WWE Fans Should Be More Excited About The 1001st Episode Of Raw Than The 1000th

The WWE's historical 1000th episode of Monday Night Raw has been hyped up for many weeks, and there is little doubt that it will be an unforgettable evening of entertainment.

Celebrating the past is always a hugely satisfying affair whether you are a fan, worker or owner, and a company as successful as the WWE has many achievements to commemorate. Stars from past and present will mix and collaborate, producing dream-like moments that fans have wished for.

It should be a hugely exciting evening of celebration.

Yet, WWE fans should be more excited about the 1001st show that will follow the week after.

While the 1000th show will be all about the past and remembering past greats, the 1001st show will be about new beginnings and new opportunities. This gives the WWE the creative freedom to do anything they like with their product, opening up numerous new avenues of potentially groundbreaking television.

Anyone may get their chance to shine, and anything can happen in those next Raws from this new start.

Many young talents like Cody Rhodes, Dolph Ziggler and Wade Barrett may finally be given the reigns to lead the company, and their prominence would definitely strengthen the current elite performers. Others may also see more limelight such as what happened with the emergence of Tyson Kidd over recent weeks.

This is doubly as exciting considering the large amount of untapped talent currently presiding in FCW, which many predict will ignite the passions of the WWE Universe when FCW wrestlers are promoted to the big time.

The 1000th show has limited the potential and run-time of many storylines that were being built, such as John Laurinaitis' run as General Manager of both Raw and Smackdown. Had the 1000th episode not been around the corner then he would still be in a role of power right now.

Such storylines will not necessarily be so limited in future months, and hopefully they will use the opportunity of a short SummerSlam build up to set up a feud that carries the company all the way through to WreslteMania next year.

Even a few concepts that have fallen out of favour may also be put back into place such as the reintroduction of the powerful heel.

It is well known fact that heels have only won four matches in the past 33 on pay-per-view, and their success rate outside critical No. 1 contenders matches on Raw over the last few weeks has been little better.

This is clearly due to the fact that the WWE wanted an all-face facade to help celebrate their 1000th show.

The WWE has already signed up John Cena (nominally face) verses WWE champion CM Punk (also a face) as its headline act for the 1000th show so that there will be fan celebrations whoever wins. It would not be surprising to also see Christian take on someone like Kofi Kingston to guarantee another face victory in that match as well.

This fan pandering type of booking will be very effective for the 1000th show, but it has made Raw extremely poor over the last six weeks. Continued booking in this manner is likely to drive away the audience as the product becomes more stale.

Many fans prefer a strong heel champion and enjoy the twists and turns of the fan favourite chasing the gold. This was the blueprint used to help both Stone Cold Steve Austin, who chased the corporate champion, The Rock, and John Cena who defeated long term champion John Bradshaw Layfield, to become megastars.

The 1001st show is a chance that the recently ham-strung WWE creative team has been looking for as they will have time to develop characters into well-rounded individuals who fans of all ages can engage with. They will be able to design tales that are not limited to the next pay-per-view main event that can make their own mark on the wrestling world.

Whether the WWE takes advantage of this is a completely different matter, but all the potential that the 1001st show holds should be more exciting to fans than the memories that will be relived in the 1000th episode of Monday Night Raw.