Georgie:

      First of all, let me just say this “forum” thing your doing is a great idea.  I love how your allowing wrestling fans from all over to share ideas with one another without the flaming and what not that goes along with posting on a standard message board or newsgroup.

(Thank you, I felt it was a great idea, and we are getting a great response.  I am so tired of hearing about message boards talking trash to get themselves over.  I guess that's the old school in me.  LOL)

Now, in response to your first question, which was about fixing WWE Raw’s declining ratings, I have three words for you.

Depush John Cena.

I can't sit here and lie to you.  I watch Raw every Monday night.  I don't think there’s been a Monday in the last decade or so where I haven't tuned in to the show.  Even when gimmicks like Bastion Booger polluted TV screens, I still watched and I'll continue to watch because I'm a fan of the product, for better and for worse.  However, with that said, there is only one thing that makes me change the channel during the program and his name is John Cena.  He’s a one-trick pony that the WWE continues to force down our throats and I can't bear to tune in to the show when he’s on.

I realize this isn't the first time a superstar has been forced down our throats.  Vince has given the “push overkill” treatment to countless other guys over the years – Hulk Hogan, Ultimate Warrior, Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels and Steve Austin.  The list goes on and on.  Nevertheless, those men brought something special to the table.  Hulk Hogan had (and still has) the charisma of Cassius Clay.  The Ultimate Warrior was like a trailblazing superhero come to life.  Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels both have charisma and tremendous in-ring talent.  Steve Austin not only was a great brawler, but he possessed the cutting-edge qualities that personified his “era.”  They were all cast from totally different molds than their peers.

What sets John Cena apart from the rest of the current WWE roster?  Considering the way he still dresses like a wannabe rap star from the early 1990s, he looks more like Jamie Kennedy’s stunt double from Malibu’s Most Wanted, hardly what I consider to be “the look” of a true wrestling superstar.  He lacks charisma, unless your idea of charisma consists of standing around and smiling like a goon when you’re supposed to be the company’s top face and you’re getting booed out of the building every Monday night.  His in-ring skills are laughable, to say the least.  You'd think he would've honed his skills over the years, but he hasn't.  He continues to perform that god awful Five Knuckle Shuffle… and missing his target with the punch by fifteen feet each time.  I understand this is a scripted sport, but would it kill the guy to invest time in putting together a realistic repertoire?

Cena isn't entertaining; he’s annoying.  Unfortunately, Vince has this wacky idea in his head that we want to see Cena “overcome the odds” every Monday night on Raw.  Sad thing is, he does it at the expense of guys who have what it takes to carry the show on their shoulders.  Even before his stint as ECW Champion, John Morrison was a very effective heel with a promising gimmick, so what did the WWE brain trust do?  They job him to Cena again and again, until he has as much credibility as the Gobbledy-Gooker.  Both Umaga and the Great Khali were two of the best heels I've seen in recent times and they just wound up tapping cleanly to Cena pitiful excuse for an MMA-like finisher.  And now look at what they're doing with Randy Orton.  Do the fans really need to shell out their hard-earned money to see what the outcome of the Last Man Standing match will be?  I'm no psychic, but I think I have a clear vision of what we'll see.

John Cena will overcome the odds for the umpteenth time and then, come the following Raw, Jim Ross will bellow out ad nauseam, “The champ is still here, the champ is still here!” and another lamb will be led to slaughter to partake in a feud with the prototype of an over pushed wrestler.  Snitsky?  Mr. Kennedy?  Triple H, perhaps?  Whoever it is, we all know how the feud’s going to end and that’s why Raw’s ratings are going down.  As ridiculous as the sports entertainment angles often are, at least they're enjoyable to watch, even if it’s from a train wreck perspective.  Cena, on the other hand, is the wrestling equivalent of watching paint dry.

My suggestion to Vince—like he'd even care what a fan felt anyway—is to take the limelight off of John Cena for a while and give it to someone more deserving.  Throw somebody new into the main event title scene.  If he needs a suggestion as to who belongs in that spot, all he needs to do is pop in a tape of the Money in the Bank match from the past WrestleMania or the Raw Draft from a few months ago or even the recent Raw in Green Bay Wisconsin.  Fans have been quite clear as to who they want to see chase the title.  His name is Mr. Kennedy.

As for your question as to whether or not I'll be watching TNA when it expands to an hour, no.  My decision has nothing to do with who’s getting pushed or the angles that'll be featured on the program.  It all boils down to the fact that the show is TAPED.  Even when I don't read the spoilers of a taped show, it feels stale to me.  Perhaps it’s because of the knowledge that the show’s not airing live, so how can anything outrageous really happen?  Raw’s constant saving grace is its “anything can happen” atmosphere.  Dixie Carter needs to spend a little more money to give TNA a similar tone, or it'll tank worse than ECW on TNN did way back when.