WWE Raw 1000 Was Cleverly Booked Because It Worked on Many Levels

Criticism of the WWE's creative team is a common subject amongst wrestling fans, but they are rarely given the credit for the successes that the company has.

Tonight's 1000th episode of Monday Night Raw was a triumph of intelligent booking within the confines of overt advertising and product promotion, so the fans should be pleased with the direction of WWE's creative team on this occasion.

It might be argued that anyone could have booked a good wrestling show with the star power available to them but nice touches, like bringing out DX in two parts, added a little extra drama and comedy to proceedings.

Adding Damian Sandow to the DX section was another masterstroke from the booking team as it elevates Sandow's position within the company. It doesn't matter that Sandow was resoundingly beaten, because he was outnumbered and against some of the most iconic figures in the business.

This one segment has given the fans several cheap pops and elevated a new talent for the future, which is a great way to start such an iconic show.

The most impressive thing about the booking was the creative team's understanding that there were going to be several independent groups of viewers who would be pleased by different things.

The interaction between Paul Heyman, Triple H and Stephanie McMahon was the example of this use of different levels of wrestling literacy.

On the surface, this was a tussle between the wits of three business people who were verbally sparring to get the result they wanted. This could be enjoyed by anyone who had never seen wrestling before.

Younger and newer fans of WWE's programming saw the stand alone feud between Lesnar and Triple H which has been developing over the last few months. A mercifully brief reminder of what had come before was all that was needed to get those fans back up to date.

More experienced fans would have picked up on the references to those powers that had come before. Recalling Heyman's run in WCW and his failed venture that was ECW resounds strongly with those who have been watching wrestling for many years and they got to enjoy the memory of past battles that have come and gone.

On another level entirely were the references to backstage politics that have been rumored across the internet for many years. Jibes, such as Stephanie relishing in the failure of ECW, may seem to be part of the act for those who do not use wrestling news sites, but those who do will remember the incidents in question and feel like the WWE is reaching out to embrace those obsessive fans.

To touch all of these different groups is an impressive display of skill which must be replicated more often to increase viewership.

Some fans have been disgruntled that stars like Stone Cold Steve Austin and Edge were not on the show, but that is not creative's fault. Nor were the copious amounts of time dedicated to the WWE's social media commitments, which may end up becoming boring quickly, their choice.

WWE creative showed that they can reach all their audiences on Raw's 1000th show and should be praised for doing so. However next week is the real challenge for the creative team as they need to continue their good work and keep up with this intelligent writing over a long period of time.