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POINTED CRITICISMS OF WWE AND SUMMERSLAM, RATINGS NEWS, TONIGHT'S RAW

Buck is doing the PPV thoughts report for the site today so I figured I would throw out a few thoughts on SummerSlam.  Here goes. 

• Save your money and don't buy the replay.  The show was a huge letdown and not worth forty dollars.  Or thirty.  Or twenty.  WWE has tried to give us less wrestling on Raw to make the PPVs more appealing.  Fine, I respect that.  But dammit, you better make the PPV worth watching, and more importantly, paying for.  Last night's show featured a few solid matches, a lot of eh matches and a few really bad trainwrecks.  That can't be what they were going for with the new way of booking.
• Speaking of which, what were they thinking with the booking?  Were they even thinking at all?  It was one of their big four PPVs and there isn't ONE title change?  Plus, they buried Ken Kennedy, MVP and CM Punk all in the span of two hours.  Then we had Triple H and Rey Mysterio return and win easily, with no drama at all.  Wouldn't it have been more interesting if H lose a close match because he "wasn't quite ready yet, but will be when he gets his ring feet under him"?  Instead, Booker was King Jabroni.  And, in the main event, Randy Orton got Ortoned again.  There was absolutely nothing surprising or creative on the show from a booking standpoint.  It's completely insane to me that they didn't realize that they needed to something special on such a big show (and I am sorry, bringing Steve Austin out of mothballs just doesn't constitute special to me).  When people who thought of buying the PPV turn on Raw tonight and see that nothing has changed since last week, they will know they made the right decision in not buying the PPV.  That isn't the message that WWE should be sending.
• While on the subject of guys being over or not, they have done a terrible job of elevating talent lately.  A big part of that falls at the feet of how they book.  The fans love CM Punk, so job him out at the PPV because the head of ECW creative loves the John Morrison character.  HHH needs a win so throw King Booker under the bus.  Steve Austin needs a pop, so do it at the expense of MVP.  Randy Orton finally starts to show that he could be a top guy after all, so pull the rug out from under him.  Some day, maybe, creative will realize the damage they are doing to their talents.  Until then, they will whine about no one being over, and totally ignore their role in why that is.
• WWE has seen their PPV buyrates fall since WrestleMania. They know it's a problem and they say they want to address it.  Then, they deliver a stinker of a show last night on one of their four signature events of the year, when people who don't buy the Vengeances of the world came back, gave them a chance and plopped down their forty bucks.  Do you think that show left a good taste in their mouth the next time, when they are considering coming back for the Survivor Series?  Nah, me neither.
• At the end of the day, WWE has to realize that PPVs cost their consumers real money, and lots of it.  If they keep treating them like glorified TV shows, buyrates will continue to drop.  When you can't even count on seeing a lot of quality wrestling on the PPVs, they are no different than watching free TV, other than the price tag.  They are clearly sending a message to people that they don't need buy the shows and that is a really, really stupid message to send.
• On another note, I was happy to see HHH and Rey Mysterio come back in the kind of shape that they did.  Lean is in and I was glad to see both guys looking that way.  Coming back from injuries, carrying less weight is a smart move, and that doesn't even take into account the current environment of the business.

The fast national ratings for Friday were delayed so here's the scoop.  Smackdown did a 2.4 fast national rating, right around where it has been the last few weeks.  The final number will be out later this week.

For those of you who DVR Raw instead of watching it live, remember that due to US Open Tennis, the show airs on Sci Fi tonight.  Make sure to record accordingly.  The show also will air on USA around 11 p.m. on tape delay.

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