The most distracting thing about watching RAW for me this week was the backstage news of the latest WWE Wellness Policy Violations list. It’s unclear if Umaga really would have suffered match causalities like he did if he wasn’t on “the list” but at the same time, he got a great amount of camera time and lost the IC Belt to Jeff Hardy and got destroyed by Triple H and his trusty sledgehammer. I think for anyone following the situation that it wasn’t really about the stories this week, moreso of: who is really on the list? How is the WWE going to handle the storylines of the major players? Will Randy Orton face the consequences? There’s really a PPV in two weeks?
I wish I would feel differently about this but I feel the only reason the WWE is cracking down now is they wanted to beat the media and Congress scrutiny. I don’t feel it’s for any other reason, otherwise the Wellness Policy would have been better all along. I wish it because they want to send a message to the guys and the world that cheating to have that body will get you in trouble but I don’t feel that is the message since WWE has always pushed guys who were ripped. This simply represents the WWE doing a publicity save and damage control for a already shaken public image. However, if the WWE does decide to take the Wellness Policy seriously, they will be able to bounce back from the bucket dumping from the media.
Since Cryme Time no longer have jobs (so much for the auctions and “Money! Money! Yeah! Yeah!” being over), the tag team division is back to being stale. Jeff Hardy is now the IC Champ and in a non-exciting finish in a pretty dead two person division and tonight, CM Punk wins the ECW Championship from supposed-Wellness Policy violator, John Morrison. Poor Mickie James is carrying Cody Rhodes in tag team matches instead of having the opportunity to go after the Women’s Championship, however, Jillian Hall and Davari made me laugh with their Grease karaoke before the match. Beth Phoenix should destroy Candice Michelle and there should be no other outcome because it wouldn’t make sense unless it was a total fluke victory.
The primary story other than the real one, would be the McMahons/Kennedy/Triple H and Who’s The Son? storyline was how they chose to wrap up the show. I thought the last segment went entirely too long. The teasing of Triple H is a given if Stephanie is involved, and the “things are looking up” clue should build up enough intrigue for viewers to tune in next week. I’m sure the Google search engine hits should be pretty big for those keywords this week. Kennedy pretending to be the son still works especially in the presence of more than one McMahon and they should keep going with that. Just to surprise the audience, I think Eric Bischoff if it could be possible, would be a fun choice as the ‘bastard’ son because it would full circle and bring back the feud between the two that should have never died down in the first place.
Always remember, for things to change, you have to make movement. Thanks for reading and for all the feedback, feel free to contact me anytime at Bam@4sternstaging.com.
