Santino Marella, The Godfather, The Boogeyman, Pat Patterson, Christian, Lilian Garcia, Eve Torres, Eric Bischoff, Ron Simmons, Gerald Brisco, Kelly Kelly, Kurt Angle, Candice Michelle, Melina, Alundra Blayze, Jonathan Coachman, Rob Van Dam, Sgt Slaughter, The Hurricane, Ric Flair, Ted DiBiase, Jerry Lawler, The Kliq, Road Dogg, Mick Foley & Steve Austin.
We have to remember it was called a Reunion show, and not what WWE is claiming to be a Legends show. On paper, with so many Hall of Famers and others scheduled to appear, it looked as if it would be an epic episode. But honestly, I can’t remember most of the moments, although I remember watching it. You can watch the highlights at the link below:
Raw Reunion Highlights
After watching some highlights… yes, I remember them, but none of it was impressive. Kinda’ annoying to see DX and The Kliq, a bunch of old, retired dudes… scaring off AJ Styles and The OC. Reminds me of when they buried Damien Sandow. Everything else was lame.
Next up, I would like to show you what happened with the ratings. The aim of these shows is to bring in new & old viewers who stick around to see the talent of today. This graph shows what happened with the ratings last year, up til the end of October.
Can you see the big jump? That was the Reunion show hitting the 3 million mark. It is almost twice as high as the rating they got for Raw last week. WWE lost almost 700,000 viewers the following week, and all because they didn’t have legends on the show.
This is what I mean by putting a band-aid on the problem. It may boost the rating for a week, but as shown here, it will go back down again and the spiral continues. This has already been proven to WWE, yet they are going to the well again. Notice as well, on the above graph, that the Reunion show was likely a response to the ratings across the previous three months. The average dropped from 2.6-2.9m to a less than stellar 2.1-2.5m.
Conclusion
So what can we expect from this year’s episode? Much of the same, really. Expect a long, boring promo from Hulk Hogan. Others will smile and laugh at bad jokes and old catchphrases like they are still relevant. We might see a Stone Cold Stunner, or Kurt Angle hooking the Ankle Lock on somebody. The highlight will probably be The Boogeyman becoming the 24/7 Champion. Would that be a good thing? Maybe, to someone. To me, it’s something I will probably forget in a few weeks. Raw Legends Night will probably suck, but we will watch it anyway. And then the ratings will revert to all-time lows, just like they were.
Management will scramble around Titan Towers scratching their heads, wondering how it could possibly be. Then they will deflect the blame by putting it all on the super heavyweights. Did you know it’s because they can’t work? It’s such good shit. Unless they can actually deliver something substantial? But I’m not holding my breath. I just want WWE to prove they can bring in legends and use them in a way which helps guys like Drew McIntyre, Keith Lee, the Hurt Business, Asuka, Revolution, Ricochet, Angel Garza, Drew Gulak and so many more. It would make for a lovely, late Xmas present. Is it possible? Please let me know in the comments. And thank you for reading! Happy Holidays.
Also Read: Wrestling In 2020: The Best Wrestler & Other Special Awards
