PWInsider - WWE News, Wrestling News, WWE

PWINSIDER Q & A: LOTS OF WWE CREATIVE QUESTIONS, WHEN WILL WWE GET WORRIED, THROWING TOGETHER MATCHES ON PPV, CHANGING ECW AND MORE

I am a big fan of the Daily Lariat and I haven't seen it for a while.  Did you stop doing it or is it now an Elite only piece?  I like the one stop for the WWE news items but since it disappeared, I figured maybe you moved it to the pay side of the site.

Yes, due to the recent downturn in the rates from our ad companies, we have moved the Daily Lariat to Elite only status.  I wish we didn't have to, but we didn't have a real choice in the matter.

I've been reading the site and noticing lately every Tuesday or Wednesday an article saying that RAW's ratings are down from the week before. How low do the ratings have to get before the WWE gets really nervous? And how much do you attribute the falling ratings to the poor writing/creative direction of WWE as opposed to the other (better?) options on TV like Monday Night Football and, say, NBC's very good Monday night lineup? 

Raw's ratings are right around where they have been at this time for the last few years.  Football affects them every year.  But, WWE is right around where they were ratings-wise when USA contracted to bring them back to the network after WWE's run on SpikeTV, so WWE isn't worried from that standpoint.  Even at their current level, Raw is one of the highest rated shows on cable and that helps USA in their battle to win the weekly and monthly cable prime time wars.  So, WWE isn't worried yet.  If they regularly dropped into the 2s, I think that would be the time that they would get really concerned.  Until then, it will probably be business as usual.  

I think that the creative process is a big reason why the company has fallen from their highs in 1999-2000.  Back then, they did have more charismatic top guys but at the same time, they didn't ridiculously over-script everything the way that they do now.  For example, I don't think The Rock or Steve Austin would have ever gotten over to the degree that they did had they not been able to get bullet points from the writers and then go out and use their own personalities to get the words over.  Now, every word is scripted for the workers and only guys like HHH and Shawn Michaels can adlib.  I have said this before and will say it again.  The McMahons should watch some tapes of what they were doing back then and compare it what they do today.  One would hope they would learn something and make some changes. 

You get hired as the head of WWE Creative for one day and are allowed to make any 5 changes you want to the current state of creative, these can be specific changes to one brand or wrestler or a broad change affecting the whole WWE product, and these 5 changes will stay in effect after you leave.  What would you do?

The first thing I would do is throw the "entertainment" aspect out the window.  I would pay more attention to the second letter in WWE and much less to the third one.  I would get rid of the obviously scripted angles and the "we don't see the camera" bits that they do backstage, which just insult people's intelligence.  I would apply logic and continuity to everything that was written.  I would also never just drop an angle or character and not explain what happened to the viewer because "I didn't feel like it", as Vince often does.  I would treat the viewer with respect while I entertained them.

As I mentioned above, I would also kill the completely scripted interviews and I would give the talent a chance to get over by showing their personality.  I would get rid of "divas stripping just to strip" segments and use the women better.  I would also give the fans some actual wrestling matches on Raw.  And the most important thing I would do is go back long term booking plans by starting to book the year at next year's WrestleMania and work my way backwards.  I would also slow down the angles so that they meant more and we given more time to build.

With that said, you couldn't pay me to work for WWE creative as long as I had to report to the McMahons.  I know I would never last because I speak up when I think something is being done the wrong way.

So, what's the deal with this RAW tag team match for Cyber Sunday? Did the WWE just decide at the last minute to give these guys a PPV check or what?  There's no build for this match and I really don't see the point in the match. Do the winners get a title shot? Does anyone really care? 

I know I don't care about it.  As I said on Elite this week, I am currently away on a yearly shopping trip that my wife goes on and most years I dread going.  This year I was happy because I was away and didn't have to watch the PPV, which WWE should feel criminal about since I love the business and always look forward to PPVs.

Yes, it was just thrown together to fill out the card.  That happens far too often in WWE right now. 

On a side note, it's amazing how many questions I get now that pertain to the state of creative, and not in a good way either.

First, did you notice that on the 10.31.06 edition of ECW, they referred to the women in the Halloween Costume Contest as "Divas" and not "Vixens"? Just a small continuity thing that irked me a little.

Actually, it's the new continuity.  As we have reported on the Elite section, WWE is in the process of making ECW a third brand instead of a company.  So, expect more of that kind of stuff.  Yeah I know, why not let ECW be different.  Well, Vince and Kevin Dunn don't want it to be so that's that.

You can send us questions for the PWInsider.com Q&A by clicking here.

We also have a new Q and A up today on PWInsiderXtra.com titled:

PWINSIDERXTRA Q & A: CM PUNK, RETIRING UNDERTAKER, ANGLE IN WWE, MAGNUM TA, ED LESLIE AND MORE

If you are an Elite member of the new site, you can read it by clicking here.

If you are not an Elite member, you can read it by clicking here.

If you are an PWInsider.com Elite member and you want to find out how to join the new site (which is bargain priced at a dollar amonth or less, depending on the subscription you choose), click here.

If you would like to become an Elite member to one or both of the sites, you can do so by clicking here.

For PWInsider.com Elite members who are not members of PWInsiderXtra.com, the questions from PWInsiderXtra.com will be archived in our weekly Elite newsletter.

If you enjoy PWInsider.com you can check out the AD-FREE PWInsider Elite section, which features exclusive audio updates, news, our critically acclaimed podcasts, interviews and more by clicking here!

• Tweet