The past few weeks Raw and Smackdown Live have been so vastly different from each other. While Raw is the entertainment show, Smackdown Live is the wrestling show. However, Smackdown Live has gotten far more acclaim since the draft and has been considered the superior show 7 out of the 9 weeks since the draft.
Recently, it was reported that Vince McMahon was hospitalised after having a nasty quad tear. It appears that since then, McMahon has not been on the recent Raw and Smackdown Live cities, and has instead been sitting at Stamford, Connecticut overviewing things. It is being said that it is Triple H and Stephanie McMahon who are running the shows.
Former WWE writer Court Bauer discussed on MLW Radio:
“Right now if you watch WWE programming everyone says ‘well, always comes down to Vince and what he wants.’ Here’s the thing, yes he’s still reviewing all the scripts, yes he’s overseeing everything from afar at Titan Towers in Stamford, Connecticut, but he’s not in the trenches, he’s not signing off at the moment to moment stuff at TV.
“He wasn’t in Memphis (for RAW), or at SmackDown, because he’s recovering from a nasty quad tear injury. So Hunter, the rest of creative and Stephanie are assembling the show.
“Right now, for all intents and purposes, Hunter is in the control seat and calling shots at the [Gorilla Position].”
So ultimately it looks like Triple H primarily has been making the final decisions of what goes on air. This has been so for the past week. There is no news as to when Vince McMahon is expected back for the direct oversight and approval of what goes on.
Many have actually suspected that Triple H might be making a lot of the decisions because of late fans have been getting what they want(For example, Kevin Owens and AJ Styles as the world champions). However, Raw has been doing quite bad in the eyes of the fans as a whole, while Smackdown Live has been getting nothing but praise.
Perhaps Raw is just too big a monster to consistently run every week. The three-hour format is the biggest challenge faced, as it tends to overexpose main event talent and also dilute the show as a whole. Plus, Raw’s storytelling as a whole has been very convoluted.
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