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LOOKING AT THIS WEEK'S RAW AND MUCH MORE

Last week RAW was in neutral for over an hour until Paul Heyman made his triumphant return to the WWE. Fast forward to this past Monday night and RAW started off hot with yet another great promo by Paul Heyman. Was it just me or could this promo had been a HUNDRED times better had Triple H just not stood and rambled for what seemed to be an eternity? In my opinion, promos are much better and get better reactions when they're on the shorter side and to the point. Rarely can a promo go on for several minutes and still be considered a great one. Only a few can get away with it and Triple H is NOT one of them (John Laurinaitis is on the edge of being to handle himself for several minutes). In this promo, Heyman gave us yet another fine example of just how great he is, as he outshines every other promo on Monday night. In some people's eyes, Heyman WAS the best part of RAW, and that's a not a good sign for the WWE. The name of the game is still wrestling and if talking is the best part of your show, someone needs to do something.

There's something going on right now that you may or may not know is going on. I'm sure majority of us have and that's the sad part. We're witnessing a young, talented, should be star get misused week in and week out right before our very eyes. Can you guess who it is? If you guessed Primo, you're wrong, if you guessed Dolph Ziggler, you're right. He got his first win on TV last week in so long I had a hard time remembering when his last televised win was. If you can think of a time where there was a young stud that was ready to be THE GUY and the WWE just didn't see it, more so than with Dolph Ziggler, please tell me. It's almost as if we are witnessing a main-event guy just fade into mid-card hell, with no end in sight. Some may say, "but he has a tag team title match this Sunday on the PPV" and you're right, he is getting a title shot. That title shot is for titles that the WWE couldn't care less about. For Ziggler to get his due, he needs to get back into the main-event picture. He was there in the beginning of the year and his matches with CM Punk, in my eyes, were fantastic. Ziggler is so over; he can turn face at any moment and get monster reactions, especially from the older smart mark crowd. That's the demographic he's most over with, the older crowd who "gets" it. This needs to be the year of Ziggler and since it's only May, there's still time for the WWE to see what we all see.

OTHER RANDOM RAW THOUGHTS

• Is John Cena vs. John Laurinaitis supposed to sell PPVs? This isn't VKM vs. Stone Cold; this isn't even Eric Bischoff vs. Stone Cold. This is Laurinaitis vs. Cena. Expect a considerable dip in buyrates for Over the Limit compared to Extreme Rules.
• It took 20 minutes on RAW for John Laurinaitis to fire the Big Show. How can VKM or Triple H think THIS is a good idea? THAT much time is needed? Plus, whose idea was it to have the Big Show cry? Oh yeah, he's a giant woman. I mean, I can understand WHY he would have tears, but bawling his eyes out? Really?
• RAW deserved the 2.9 rating it received. I'll get more into ratings next.

HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS STEPS BACKWARDS

Everything that has been stated in this column is opinion. What I'm about to give you is numbers, and they don't lie. Ever since the Attitude Era, ratings have become the standard in judging how a wrestling company is doing or isn't doing. In April, coming off of WrestleMania, the WWE was WHITE HOT. Fast forward to May and now it's a turd brown, and the numbers will prove it.

• RAW leading into Extreme Rules (4/23/12): 3.33 with 4,760,000 viewers (this is the rating for the normal time of RAW, since this show was 3 hours)
• Night after Extreme Rules (4/30/12): 3.3 with 4,870,000 viewers
• RAW (5/7/12): 3.01 with 4,300,000 viewers
• RAW leading into Over the Limit (5/14/12): 2.9 with 4,210,000 viewers

So, to further break those down...

Take the RAW leading into ER and the RAW leading into OTL and there's a difference of 550,000. Take the final RAW from April and compare it to the first RAW in May, and that's a difference 570,000. These declining numbers are only in the 500k range, but while not in the millions, they're still trending downwards. It's NEVER good to trend backwards.

I'll go another step further...

Brock Lesnar was on the RAW that aired on 4/23 and 4/30. He was present for the first segment on 5/7, where when he left the building, the people turned off the TV. The number went from 4,430,000 in the first hour to 4,190,000 in the second hour.

Is the decline all because Brock Lesnar has been written off TV? I doubt it, but to say that it doesn't play a role is just ignorant. It's clear that Lesnar is still able to draw a rating. There was excitement, on the Internet, and in the arena, when Lesnar was going to be around. I was at Extreme Rules in Chicago; the crowd was ready for Lesnar. This also makes the overall product better when the crowd is white hot.

There's talk the WWE might hotshot the Lesnar and Triple H match to June or July. This makes sense. There's no way they can drag this thing out 2 months, especially with Lesnar's limited number of appearances. By the time SummerSlam rolls around, the WWE may lose any and all chances to get a great buyrate. People won't focus THAT much attention on the show name. The match itself will sell any name PPV. Call it, "A Show" and people will buy it if they want to see Lesnar against Triple H, not the name.