You understand why WWE brings in Jerry Springer for the supposed season premiere of Monday Night Raw. This is what WWE does: thumb its nose at its hard-core fans while trying to reach out and grab at what it can from the mainstream.
But … Jerry Springer? Actually, not a bad booking decision there, going for the king of TV shlop, to intermediate in the feud between the Bella Twins.
A nice touch, also, with the taped segments with their parents, even getting mom to side with Brie, and then bringing out the brother to also side with Brie. It’s interesting that the deck is being stacked against Nikki as the heel here, almost as if creative itself is forgetting who is heel and who is face.
It was in line with what you’d expect, also, to see the twins fight, and that Springer would get caught in the middle of the fight, and of course if you’re going to have Jerry caught between the twins, he might as well end up getting hurt and carted out on a stretcher.
The multiple thumbs up from Springer were a bit over the top, and his timing during the live interview segment was surprisingly off, very off, for a guy who does this for a living, albeit not in front of that size of live crowd.
It can bother actual wrestling fans that we’re forced to endure this kind of shlop as WWE goes for the cheap mainstream attention that comes when a D-list celebrity enters the wrestling realm and mixes it up with the superstars, but again, this is what WWE does. It’s almost as if Vince McMahon doesn’t want to concede that he made his millions being a wrestling promoter, and would rather do anything else than promote actual wrestling matches.
That said, if it gained WWE a few more viewers, given that this week is the first of 16 that will feature head-to-head competition with the NFL, which is hurtin’ time for WWE in the ratings, then so be it. Just make sure to do something next week and in subsequent weeks to keep us watching.
– Column by Chris Graham
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