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As Geno Mrosko reported on Tuesday, the 1,000th episode of Monday Night Raw was a huge ratings success, drawing over 6 million viewers for the whole three hour show, a level of viewership that has not been seen for over three years. It was clear from the live crowd reactions and the TV ratings patterns that both audiences came to see nostalgia.
Surprisingly, the segment where Lita defeated Heath Slater with the help of the Acolyte Protection Agency, John "Bradshaw" Layfield and Ron "Farooq" Simmons, and nine other WWE legends even managed to outdraw the preceding confrontation between Triple H and Brock Lesnar to build the SummerSlam 2012 main event. This surely wasn't expected by the WWE creative team, as that match was placed in a time slot that usually loses a ton of viewers.
So what usually happens when you stumble across ratings gold? You repeat the same formula, often until it is long past its sell by date. It thus should come as no surprise that WWE are planning many more legends segments in the future, according to Dave Meltzer in his latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter:
There was talk with the success of the legends segments and the Raw 1,000th show of having one former star brought back on every Raw.
It would be one way to help fill the extra hour now at their disposal, something I'm sure WWE's already overworked writers are dreading on a weekly basis.
There should be no shortage of former stars to bring in, as roughly 25 people were originally booked for Raw 1000, but had their appearances cancelled at the last minute when WWE realised there wasn't enough time to include them all on the show. That's not to mention Kelly Kelly and Alicia Webb, the former Ryan Shamrock, who were backstage at the show, but the women's segment that they were scripted to be involved with was cancelled when other earlier segments overran. So there's enough nostalgia acts to bring in to keep them going for the rest of the year at least.