RAW Guest Hosts. Problems & Solutions

For several months, we as wrestling fans have been
subjected to some of the most vile, irritating, indulgent television,
on WWEs attempt to distance themselves from the word "Wrestling"
even more, on Monday Night Raw with the idea of guest hosts.
While i first thought the idea would be a positive way of
expanding the WWEs audience and broadening their horizons,
if they manage to acquire the right people, what they have
done is alienated die hard viewers even more from
the product and desecrated half of their roster in an attempt
to become a cheap Saturday Night Live knock off show.

To find proof of this all you have to do is look at the
list of "D list" celebrities that have botched lines, shown
no interest in the product and made the actual Wrestlers look
like complete fools. Jeremy Piven, Al Sharpton, Ben Roethlisberger,
Nancy O'Dell, Verne Troyer, Joey Lagano Kyle Busch, Dennis Miller are
just some of the names that have no business in a wrestling ring and wouldn't
know a piledriver from a pile of manure.
If any one in the WWE had an ounce of common sense they would realise that the
ratings for the episodes that these people hosted, were watched
not for them but in spite of them. Many of them showed disrespect to the Business
and pissed all over Wrestlers in general by not even having the courtesy to learn
their lines or even learn the names of some of the wrestlers (or "" Superstars "").

The short list of non sport related RAW guest hosts, who i found entertaining
were The Osbournes, Bob Barker and Seth Green. The only problem with hosts like the Osbournes,are that they would have been great 5 years ago when they were actually making headlines and had a TV show. I will get to that issue a little later but the people who actually managed to get the WWE coverage on sports networks
like Mike Tyson, Floyd Mayweather Jr and Shaquille O Niell bring a certain credibility to the show and are the way to go in the future if a Wresting legend is not available.

Which brings me to the fact that the best Raw quest hosts by a comfortable mile are the list of WWE legends such as Jesse Ventura, Bret Hart, Ted Dibiase, Sgt Slaughter, Dusty Rhodes, Roddy Piper and Trish Stratus. Why?? Because they are Wrestlers. The audience loves OR hates them and give them a reaction. It doesn't matter how old these guys are , they are old school and know how to work an audience and NOT let the audience work them.
To quote Jim Cornette, people who tune into a WRESTLING programme, to see WRESTLING, want to see WRESTLERS, actually WRESTLE. That is why if the Guest host idea is to work, we want to see wrestlers. I for one would love to see The Iron Shiek, Honky Tonk Man, Bobby Heenan, or any Wrestling Legend show up and host the show. Not only for the entertainment, but from a personal standpoint i would rather see a legend get the payoff for hosting the show than some spoiled Hollywood brat
who doesn't deserve the spoils that Vince McMahon provides.

While i understand the WWEs a public traded company and they do need
a celebrity to bring them main stream publicity, the advertising department of the
WWE obviously is a little bit out of touch, with what people are interested in right now.
Vince McMahon and the WWE creative think that whats popular at
the moment are gross out shows like Jackass and reality TV Shows
like The Osbournes and movies like Blades of Glory. This shows how
out of date they are with what people want. My personal demographic of Male 18-25 have had very little to Entice us to watch the product with the new PG era but it wouldn't be impossible if they studied demographics and got a handle on modern pop culture. Even funnier is the fact that that they are aiming their product at children, yet has any one of the RAW guest hosts appealed to children?
Would it have killed the WWE to call up Nickelodeon or Disney and acquired an act that children would go crazy to see such as Miley Cyrus, Jonas Brothers or whoever the latest brat is to make it big. Or perhaps they could have realised that for teenagers
and young adults the biggest shows on TV for the past few months are
Jersey Shore, Glee and NCIS. Can the WWE not reach out to a member of the shows that are actually in the headlines right now to host RAW?

Perhaps the easiest idea of all would be for the WWE to check concert dates against their live shows and see what musical artists are in town the same night as them, and book them on the show to perform. A three minute live performance of a song actually appeals to me more, than seeing HHH parade around with a midget on his shoulders trying to act like a sophomoric idiot with an erection and no idea what to do with it for a 5 minute segment.

One example i witnessed of the WWEs lack of Market Research, potential for mainstream publicity, and a lack of interest in current entertainment industry was the UK edition of Raw on November 9th.
They decided to go with Ricky Hatton, who although not terrible, was not the best speaker and didn't contribute anything major at the time. At the time the biggest show in the UK and Ireland( markets which WWE depends on greatly), was the X Factor (the British version of American Idol) drawing up to 15 million viewers every weekend on two nights and dominating not only the ratings, but the tabloids and press also.
Would it not have benefited the WWE to try and get a judge such as Simon Cowell (who has worked with them in the past) or one of the other people involved with the show.Or perhaps even chastise the contestants to get a plug in a newspaper, to cash in off of the success of the show?
This is just an example of one of the opportunities for the WWE to appeal to a larger audiencewhich they missed out on in a big way.

However maybe I'm just being cynical and patronising?
Perhaps the WWE have tried to acquire these talents, but they said no and who
would blame them? They don't want to be associated with 50 year old men dancing
with midgets, and dad actors making homophobic jokes.
Even Jerry Springer an upcoming RAW guest host has stated when asked - Why are you hosting Raw?, He said  "I do stupid things". Perhaps he will fit in well with DX and Santino Marella and Hornswoggle. On his old show he was used to Hermaphrodites, Couples Cheating, backstabbing, midgets, strippers and bikini models, so an episode
of Monday Night Raw will be right up his alley. However if you are as sick and tired of this as i am, do yourself a favour and turn off the TV when the guest host segment is on and show the WWE that people who tune in to watch a wrestling programme simply put, want wrestling.