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On December 17th, 2018 the McMahon family opened up Monday Night RAW with a major announcement. They stopped the General Manager gimmick and said they are putting the fans in charge of the show and would be listening to the WWE Universe like never before. Fast forward to WrestleMania and Becky Lynch, Kofi Kingston, and Seth Rollins all won major championships with the fans completely excited.
Fans also did not want to see the same talent on every show and the authority reinstituted the Brand Split giving more opportunities to more of the talent on the roster. Not to mention NXT, which was always considered the little brother of the WWE brands, is now also on cable television and has had exposure on a "big 4" PPV event.
These are all things fans have wanted for years and have now finally gotten. However, I will be taking a specific look at how Monday Night RAW has undergone the biggest change of them all. A show that many people would rant about for days after taking place, is now considered the best wrestling show on television once again. What changes have been made that have elevated the show to such strong reviews and a rise in television audience?
#5 A New Set & Logo
The RAW set has changed so much over the years and this change was very important as it gave a visual change to the show. Sometimes no matter how many small changes you make to a show or product if it visually looks the same it may be hard for you to receive reactions to the changes made.
The set here is completely different from the prior set and gives the show a more modern feel to it. Not only that but the logo was also changed. This signifies that the show has made changes you can see which helps put behind negative thoughts you made have had of the show before and create a visual separation between the two.
#4 Multiple Storylines
For years the biggest complaint of Monday Night RAW was the usage of 50/50 bookings as main storylines for feuds. For instance, you would have two superstars that would continually trade wins back and forth with neither elevating or there being a real meaning behind why they were wrestling.
That is not to say they would never have storylines. Generally speaking, the major titles would have a story but everything underneath was just 50/50. Regardless of how you feel about the Lashley, Lana, and Lashley love triangle, it has given meaning and purpose to why these characters are on television.
Aleister Black and Buddy Murphy had a trilogy of matches that saw Black win all three making him look more dominant and Murphy needing something more due to losses. In comes, Seth Rollins and his new faction that brings Murphy in and they immediately win the tag team titles. These are three storylines on the show, with none of them having to involve the major titles. These storylines are why the show flows fluidly and is a much easier watch than before.
#3 Pyro
As I have stated before, sometimes you need visual changes in the product for people to actually see the change. Whereas before I was discussing ways of distancing your product from a time where people were negative, this time I'm going to discuss it to remember a positive time.
Most people of a certain age group and older remember the Attitude Era very fondly. One of the things that stick out the most from that time frame is the pyro that was used in entrances, the beginning of the show, or to help an angle.
The reintroduction of pyro helps distance the prior timeframe where people were negative because there wasn't pyro then and immediately helps remind you of a time period you loved. The addition of pyro even as subtle as above the entrance for the returning Big Show helps add just enough to make it that much more special and help hit the nostalgic part of your brain. These reasons above help you remove RAW visually from the prior era and help push it forward with new visuals but with nostalgic additions like pyro.
#2 A Clear Vision
In the prior era, you would hear rumblings of Vince McMahon rewriting the show just hours before it came on the air. You would see angles, storylines, and wrestlers that didn't make sense with the prior week or even within the same show.
The lack of a consistent viewpoint was a detriment to the show week after week but also hour after hour. Sometimes the show was just clunky and out of sorts and it was too hard to actually watch. Now the show feels more paced and more planned out. You may not like every segment of the show — take this past week's segments involving Erick Rowan and Matt Hardy and the main event featuring Bobby Lashley and Lana vs. Rusev and Liv Morgan.
It was considered the worst hour of the show, however, it didn't feel that it didn't belong. Rowan has been defeating enhancement talents weekly while also building his story of "what's in the cage" and now he has taken a step up in talent.
The longest-running story is the love angle with the four mentioned above, so it makes sense why it would main event. RAW feels like it is well thought out in advance and is heading towards specific finishes, which sets up the beginning of the next story for every on-screen talent.
#1 Wrestling
The number one change for RAW over the past year is the amount of in-ring action that the show is now allowing its performers.
As mentioned before 50/50 booking is no longer the norm for the show and now it's more storyline based on outcomes that matter. Instead of in the prior era, where you may see one match that went twenty minutes long with great wrestling, you now get multiple matches that get time to put on exciting wrestling.
Take this past week, for instance. Rey Mysterio and Andrade fought in a ladder match for the United States Championship, Randy Orton and Drew McIntyre had time to put on a good match, the mixed tag team match had time, and there was also a Tag Team Championship match as well. The worry when you become story-based is that the in-ring action will suffer, however, with the in-ring talent WWE has today it is much easier to allow Superstars the ability to put on a clinic and get the appropriate outcome.
This show has had a complete transformation since the McMahons made that announcement back in 2018 and fans now have to applaud them for holding up their promise.
