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Let's be honest here.
As much as The WWE Universe is running to the internet to shout long and hard about how much last week's edition of Monday Night Raw was awful, they fail to realize the full situation that WWE is in right now. In fact, they fail to realize that the company is several men down, suffering from poor publicity and competing with other entities for attention.
With that being said and fan complaints reaching a fever pitch that hasn't been seen since Roman Reigns was pegged to be the next top guy, here are five reasons why WWE's recent programming isn't exactly their fault. Of course that doesn't mean they don't share some blame for what's going on, but there are a barrage of factors that are outside of their control
As always, let us know your thoughts in the comments below and also be sure to tell us if you think the bad programming is WWE's fault or not?
#5 Competing with a stacked TV schedule
One of the biggest problems for Monday Night Raw, especially in recent years, is the fact there is just so much competition during its time slot. Beyond that, the shows or programs that they are competing with are very popular, which is is of course going to make it difficult to compete.
For example, WWE has to deal with Monday Night Football, The Voice, Dancing with The Stars and sometimes even Big Bang Theory at the start of the fall. If nothing else, WWE is stuck in a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation and will have to choose between giving the reaming fans something interesting to watch, and waiting until more fans are paying attention.
#4 Fans are being overly critical
Its no secret that the one of the most uncomfortable experiences in your life will be looking yourself in the mirror and questioning whether you are right or not. Unfortunately for The WWE Universe, its starting to look like they were wrong to overly criticise Monday night Raw and should have been mindful of what WWE is going through right now.
Of course no one wants to do that and they also probably don't want to take into account that The November 26th edition of Monday night Raw was sort of an in between show. Meaning, it was still a few weeks out from the next major pay per view, which was probably some of the reason that they were spinning their wheels creatively.
In the end, maybe WWE is to blame for stretching out The Authority storyline with Baron Corbin for so long and taking three top stars off television with storyline interviews in two weeks. With that being said however, that still isn't a good enough reason for the absolutely insanity from The WWE Universe.
#3 Injuries
It may not have been as bad as the injury bug that led up to WrestleMania 32, but the company is dealing with a lot of banged up superstars. In fact, between Braun Strowman, Alexa Bliss, Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn and Bobby Lashley all dealing with some type of injury right now, WWE doesn't really have the star power to do what it wants.
Another interesting thing about these injuries is that they seem to have the company on the defensive right now, which could be a reason for the repetitive storytelling that fans have seen. Of course there's nothing wrong with wanting to conserve your talent, especially with WrestleMania getting closer and closer, but maybe WWE went a little too far with it.
In the end however, it's WWE right to do that in this situation and fans should be grateful that the company is trying to conserve its best stuff for later on down the road. Sure, WWE probably should have stepped up their programming a bit on the latest edition of Monday Night Raw, but did they really have a lot to work with anyway?
#2 Roman Reigns' leukemia announcement
Another big problem WWE is having right now is the fact that they are still reeling from Roman Reigns's leukemia announcement earlier in the year. In fact, WWE was forced to change several storylines after the announcement and while they are slowly getting back on track as the weeks go on, the fans seem more and more unhappy.
With that being said, the fans, myself included, need to understand that WWE might be in conservation mode right now and probably need their longtime fans support. Whether The Universe collectively decides to do that or not is up to them and their viewing habits, but hopefully they will be in it for the long haul and support WWE in their time of need.
If not however, they need to take a hard look at their fandom and figure out what exactly it is based on. Of course that's not to say that fans owe WWE anything, but if you really love pro wrestling, wouldn't you not want to give up on it in its time of need? Furthermore, wouldn't you want to support it and try to get behind whats going on?
In the end, its not like WWE didn't tell a story and isn't telling throughout the recent editions of Monday Night Raw. The problem though, was that The WWE Universe didn't like the the story or the way it was being told, which is fair, but is that really a reason to give up on the product?
#1 No faith in Braun Strowman as the top guy and his injury
Believe it or not, it all comes down to WWE not seeing Braun Strowman as the top in the company while Roman Reigns was away. It also comes down to Strowman being out with a shoulder injury during his main event push, which only furthered the idea to WWE that The Monster Among Men wasn't their guy.
With that being said, WWE is in search for a new top guy and really don't have many options to choose from at this point. Of course it looks like it's going to be Seth Rollins, especially after rumors have begun surfacing of him facing Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 35, but there is always time for WWE to change that
WWE could even do Brock Lesnar versus Seth Rollins versus Dean Ambrose for The Universal title, which would allow WWE to play up The Shield's history and also let Dean Ambrose play spoiler to Rollins winning the title in Roman Reigns's honour.
If nothing else, its definitely a WrestleMania worthy match and would keep things interesting in several ways.
