By James Caldwell, Torch assistant editor

WWE executive Stephanie McMahon says WWE is continuing the celebrity guest host gimmick on each week's Raw because they sensed the audience wanted something new on Raw after Donald Trump became "owner" for one week.

"When Donald took over we realized that our audience wanted to see something new," Stephanie McMahon told BusinessWeek in a feature article on WWE. "We have the ability to change our storyline to suit whoever hosts."

BW's angle in their feature story is WWE channeling NBC's Saturday Night Live with a weekly guest host interacting with regular talent and promoting some sort of project in exchange for additional exposure for WWE.

USA Network's executive VP Chris McCumber said WWE is a ratings magnet and celebrities need a platform to promote a project, so it's a natural fit. He reasoned: "Raw is like a male soap opera anyway. We're just adding a little more entertainment."

Caldwell's Analysis: The BW article really rubbed me the wrong way with the author, who is listed as the Los Angeles bureau chief for BW, seemingly thumbing his nose down at wrestling and wrestling fans who "wouldn't get" Jeremy Piven's reference to The Miz as "Les Miz" on last night's Raw. WWE also has an inferiority complex in play where they seemingly need celebrity involvement to remain relevant to the entertainment community despite being a consistent Top Five ratings draw on cable TV 52 weeks out of the year.

Stephanie McMahon's explanation taps into what WWE doesn't seem to understand that the audience is looking for something new, but in the form of new stars, new angles, new match-ups, and new stars to buy into and emotionally invest in. Not have another round of Orton-Cena-Hunter merry-go-round or another movie shoved down their throats for two hours making them want to puke on the TV screen.

Link: BusinessWeek featured article on WWE.

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