http://www.flickeringmyth.com/2016/...r-survivor-series-last-minute-changes-on-raw/
The viewership figures for this week’s Halloween episode of RAW are in. And, quite fittingly, they’re terrifying.
The show did 2.59 million viewers on average, which is the second lowest number in the last 19 years according to the
Wrestling Observer. The lowest number happened the previous month, when RAW only drew 2.46 million viewers against the U.S. Presidential debate.
SM Note: I guess the casuals are over Goldberg already.
Dropping that third hour of RAW would definitely make the show more watchable, but that is in no way its only problem. Many have reported it’s Vince McMahon’s last-minute changes that hinder any consistent or logical storytelling – as Dave Meltzer reported with the last-minute decision to give Charlotte the Hell in a Cell win instead of Sasha Banks, and now
Wrestling News World withRAW’s Survivor Series plans.
According to the site, Vince changed out most of Team RAW’s line-up for Survivor Series very late in the day, which resulted in big booking changes for everyone else’s immediate storylines before Monday night’s show. Cesaro and Sheamus were meant to be in the team, but they were moved to the tag match to make room for Braun Strowman – who was originally scheduled to work Sami Zayn.
The report notes that one observer thinks Vince did this to show everyone that he’s still in charge and that all booking decisions run through him, and that these sorts of last-minute changes
“accounts for 80% of RAW programming”.
Team RAW will go up against Team Smackdown at Survivor Series, which Daniel Bryan announced last night as AJ Styles, Dean Ambrose, Randy Orton, Bray Wyatt and Baron Corbin. Orton was thought to be taking time off because his wife is due to give birth around then, so he might be switched out closer to the time in-storyline.
Wrestling News World are also reporting that Goldberg vs Brock Lesnar is giving Vince McMahon considerable booking issues. Goldberg doesn’t want to commit to any wrestling dates afterSurvivor Series because he wants to see how he performs against Lesnar in the ring first. This makes booking the outcome of the match rather difficult, as you don’t know whether to beat him clean, or use a screwy finish to keep him strong for a future bout.
