- 30,184
- 1,991
I've been mostly MIA the past week between vacation and then catching up on work. So I need to finally get this off my chest. While last week's Raw may have been a good stand-alone episode, it will be remembered as the episode that ended any chance of hope for a change of direction in WWE. WWE chose to hotshot 3-6 months worth of angles into a single two hour show. Rey Mysterio won the title in a good opener over The Miz. The crowd popped big for this. That alone should have been the big event of the show. But instead, new WWE COO, HHH, came out and announced that John Cena would be receiving his rematch that night, so Rey Mysterio would be forced to defend his title on the same night that he won it. First, if any of this was based on logic, why the hell would Mysterio accept this? Second, a rematch means you re-wrestle the same guy. CM Punk was gone, so there was no rematch. If they wanted to do Cena vs Mysterio, Summerslam is in LA where Mysterio will be a huge face. It would have been a good match, and Cena could have won the title at Summerslam. Del Rio could then cash in, either at Summerslam or soon after, winning the title from Cena. You then have an instant Del Rio vs Cena feud to carry through the September and October PPVs, if not longer (God knows they've dragged out Christian/Orton long enough). Cena eventually wins the title back. You then have Punk make his shocking return at either Survivor Series or Royal Rumble, where he can claim he is the real champion and we get the big Champion vs Champion match which would have drawn HUGE money. Why? Because it would have felt real.
But no. They chose to have Cena beat Mysterio in a great match from Mysterio but awful match from Cena. Cena became the 11 time (I think?) WWE Champion. Then, Cult of Personality hit, CM Punk came down the entrance set decked out in full wrestling gear, complete with a CM Punk nameplate on the WWE Title, and stood face to face with Cena in the ring. Remember everything Punk did to make us think he was giving faith and hope to us hardcore wrestling fans? How he pointed out everything wrong with the current WWE product. How he promised to leave WWE. How he won the WWE Title in one of the most memorable WWE main events of all time. How he DID leave with the title, showing up at Cubs games and on Indy shows. Well, we can forget about it now because any realism that we thought was there with Punk was flushed down the toilet to make this just another WWE storyline. Some said it would be stupid to keep Punk off TV because his character was so hot right now. I say WWE is stupid to put him back on TV. All of the casual fans that were talking about WWE, all of the legitimate news outlets that were covering Punk's story, all of that is gone. WWE brought CM Punk back so they can sell t-shirts and have a slightly higher buyrate for Summerslam. However, after Summerslam where Punk will almost assuredly lose to Cena, everything will go back to normal. CM Punk will remain a main eventer, but he won't be a Cena or Orton. Cena will defy the odds once again to be the Superman Champion. And most importantly, anything Punk says or does from this point forward will be looked at as just another wrestling angle. Yes, we knew all along this was part of a WWE storyline, but we WANTED to believe it was real. We wanted to put our faith in Punk that he was speaking for us, the internet wrestling fans who are sick and tired of WWE's PG era, crappy wrestling, and same top matches over and over. Now, I feel like I have the worst case of blue balls on earth. We were teased with something that could have been great, just to have it pulled out from us because WWE couldn't keep Punk off TV for more than eight days.
So tonight, Punk will address his return. Regardless of how great his promo is, it won't be the same as before. What is he going to say, Vince lost power and he decided to return? Well, he was just calling HHH a doofus a few weeks ago that would put the company in worse shape than it was when Vince was in charge. I just don't see how they can salvage this at this point. HHH will announce the main event for Summerslam tonight as Punk vs Cena to unify the belts. Hopefully they get Cena a legit belt this week.
Jim Ross returned last week which was nice. However, it will likely be a Ross/Cole/Lawler trio on Raw which will be absolutely irritating to listen to as Cole will just insult Ross the entire show so Vince can get his rocks off backstage.
There is a Divas Battle Royal to determine the #1 contender to face Kelly Kelly at Summerslam. Diva Battle Royals are always classics.
John Morrison was re-signed (from being injured?) last week. Looks like a Truth/Morrison program.
Sorry for my negatively, but I've kept this bottled up all week as I never got a chance to speak on it last week.
