There was a time when Monday Night Raw was a very enjoyable show, especially after the spur of the competition of WCW Monday Nitro as of September 4, 1995, thanks to which it gained the status of television banner of Wwe and safe value for USA Network.
I make such a point because surely many newcomers could doubt how Raw has managed to stay on the air for a quarter of a century taking a look at the quality of the current product. While the show, to a greater or lesser extent, always manages to have the most popular Superstars year after year, It is the main example of the creative downturn that WWE goes through, with little importance towards what happens on the ring and stories as inconsistent as they are unimaginative.
I pick up below what was written by Steve Khan from FW4Online.com in his chronicle about the last episode of Raw, within the section ‘The Big Takeaway’ (‘The Great Conclusion’ or ‘The Great Moral’).
«Raw was horrible».
► SmackDown is not Raw, but Tony Khan does not care
Court Bauer, in 2019, exhibited that if WWE offers “trash wrestling”, it is logical that the public responds negatively and the ratings of Raw fall. Hence Cody Rhodes foresaw that, in 2025, AEW Dynamite would already be in a position to go face-to-face on Mondays against the former “Show A” by McMahonlandia, and in fact, in recent months it has managed to equalize its ratings in different bands.
A scenario that after this Friday may look closer, because Rampage will compete directly with SmackDown for an hour and a half. The first sixty minutes, through YouTube through a very attractive “Buy In” where Bryan danielson will be measured at Minoru Suzuki. And the remaining 30 minutes, already via television; clash promoted by WWE.
The success of this duel for the Elite will surely motivate them to decide to make such a move, because we remember that SmackDown obtains better audience figures than Raw, at the same time that Rampage is a smaller show than Dynamite in this sense. AND Tony Khan is very motivated by it, as commented to Robbie Fox of Barstool Sports.
«It is the second time they have chosen to put their wrestling hand in hand with mine. The last time they did it, it didn’t happen overnight, but really from the start AEW did consistently better numbers than NXT and we won that war. AEW is now the Wednesday night show.
«I want Rampage to eventually be as big as Dynamite. Dynamite has been regularly number one. My goal is for this show to be the most important on cable. If they’re doing a cable show, great. We will compete on that.
We’ll see what happens. I do not assure you that we will win, and perhaps we will lose. But we are going to give a better show. I know. If you don’t believe me, watch the show they did last night [por el lunes], because it stunk».
#AEW THIS FRIDAY:
9 / 8c: #BuyInLIVE WORLD WIDE on @AEW Youtube:
–@bryandanielson v @suzuki_D_minoru
–@theBobbyFish v @theleemoriarty
10 / 9c: #AEWRampage LIVE on @tntdrama:
–@CMPunk v @MattSydal
–#InnerCircle v #MenOfTheYear/@junior_cigano w / @GamebredFighter
–#RubySoho v #TheBunny pic.twitter.com/jXr9qXf0Ry– All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) October 13, 2021