5 Changes Vince McMahon May Bring To Tonight's RAW
WWE CEO Vince McMahon doesn't often make television appearances, at least not anymore. Once a weekly staple on WWE television, the 73 year old Chairman now only makes appearances during moments of great significance. Tonight, wrestling fans wait in eager anticipation for one such moment on WWE RAW.
If we are all honest, WWE RAW has been incredibly stale. Featuring repetitive matches and unimaginative storylines and angles, the product has been in steep decline since the unexpected departure of Roman Reigns, who took a hiatus to courageously battle leukemia.
Some may say the WWE is in a free fall, while others prefer the term limbo, hoping that one day the weekly television staple will regain its composure and find its proper place in the wrestling world.
Week in and week out, the biggest company in wrestling history has produced subpar product and the ratings reflect the effort. In recent months, RAW's ratings have been historically low, as viewers are tuning out en masse.
Enter Vince McMahon, who must have something up his sleeve, at least we hope. The maniacal mastermind billionaire wouldn't appear for no reason, would he? He won't be there to pitch the XFL or some WWE Fillms project.
He has better things to do and billions of dollars to count; but, why will he appear on tonight's RAW? Something big is brewing, so join us as we examine 5 Changes Vince McMahon May Bring To Tonight's RAW.
#5. End Of The PG Era
Some fans today may be too young to remember, but there was a time in WWE history where extreme angles came with regularity and the motto was only, 'Anything goes.' Aided by the wildly creative writing of one Vince Russo, WWE garnered historic ratings highs in the Attitude Era.
"Stone Cold" Steve Austin accomplished every red-blooded American's dream (not mine, I hope to stay employed) when he regularly stunned his boss and added a double middle finger salute to boot.
Women were boldly risque and unafraid to mix it up physically with their male counterparts. Even 'Sexual Chocolate' Mark Henry fell in love and Mae Young gave birth to a hand, but that's another story altogether.
The Attitude Era came before political correctness cast its stale dominance on the television landscape. This was before the WWE was corporately traded and before the USA Network caved into demands from its more sensitive viewers.
Then came squeaky clean John Cena and the rest was history. Gone was the unpredictably of the Russo scripted Attitude Era and it was replaced by overly scripted, over done, easily predictable, non-offensive sports entertainment, and the ratings decline reflected its lack of excitement.
These facts aren't lost on Vince McMahon, who is falsely maligned as out of touch. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, those closest to McMahon still regard him as sharp, shrewd, opportunistic, and ever the business man. McMahon simply has more entities to please these days, but one of them is FOX.
WWE recently reached a billion dollar deal with the cable company, who aren't anywhere near as infatuated with the PG label as the USA Network. FOX also deeply cares about ratings and with a commitment in the billions, expects them.
Could Mr. McMahon be returning to WWE television to recommit his product to the more reality based in-your-face Attitude Era? Tune in tonight to find out.