Maven equals some of the best ratings for Raw in a long time!
Written by:

The Appetizer: Maven + Suit + World Title = Ratings
Courtesy PWTorch.com

Monday’s edition of WWE Raw saw the debut of Maven’s new push as a main event level player. Sure, he was at the Survivor Series in the main event, but he always seemed to be the outcast player, not really one of the boys which included Randy Orton, Chris Jericho, and Chris Benoit. It had been pointed out at various times leading up to Survivor Series that the other three babyface partners seemed to be shunning Maven, not really including him in post-beat down celebrations or moral victories. For example, Randy Orton left Maven hanging on a high five more than once and appeared to want nothing to do with him. Enter Monday Night. Maven was the main player. He was the GM…the man with the answers. He set Randy Orton straight in the backstage area. He took Orton’s abrasive argumentative approach and left Orton tasting a counter-point good enough for use on ESPN’s PTI. But that wasn’t the only rub he received. Remember Triple H’s ten minute dressing down in the GM locker room that Maven played off perfectly? Triple H doesn’t grant ten minute lectures to just any jobber turned main event player. And don’t email me about the ripping I gave Kevin Nash for his ten minute promo on Impact. Nash didn’t add anything to the show…Triple H did. He set the tone for a great storyline that was to play out at the end of the night. That’s a whole ‘nother discussion for another time. Back to our regularly scheduled programming.

Maven capped off his main event rub with a decision. Join Evolution or battle for the World Title? That was the decision in question. As Maven walked down to the ring at 10:48 PM, I along with other fans, tried to picture what Maven would like in Evolution. He showed he could dress sharply and hold his own with a lady, or two by side. He stayed tough in the adversity of Triple H’s breath on him for ten minutes. Maybe he would make a good tag partner with Batista. Yao and T-Mac. Shaq and Kobe… before the fights. Alas, it wasn’t meant to be, but that didn’t mean Maven’s main event push was through for the night. Enter the match. It wasn’t a classic wrestling fight complete with non-stop wrestling and ROH style action. But it was a classic match. Maven didn’t perform very many wrestling holds. But they were effective. The match wasn’t clean. It wasn’t a bout to see who the best wrestler in the company is. It had plenty of run-ins and outside interference. But, it was effective and helped the match in so many ways. The run-ins made the match fun. We saw Chris Benoit do something dirty for the first time in…years. We saw babyfaces consistently cheat like heels. We even heard Jim Ross defend the actions of Benoit and Jericho. It was fun. It was exciting. It made you think that anything could happen on Raw. And that anything almost happened. I, for one, along with a lot of other fans, had this feeling that Maven was actually going to win the WWE Title on Monday Night. Towards the end of the match, I couldn’t help but picture the scenario of Maven holding the WWE Title. I thought about how the babyfaces would handle Maven holding the very thing they all want. I thought about the imminent backstabbing that Maven was apprehensive about and Triple H was predicting. I thought about Chris Benoit winning back the WWE Title from Maven. How would Chris Jericho handle that? How would Randy Orton handle that? Would all of the babyfaces blow up on each other allowing Triple H to sit back and laugh as his competition crumbles in front of him? But, alas, Triple H held onto the WWE Title for another day. He escaped…and by the very slimmest of margins. But, the night belonged to Maven.

The World Title match showed that Maven was important. It could be that Jericho, Benoit, and Orton will forget about Maven now that his one week in the spotlight is over. It could be that Maven will find himself back on Sunday Night Heat doing jobs to whomever is left on the WWE’s lower card roster. But, based on his performance on Raw, I seriously doubt that will happen. Maven was a referee’s arm short of winning the WWE Title. He was the main player in one of the highest rated Raw’s this year. You could say that it was only because fans were tuning in to see who was controlling Raw. Yes, they certainly were. However, fans also could have tuned out upon seeing Maven as the GM, with the assurance that they weren’t going to miss out on Orton, Benoit, or Jericho as GM this week. They stuck around though. A 3.9 overall rating for Maven’s night as GM isn’t anything to sneeze at. Maven realized main event status, and it looks like he’s going to be there awhile.

Love him or hate him, Triple H is the standard for WWE Raw. Much the same way, Jeff Jarrett is the standard for TNA. Yet, each one chooses to use his respective power in different ways. There was a time when Triple H was out for his own interest. He still is, don’t get me wrong, but now, he has decided to use his backstage power in a different way. He’s not intent on squashing up and coming stars to better his own star power. Randy Orton has had his fair share of successes on Triple H over the past few months. It hasn’t translated into a World Title win, but he’ll have his shot in the next few weeks. Triple H was the first one to elevate Shelton Benjamin. Now, look at Benjamin. Intercontinental Champion. Fast, rising star. Huge upside. Just last week on Raw, as I described in the appetizer, Triple H worked an amazing match with Maven. He didn’t finish him off with a Pedigree in two minutes. He didn’t make it to where there was no doubt Triple H would walk away champ. There was a crazy notion Maven would walk away the WWE Champion. Maven looked strong in the Title Match vs. Triple H. Did it make Triple H look weak in the process? No, not at all. It made for an effective storyline that helped the product.

Jim Ross is synonymous with great pro wrestling coverage. He’s always made the Raw product seem much better than it really is. He took a match, Triple H vs. Maven, that looked no more than intriguing on paper, and turned it into a five star classic from his perspective. Ross’ commentary was dead on in making you excited about Maven’s prospects for winning the belt. He made you believe it was possible that Maven had a chance to walk out of Indianapolis with the WWE Title in hand. He’s told it like it is for 20+ years. If he doesn’t feel like a match is a five star classic, he’s not going to call it like it is.

Pacing is one of the most important aspects of any wrestling show. How do you present your characters? How do the wrestlers respond to other wrestlers? How are storylines presented? Is everything thrown on the wall with the hopes that something will stick? Are storylines deliberately thought out and planned? Is there attention to detail? I thought Wade Keller said it best in his Friday Audio Update that the Raw writers did a superb job in creating multiple Triple H/Maven segments with the intention being to build up Maven’s chances of winning the World Title which made it seem like there was a distinct possibility he could actually win. They created a beautiful Triple H/Maven segment in the GM office where Triple H presented the “once in a lifetime chance to win the Title” or “the once in a lifetime choice to join Evolution.” That set the tone for the night to where everyone from Randy Orton to Chris Jericho to Chris Benoit to Batista to Ric Flair was able to weigh in on the situation. It built up the Main Event Match as something to behold; something that could change the life of Maven. There was methodical build up to an epic conclusion.

Ever since the WWE went to the new style of logically paced wrestling matches complete with psychological battles, the wrestling has improved dramatically. Matches are important and meaningful. Near falls are exciting and unpredictable. Storylines are created and ended inside the squared circle. Maven vs. Triple H told a great story. WWE Raw viewers were treated to the debut of the heel side of the top babyfaces on Raw. Chris Benoit, Chris Jericho, and Randy Orton tried to play one up on Triple H, the master of outside interference. The story unfolded that the babyfaces were tired of all the outside interference on Evolution’s behalf. It was payback. It helped create a believable main event match that appeared to be an upset in the making. It told a great story of having one chance to be the top wrestler in the business.

Add to favorites  I  I  Print this page

Back to Top