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Maybe I’m just in an old-school mode tonight, but last Monday’s RAW was a perfect example of what’s wrong with WWE programming at the moment. Typically, RAW is a two-hour-plus-overrun broadcast, right? Right.

So, in the entire first hour of the program, we were treated to only 17 minutes of actual wrestling in the squared circle. Now, of that, 11 minutes went to a somewhat solid JBL vs. John Cena match. Yet the remaining six minuts was taken up not by one, but two other matches that involved superstars crushing superstars.

In a broadcast hour, minus commercials, WWE has approximately 42 minutes to work with. That means while 17 minutes were in the ring, 25 minutes were spent doing in-ring promos and interviews, wrestler entrance music, backstage interviews and skits, and hyping product for WWE and its advertisers.

Folks typically enjoy wrestling because of the wrestling.

It gets worse; the second hour and overrun ran about 1 hour and seven minutes in broadcast time; of that, only 15 minutes were spent in-ring with wrestlers battling each other, and eight of those minutes were spent on a highly abbreviated main event.

So in the second hour, we had probably more like 49 broadcast minutes with the overrun, and only 15 minutes were spend in the ring. The other 34 minutes was all the same non-wrestling stuff the first hour featured, plus Vince McMahon doing the Million Dollar Mania thing.

So let’s do a final analysis, shall we? In about 90 broadcast minutes, we only got six matches total, ranging in length from two mintes to 11 minutes, totaling 32 minutes of wrestling altogether. The remaining 58 minutes was all promos and extraneous content. We’re getting twice as much “other stuff” as we’re getting in terms of real wrestling.

Something has to change about that, and fast, before so much of the audience goes away, we have to nail closed the exterior shutters and call it a day. On the bright side, if you still have friends who say they don’t like wrestling, now you can honestly tell them, “Don’t worry. Raw doesn’t feature much of that stuff anymore, anyway.”

People washing their hands in a glass sink shouldn’t throw… stones? Whatever; the point is that there are some big changes on the way for ECW that could conceivably improve that show’s standing in the ratings.

Traditionally, ECW tapings have been the “warm-up act” for Smackdown shows, ever since the WWE brought ECW back a couple years ago. However, the company recently unveiled a plan to move ECW tapings from Tuesday nights with the Smackdown brand to Monday nights with the Raw brand.

There are some natural fallouts of this strategy, of course. First, it means curtains for WWE Heat. Second, it means more cameos on ECW tapings by Raw-branded WWE superstars, and fewer by Smackdown-branded superstars.

This is a huge hit against the Smackdown brand; not only is it moving from The CW this fall to MyNetworkTV, a huge step down, but it is losing the extra draw the ECW brand brought to its tapings. While details like two ECW superstars currently holding the Smackdown-branded WWE tag team titles are sure to be worked out before the switch is made, one can only hope that the switch will also means Raw and ECW won’t brand-blend to the extent that Smackdown and ECW did.

For me, that diluted both brands. I’d hate to see RAW dragged down that path. No start-date has been announced just yet.

In the wake of Monday’s Raw, the WWE has announced that William Regal, who plays the role of Raw general manager and who won the King of the Ring tournament about a month ago, has been suspended for 60 days by WWE for violating the Fed’s Wellness Policy.

The WWE must have known the decision it was about to make when Raw went on the air Monday, because they booked Regal to lose a “loser leaves Raw” match against Mr. Kennedy. The match provides a storyline reason for Regal’s absence.

Exact details of Regal’s violation are not known.

In the past, Regal did battle substance abuse problems and had apparently cleaned his act up for the past several years. Whether this suspension is a result of a relapse or an unrelated violation is not known at this time.

Meanwhile, on Raw, McMahon teased the return of “The Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase to WWE, as possibly the next GM of Raw. Of course, a few years ago, after “firing” Eric Bischoff, McMahon teased Dusty Rhodes as a possible next Raw GM, but that tease never paid off, so it’s entirely possible the DiBiase cameo is a head-fake by McMahon to buy time while he ponders his options for replacing Regal as GM, either in the short or long term.

A short run by DiBiase as Raw GM would be quite a bit of run, though perhaps not quite as much fun as shower chairs. However, I expect that the ultimate choice will either be an uninspiring temporary measure, like Coach or Shane McMahon, or perhaps a test-run for a long-term replacement by, perhaps, Ric Flair in a pure GM role.

It should be noted that DiBiase does have a son learning the trade in one of WWE’s developmental territories.

Randy Orton’s old entrance music was catchy, immediately recognizable and fun; much like the car crash sounds that trigger Mick Foley’s entrance, the shattering glass that triggers Stone Cold Steve Austin’s entrance, or the “You Think You Know Me” whisper that precedes Edge’s theme song, Orton had a terrific entrance theme.

But, of course, WWE is planning on releasing another soundtrack soon, so away they go with changing up some of the wrestler’s theme songs and Orton is the latest victim of a very bad new theme song that will have Raw’s top heel running for the nearest self defense products from all the catcalls it will earn him… and not in a good way.

My vote is to dump Orton’s new theme song immediately, and go back to the standard right away. Much like some of the awful theme song changes they’ve tried to foist on Triple H and Undertaker over the years, this one just is not an improvement. It’s generic and forgettable and needs to disappear. Some entrance themes, like HBK’s, simply never ought to change.

I hate to say it, but I’m already bored with the whole King Regal bit. While it made for a nice shocking moment the first time Regal ended Raw early, mid-match, the whole ongoing bit of turning out the ring lights and stopping good promos and good matches (while the bad ones seem to still go on uninterrupted) has quickly worn thin.

Regal’s power trip is about as intriguing as a natural acne treatment video to a senior citizen, and it’s ruining important moments in the Raw broadcast. The most blatent example of this from last night’s Raw was when Regal shut down the first promo Jeff Hardy has cut since returning from a two-month suspension related to the WWE’s Wellness Policy.

That was an important moment in re-establishing Hardy’s character, so having it cut off was more than just an angle; it cheated the crowd. Wherever this is headed with Regal, it needs to be over soon, since this is not creating the good type of “nasty villain” heat, but is actually resulting in viewer apathy, since it seems like any time a promo or match gets interesting, they pull the “Regal cuts the power” angle.

Drop it, fast, Vince!

WWE star Chris Jericho deserves more than the minor spotlight he’s receiving on Monday Night Raw so far. His cross-brand fued with MVP was hot, but Jericho is someone who deserves a bit more of a shot at a title that’s not of the USA/International variety.

As a veteran, Jericho exemplifies good mic skills combined with an electrifying personality and decent, if not exactly spectacular, matt skills. Sure, he’s no John Cena, but the best thing the company could do right now is rest Cena from the main event spotlight and rebuild his character in a way that might reduce the booing. Sort of like the effect of keepnig the blinds closed during the nasty winter months so that when you open them again in the spring, you appreciate the sunshine and the look of the outside a bit more than you did before.

Meanwhile, with Triple H the current champion, he needs some fresh faces to challenge him and Triple H-Jericho is a fued that hasn’t been overplayed much; in fact, the two have rarely been opponents. Here’s hoping someone with some sense finally gives Jericho an extended push instead of having him get slapped around as part of other wrestlers’ fueds in The Highlight Reel.

Talk about trying to RAM a screwjob down our throats? While I was thrilled to see the King of the Ring return a couple weeks ago, and on a free Raw broadcast, no less, I was vastly disappointed with the booking.

While King of the Ring has often been used to anoint the WWE’s next big heel, all it was used for this time around was to further the career of a well-past-his-prime wrestler and Raw general manager, William Regal. Regal didn’t need the King of the Ring crown to get over with the crowd; he’s been around long enough that he’s as over as he’s going to get.

Of all the possible endings for the latest edition of the King of the Ring event, giving the crown to William Regal after stacking the events and matchups in his own favor, was perhaps the worst of all possible endings, save except for an ending that would have put the crown on Hacksaw Jim Duggan.

In the upcoming Fatal Four-Way match at Backlash, JBL has seemed the odd man out. While Cena, Orton and Triple H belong in the title picture, JBL has seemed like the interloper and the subject of an unmerited push.

That was remidied at the England broadcast of WWE Raw, when JBL cleaned house on both Triple H and current champ Randy Orton, in a well-orchestrated match that made him seem like a world-beater. Sure, John Cena’s absence from Raw made JBL’s victory a bit hollow, but the image of JBL holding Orton’s belt over his head as Raw closed will certainly help give JBL the final push he needs to make the Fatal Four-Way seem like a contest of equals.

After the beating Triple H and Orton took at the hands of JBL, they’ll definitely need some massage therapy to be ready to go again at tonight’s RAW King of the Ring broadcast.

Last Monday’s Raw broadcast had one of the best women’s title matches on display in a long time. Champion Beth Phoenix and challenger Mickie James put on a long, roughly seven-minute contest that was surprisingly physical. The payoff came when the imposing Phoenix felt victim to the fast-moving James’ quickness for a surprise win and a title change.

In all honesty, though, the victory is somewhat pyhrric, given that Phoenix was given the title almost immediately upon entering the WWE and was never established well as a character on TV broadcasts. Her title reign was long but rather empty as a result, and putting the title on James gives the fans of WWE a performer who has established an appealing persona, as well as a record of working hard in the ring.

Truth be told, though, this is a match that would have been better-suited to WrestleMania, rather than a Raw broadcast; but the women’s division is currently a bit morose, given too often to sex-appeal matches at PPV, rather than athletic title matches like the one one Raw last Monday.

Perhaps a rematch for grudge purposes will be worked up for a future festool PPV. Give James and Phoenix some time to cut promos against each other and a 12-minute spot to do real ring work, rather than bra-and-panties crap, and you’d have a very watchable WWE Women’s Title match for a future PPV.

One of my favorite WWE PPV events is coming back, but not as a pay-per-view. Instead, the legendary King of the Ring event will take place on a single, three-hour broadcast of Monday Night Raw this Monday, April 21, on USA Network.

I used to say I’d give up a lifelong season pass to the North Padre Island rentals of my choice just to see King of the Ring return. Now, I don’t have to. It will be a load of fun to see who they put the crown on this time. King of the Ring made its reputation on crowning the next big WWE heel star, and launched the WWE careers of such folks as Stone Cold Steve Austin, Bret Hart, Ted DeBiase, Kurt Angle, Edge and Brock Lesnar.

The PPV disappeared for four years, and came back in 2006 as a Smackdown-only event, with Booker T crowned as King Booker. There was no King of the Ring in 2007, but this year’s Raw event will include competitors from Smackdown and ECW as well as Raw.

I can’t wait!

WWE’s Chris Jericho proved on last Monday’s RAW broadcast from England that he has the potential to pull off one of the quickest heel turns of all time. All he had to do was walk out on stage to Ric Flair’s entrance music and begin to cut a promo against Shawn Michaels.

Although Michaels is working a program against SmackDown’s Dave Batista at Backlash, the groundwork is already being laid for a Jericho-HBK feud that could help headline Raw-branded events throughout the summer. Both men are ring veterans who know how to work a match, work the ring psychology to get the crowd on its feet, and both cut excellent promos.

If this is going somewhere, I’m ready for it. And Jericho can just be glad that Michaels wasn’t wearing golf shoes when he performed that Super Kick to Jericho’s jaw.

Inserting John Cena into the Backlash main event wasn’t as well-handled as Triple-H’s insertion. Cena didn’t appear on the show until the second hour, and only after Orton, Triple H and JBL are all the worse for wear due to fighting each other so Triple-H could earn his spot in the match.

While requiring Cena to earn his way into the main event at Backlash gave Cena’s challenge the appearance of being equal to Triple H, keep in mind that H faced a completely fresh Orton and JBL, wheras no matter who he faced, Cena was dealing in storyline with two wrestlers who would have already fought that night.

This is why so many wrestling fans boo Cena and treat him like someone selling wholesale fashion jewelry, rather than lapping up his “the Champ is here!” hype. Of course, there was a way they could have booked Raw to make Cena’s insertion into the match just as thrilling as Triple H’s.

It should have been a 3-on-1 handicap match with Cena having to face Triple H, JBL and Orton, and come away with a win, in order to be inserted into Backlash’s main event. Pulling off a 3-on-1 upset would have made for a higher-odds storyline of overcoming adversity, and the Cena insertion would have gone down better and perhaps even turned some of thosse “boo the babyface” rubes into cheers.