Backstage News on the Creative Turmoil at Monday's Raw

The WWE's creative team sure had a chaotic time leading up to—and at—Monday's Raw.

For many fans, being a WWE writer is a dream job. Hey, who wouldn't love the chance to come up with angles, book wrestlers in matches and interact with many of your childhood heroes behind the scenes?

Alas, it seems that these days, being a WWE scribe is anything but a dream job.

Indeed, as Raw faces pressure from basketball—partly thanks to going up against a major NBA game, the show did a terrible 2.6 number on Monday—the folks on the creative team are under significant pressure to deliver right now.

The three-hour format and post-WrestleMania season lull certainly don't help matters, either.

In this week's (subscribers-only) Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer gave an unnerving insight into the craziness that was going on with creative backstage at Raw on Monday:

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This was not a fun week to be on the writing team. They had their usual show written and ready to be presented on Friday. Then, with the Miami Heat vs. Indiana Pacers game, they ended up having to work on a rewrite, I guess feeling the show wasn’t what they needed given the competition. Then, on Monday, Vince told the writing team they were redoing the show again. The show was actually being rewritten as it was going on. 

"

Granted, if you were watching Raw, this isn't really a surprise. While it had its highlights—Daniel Bryan's work, mostly—the whole show came off as cluttered, chaotic and totally lacking in direction.

Why exactly did WWE tease a confrontation between The Shield and the McMahons when the whole thing was totally forgotten about after the break?

The worrying anecdote about the show being re-written while it was on air also calls to mind some of those wacky stories you would hear about the now-defunct—and wholly incompetent—WCW promotion.

Certainly, there are solutions to Raw's creative woes and floundering ratings. But it's doubtful that constant rewrites and over-worked bookers are that answer.

It might be time for McMahon to relax a little with his writing team.