Backstage Notes On Vince McMahon Handing Down The New Edict For WWE TV, Internal Concerns
As noted before, Vince McMahon reportedly handed down an edict in last Monday's pre-RAW production meeting that said there will be no more wrestling during RAW and SmackDown TV commercial breaks. The idea is that you can have a match that goes through the commercial break, but there can't be any actual wrestling during the break. They are going with the idea that that legitimate pro sports don't play their contests during breaks, so WWE is adjusting their match presentation.
It was also reported that all WWE TV matches are now to end within the same segment, and to not run over the course of multiple segments. The edict officially went in to play at last Monday's RAW, which is why a number of matches were so short and why we had two 2 of 3 Falls match. PWinsider noted that the exception to the rule is that matches with multiple falls as each fall would take place per segment, which goes back to the 2 of 3 Falls matches. WWE is also considering the idea of trying matches with multiple rounds. There's no word yet on if they will move forward with this idea, but it was pitched at some point in the last few weeks, and would be similar to the old European rounds system.
Regarding last week's meeting with Vince at RAW, Wrestling Observer Live noted today that it was described as a situation where Vince just threw the new edict out there, nonchalantly, and then moved on, leaving several people a bit surprised.
It's interesting to note that multiple sources have said they wouldn't be surprised if the new edict is dropped or forgotten about soon.
There's a lot of speculation that this idea may have come from Fox network officials. It's been reported that Fox wants WWE to be more sports-driven when they bring the SmackDown product to Fox Friday nights on October 4. There's no word yet on what kind of influence Fox will have over WWE, but there have already been reports of Fox making requests for changes.
It was noted on Wrestling Observer Live today that this new edict will likely see various ideas done to make sure there is no wrestling during commercial breaks, such as DQ finishes and re-starts, which may or may not come off good on TV. It's already been reported that there's talk of doing another 2 of 3 Falls match on tonight's RAW. The new edict is why they did the 2 of 3 Falls matches on last week's RAW and SmackDown. There's also significant concern that this new idea will really kill the live crowds, worse than they already are at times.