On Monday Night Raw, it was revealed that Donald Trump had purchased WWE Raw, which is the flagship show for Vince McMahon's company.
Donald Trump Buys WWE Raw
On Monday night, Vince McMahon strolled down the aisle of the Time Warner Cable Arena in Charlotte, North Carolina. He promised a huge announcement for wrestling fans.
Vince McMahon announced that billionaire real estate developer Donald Trump had purchased Monday Night Raw from him.
The Chairman of the WWE then announced that starting next week, Donald Trump was taking over the show. Next week's episode of Raw is scheduled to be a unique one - no commercial interruptions for the entire two hours of programming.
Monday Night Raw now belongs to Donald Trump.
Not Really
First and foremost, I feel the need to clarify that this is just a storyline. Donald Trump is not the owner of Monday Night Raw. Vince McMahon did not sell a piece of his company to him.
There are a handful of wrestling fans out there that believe that this "transaction" is real. Many of them are already on various wrestling message boards talking about how much Donald Trump is going to change things.
Once again, this is just a storyline.
Mass Marketing
This entire thing is a publicity stunt concocted by Vince McMahon to gain more attention to his company. He found a willing participant in Donald Trump, who is not one to avoid the spotlight for very long.
WWE is trying to do a marketing blitz right now, and they're hoping to see some major results in the immediate future.
Just take a look at what the company has been doing as of late.
This week, they produced a three hour special episode of Raw that included three big title matches.
Over the past few days, they've had a couple of title changes (Batista, Tommy Dreamer, Kofi Kingston, CM Punk, Randy Orton) to induce some interests from the wrestling fanbase.
They're also promoting a big Last Man Standing title match next week between Triple H and Randy Orton. That's not usually something that WWE gives away on free television.
Combine all of this with the mainstream marketing scheme involving Donald Trump, and it's quite obvious that Vince McMahon is deperate to improve the numbers immediately.
What's Next?
This publicity stunt shouldn't last more than a month. More than likely, this thing will end as soon as Vince McMahon gets the mainstream media attention that he craves.
Don't expect to see Donald Trump having a weekly on air role as the general manager of Raw. Don't expect to see this culminating in a one-on-one battle between the Donald and Vince McMahon.
The only that's worth looking out for is to see Vince McMahon doing a skit where he fires Donald Trump. Knowing the egos involved, though, it would be quite a surprise to see it happen.
Closing Thoughts
Just another publicity stunt by WWE. Hopefully, Vince McMahon gets what he wants, so we can get back to wrestling again. |
