Stand Up For The WWE?

Vince McMahon is now pushing this new idea that the fans should "stand up for" the WWE themselves. Instead of WWE singing their own praises, which they did a lot of for one huge segment tonight, have the fans show that the WWE is great and defend them. This is stupid. WWE doesn't deserve it. Instead of pushing what the fans really want, or at least building what the WWE wants to push in a better way to get it over, the WWE pushes guys like Sheamus into the main event, mistreat over talent like Matt Hardy to the point where they either want to leave or get released as part of the mistreatment, and then hype certain shows just to provide mediocrity. They can hype all the PR until the end of time, it does not take the place of an entertaining program.

Smackdown's rating went up again. That makes the low rating the live debut episode on cable, which featured John Cena, even more funny. Makes you wonder how much Cena is really worth. I'm not saying he's worthless, but the WWE is realizing they cannot bank everything on this on guy. Luckily, as I have mentioned before, the storyline between Undertaker and Kane is a good thing going on right now for Smackdown. I just hope they do not prolong it needlessly long without good development.

Speaking of prolonging something needlessly long without good development, I almost thought Raw would end just on the note that Smackdown has momentum going into the big tag match from tonight's show. They had a very trivial backstage segment with Nexus and Cena. Cena was "forced" to raise Barret's hand. You had to end Raw on that note. It is not hard to see where WWE thinks they have hit gold. They push this idea that Cena cannot stand taking orders from Wade Barrett. Barrett acts smug about all of it. Cena acts like he wants to snap or like he is depressed about it all. Did Cole even say this stuff was "disturbing" before showing a highlight from last week? Last week's main event segment between Barrett and Cena was given a lot of time and both men put in their emotion for the promo, but it really wasn't that horrible to watch. I cannot even imagine kids old enough to watch WWE legitimately feeling "disturbed" because of this. Maybe it is because I was raised in New York City. Anyway, various segments tonight pushed that same idea. The in-ring beating of Orton was good. I enjoyed the segment of them trivializing Cena as if he was a waterboy, then having Barrett spill it in his face. That makes you feel bad for Cena. But the raising of the hand? And to end Raw? They could have easily attached that to the segment where Barrett lays Orton out. I understand that they would want to end Raw with Barrett's smiling face, but they could have had them do more than that. After all Barrett is having Cena do, or not do, this was supposed to be a big deal? If this thing goes on much longer, they will have one backstage segment early on where Barrett has Cena clean the toilets. They will have an in-ring segment where Barrett orders Cena to beat the crap out of R-Truth, then Eve. The Rock will return and beat Randy Orton for the WWE title in the main event, but then we'll go to a backstage segment right after that. Wade will say, "Cena! I order you to loan me 25 cents! I'll pay you back next week." Cena, with veins ready to pop and eyes twitching, will respond, "THERE'S ONLY SO MUCH A MAN CAN TAKE!", then beat the crap out of Barrett. Show ends with Cole and Lawler questioning whether this means Cena is fired. My point? The WWE can do a better job as they progress what Barrett has Cena do. I know the hand raising is symbolic, but it is a weak ending for the show. Besides, having Cena put the title around Wade's waist may be an even bigger insult after Wade wins.