The Dry Raw Midcard Heading Into Elimination Chamber 2012

Aside from the diva match, basically every segment on Raw was devoted to main-event matters. The matches and promos revolving around the Elimination Chamber title matches are obviously build for main-event matches. The story between Triple H and Undertaker involves two legends, both of whom have been in the main event of Wrestlemania before. Even the feud between John Cena and Kane involves the centerpiece of Raw and the man who will face The Rock at Wrestlemania, in what will probably be the final match of the card, not to mention Kane/Cena has taken the main-event spot on Raw already at times.

Where are your midcarders? Specifically, where's Jack Swagger, your U.S. Champion? He's on Superstars. He's winning, but he's on Superstars. I can understand this midcard title losing attention heading into Wrestlemania, but they can't even develop a midcard feud for the title heading into Elimination Chamber? Swagger will probably still end up competing somewhere on the card, but this could have been a nice chance to build a good midcard feud for the title. When was the last time Jack Swagger got a good feud for himself? As you can see, tossing someone a title is no clear sign that they will be pushed well. The Diva's Championship feud is getting better build than any kind of Raw midcard feud? I may want the divas to be treated better, but I'm not delusional. At least, not that delusional. A feud between Beth Phoenix and Tamina can be developed fine on just Smackdown. Tamina is on Smackdown's roster. She has been gaining momentum off Beth's sidekick, Natalya, on Smackdown. As far as I am concerned, this is a Smackdown diva feud, which is good. Even the Intercontinental Champion on Smackdown has been looking good for months now. Cody Rhodes hasn't really missed a step with the WWE's booking of him. How would it look for Raw's midcard title feud to be getting developed on Smackdown. It would look kind of stupid. Moreover, it isn't even happening. And yet, things that could be handled just on Smackdown are getting too much focus on Raw than may be necessary.

You can say that they are stacking the deck on Raw for the ratings. I read that it was a 3.25 this week. Now, is it because you have all these "stars" on there, or because of hype from just the real top names, like Undertaker, The Rock, Triple H, Cena, and so on. At the end of the day, I still believe well-built feuds and storylines, regardless of whether they involve midcarders or main-eventers, can draw better than "stars" can. Why am I using the quotation marks of doom? To differentiate from the real legends who can cause hype to draw, like The Rock, from the guys who are being pushed well, may actually be very over, are great workers, but have not really proven that they can draw great ratings, like CM Punk. Jack Swagger is neither being treated as a "star" nor is he a legend, but I still believe using him well can make for an entertaining and interesting feud for a lot of fans out there.