Something has happened recently that has not happened in a very long time. For the past two Mondays in a row, I have not watched Raw at all. While in the past I may not have seen an entire episode, or even missed a week once in a while, for the most part, Monday nights have consisted of watching Raw. Now these past two weeks have both had holiday related, understandable excuses as to why I might be too busy to watch Raw, but there’s something more than just the fact that I had a Christmas dinner or a New Year’s Eve party to attend. What’s really dampened my interest for the past two weeks is the fact that Raw has on both occasions been taped.
I shouldn’t automatically become disinterested in watching wrestling when it’s not love. After all, I have shelled out plenty of money to buy PPVs that I have already seen once that hit DVD. I can’t count the number of times I’ve watched Undertaker and Mankind at Hell in a Cell. And that’s nowhere near live. So what is it about knowing that Raw has been taped ahead of time that makes me less interested in watching it?
My first inclination is to, quite honestly, blame the Internet. Even without watching Raw at 8 on Monday, it’s been incredibly easy to keep up with what has been happening. In fact, I’ve always known before the show even airs thanks to alarmingly detailed spoilers that pop up all over message boards and wrestling blogs. In fact, WWE isn’t even trying to ignore the spoilers anymore, with Wade Barrett’s title win on this week’s Raw being announced by WWE before that particular episode even aired. (This is also a problem with Smackdown as I can always access plenty of Smackdown Spoilers long before Friday. And it seems that WWE’s solution to this problem is to make sure that there is nothing ever worth spoiling on Smackdown)
The thing is, that I watch Raw for a different reason that I watch PPVs. PPVS are for the matches. Watching two guys work together to put on a truly great and memorable match is (when it works) something that is worth watching again and again, and at times worth shelling out money to own in disc format. And I think we all know, that that just doesn’t happen on Raw. We’re lucky if one match out of a year is truly worth watching again after your first initial viewing.
Watching Raw on the other hand, is much more akin to being that kid in The Incredibles. When he was asked what he was waiting for, the answer was “I dunno, something amazing I guess.” Every week, I don’t exactly know what I’m looking for on Raw, I just hope that in the end it was worth watching. Waiting for that music to hit that I was never expecting, or waiting for that heel turn that can totally catch me off guard, I couldn’t tell you exactly what I wanted, but I know at the end of the episode if I got it or not.
The thing is, more often than not, we don’t get that. Three hours go by and subpar matches and repetitive promos are all that we get. So we come back next week and try again. Only when Raw spoilers come out long before the show, I can find out ahead of time, that nothing amazing happened, which means that there’s no real reason to watch the show. Not that I just read the web, skipping the show altogether. But with the combination of DVR and a detailed plot synopsis of the latest episode of Raw, I’m able to skip through everything save for a Team Friendship promo and a Ziggler match because I know exactly where in the show those things land.
Here’s the thing WWE. I put up with a lot of your product that I’d rather skip because of the one or two shining moments that make it all seem worth it. And when the show is live, that’s the price that we’re willing to pay. But if the past two weeks have reinforced anything, it’s the fact that if given the opportunity, I’ll only watch twenty percent of your material. Me? I’m hooked. You’ve pretty much got me for life, and even at this low rate of quality material, I’m still going to tune in every week. But I really don’t know how many new people your expecting to woo in 2013 if these numbers don’t chance.
