THE RAW REVIEW

I only have so many sentences left.

Even if I live a long life, every time I finish writing a sentence, I’m getting closer and closer to the last one I’ll ever write.

Put like that, I can’t help but question why I would ever devote an extensive amount of time writing about a television show I regard as inescapably terrible. Whether or not it’s terrible for anyone else isn’t important to me when considering if I should go on writing a weekly RAW REVIEW. For me, the one who writes this, Monday Night Raw is a terrible television show that exhibits no real sign of genuine improvement and hasn’t in the four years I’ve been writing about it. Genuine improvement would mean a creative overhaul. A creative overhaul means an entirely different creative team with entirely different ideas from the ones currently making it on our television screens. Creative overhaul means never seeing another “invasion” angle or another “collusion” angle or anything anyone could easily identify as an “angle”. Creative overhaul means reconditioning the audience to be an actual audience rather than a cult of greedy, ignorant, self-important blog-babies who think summary-writing qualifies as writing and repeatedly using the word “nuance” is an indicator of intelligence and that the art pro-wrestling is a “choose your own adventure” young adult novel.

ON THE ART OF PRO-WRESTLING COMMENTARY: OR "VETERAN INSTINCTS" IN THE WWE

On the April 18th, 2016 episode of Monday Night Raw, Chris Jericho fought Sami Zayn in the opening match.

The match itself, given the basic setup, was a good contest that played to the strengths of both performers. And from a pro-wrestling fan's point of view, Jericho vs Zayn is an incredibly enticing, almost surreal match-up; an exemplar from pro-wrestling's past taking on the bright beacon of pro-wrestling's future. If the two were feuding it's a match that could easily headline a pay-per-view with the proper build.

THE RAW REVIEW

Imagine we’re by a campfire; you, me, and a few other campers. We’ve been hiking all day, and now we’re sitting down together to eat and drink and talk. The moonlight splinters against the forest canopy, falling to the dirt like strands of silk. Twigs and leaves snap and rustle in the dark beyond our campsite, reminding us that we’re not really alone. The campfire-light holds us in a warm, orange bubble, as we pull apart bits of jerky and laugh as gram crackers and marshmallows and chocolate dissolve in our mouths. A bottle of Jack passes from mouth to mouth, and that’s when the stories start.

THE RAW REVIEW

“Was RAW good?” my wife asked when she noticed RAW fade to black on my laptop. I could hear the hope in her voice, the earnest desire of any good spouse to know their partner is happy.
“I don’t know,” I sighed. She laughed in reply, accustomed to the sometimes indescribable angst any episode of Monday Night Raw inspires in me.

WORK OF WRESTLING PODCAST - EP70 - TRADE SECRETS

THE RAW REVIEW

For the first time in two years, I had fun watching Monday Night Raw. And although it was the “Raw after Mania”, which is often a good episode, the fun I had wasn’t related to what the audience was doing (quite the opposite, in fact). The audience is usually the main attraction of the post-Mania RAW, but this week the crowd only managed to get in the way of the show. RAW was better than the crowd this week and that’s the way it should always be because the crowd is the crowd…they’re not performers risking their lives to tell stories. For too long the WWE has permitted the crowd to be “more important” or “better than” the show itself, and that stems from a modern booking philosophy designed to make money from the internet fans rather than tell good stories for a general, television audience.

THE RAW REVIEW

This year’s WrestleMania card is fairly well-rounded, promising several potentially satisfying bouts designed to appeal to a wide range of wrestling fans. From The Divas Title match to Shane’s war for control over RAW (and several narratives in-between) the stakes are appropriately high and fans will likely be treated to some pop-worthy, memorable moments. Even the lackluster main event fight for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship between Roman Reigns and Triple H may overcome expectations (and biases) to deliver, at the very least, a good professional wrestling match. On paper, this is one of the more solid cards in years despite how inconsistent and, at times, unexciting the build has been.

HOW LUCHA UNDERGROUND CHANGED MY MIND ABOUT INTER-GENDER WRESTLING by BARRY HESS

I have been following pro wrestling for 26 of my 32 years on earth. I have seen every type of match, every kind of character, every style of story imaginable. Sometime in the not so distant future I’ll experience something new, something that speaks to me unlike anything that preceded it. The medium’s ability to continually expand its own horizon, and by extension mine, is one of the primary reasons I hold pro wrestling in such high regard as an artistic platform.

THE RAW REVIEW

This week's episode of Monday Night Raw, as well as this build into WrestleMania 32, embodies the WWE's failure to craft coherent, entertaining television in 2016. Everything that I've critiqued about the product for the past several years has escalated in recent weeks, making it harder and harder to sustain an interest or passion for the product.

THE RAW REVIEW

Pro-wrestling is storytelling.

Everything that goes on in a pro-wrestling show is symbolic, a literal representation of something figurative (like theater, film, television etc). The simulated combat of a pro-wrestling match, while resulting in very literal pain, is a metaphor for a real-world sport, a personal conflict, a war, a familial struggle, an identity crisis, or (often in WWE’s case) corporate negotiations. Because pro-wrestling is storytelling, the medium’s symbolism and iconography can be incredibly powerful. Over time, audiences are conditioned to associate maneuvers, phrases, gestures, expressions, and even objects with particular performers or scenarios. The best professional wrestlers tend to be those who use their symbolic power to their advantage, manipulating the audience to incredibly intense Moments of Pop.

MICK FOLEY'S WRESTLEMANIA DREAM VACATION

Mick Foley & RAINN (the Rape Abuse Incest National Network) have joined together to create The WrestleMania Dream Vacation Sweepstakes, a massive fundraising effort that helps raise awareness for a difficult subject matter while giving pro-wrestling fans a unique opportunity to experience The Showcase of The Immortals in spectacular fashion.

Pro-wrestling fans aren’t typically regarded as politically or socially engaged members of a larger community, and yet, as Mick Foley stated on Dave Zirin’s Edge of Sports podcast earlier this week “…wrestling fans create the largest source of income for the largest anti-sexual assault organization in the [United States].”

THE RAW REVIEW

First impressions are important.

That first encounter can even come to define your relationship with that person. Over time, your initial assessment of their character might prove to be incorrect, but it’s impossible to be wrong about how you feel. “I like this person” or “I don’t like this person” isn’t connected to anything objective about the person who inspires those feelings. You might hate someone who is a “good person” and you might love someone who is a “bad person”.

The same holds true for artists and their works of art.

The Writings