I’ve watched Raw pretty religiously since the beginning of the year and of course the one episode I miss turns out to be like the best episode of the year. How I roll.
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1) I’ll be honest. I really thought C.M. Punk was only going to hold the belt until the end of Raw last week before they put it on JBL. On the other hand, maybe they’ve just decided to totally eff it and go in another direction. Although, I will say I’m getting the distinct sense that they’re going in a Jericho/HHH/Angle direction with this reign… where the guy with the title is just kind of an afterthought between two other guys.
2) Although I will say this… if JBL is getting amped up about no one being in charge, couldn’t they run an angle where he buys up all the common shares of available stock and runs the show as a majority share-holder?
3) Listening to Cole and King do the commentary on Raw, all I can think of is how good the commentary on Smackdown must be now.
4) I haven’t seen Rey wrestle a match since the great Smackdown Blackout Of 2002 started. How long has he been using this missle splash as his finisher in lieu of the West Coast Pop? I have to say: not impressed with it.
5) The out of tune singing isn’t really funny anymore. I’m not sure if it ever was… but how long do we have to keep driving the joke home? We get it. Really.
6) Very odd segment when CM Punk was giving an interview and one of the lighting things fell over in front of Punk and Todd. I thought it was part of the show until a couple production assistants ran into the shot and grabbed the thing and moved it off stage. I’d always thought these segments were taped earlier in the day to avoid things like that. Live TV I guess.
7) The crowd reaction during the “screw with JBL’s limo” segment was confusing me. They seemed like they didn’t really like Crime Time? They didn’t pop or anything for the car getting wrecked. I was very confused by the whole thing.
8) It needs to be said: Punk needs an alternate finisher to the GTS if we’re supposed to buy him beating bigger guys without giving them concussions or breaking their noses. The one he gave to Snitzky was very belabored and really look like it was an inch from shattering his nose. He needs a little-guy finisher. Badly.
9) So, I’m confused. Are these random screw-ups in the backstage segments an indication of “Vince isn’t here and the show is suffering” or is that kid actually the most impressive person to sneak on camera at a live event ever? If it is that, isn’t it kind of overkill to do two in one night?
10) I’ll say the Batista victory is not exactly what I was expecting… but I guess it was a vehicle to whatever batch of crazy they’ve decided to do with Kane this year. Props to Michael Cole for being the least athletic guy under 40 in the federation. I mean, I’m not a wrestler… I’ve never spent an hour in the business. I’m pretty sure I could throw Kane a jump so the choke-slam could look somewhat impressive. We’re figuring this is the Undertaker?
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It definitely seems like they’re subtly changing Raw. Between Kane, the backstage screw-up things, the top-heavy title picture, Jericho/Michaels, and Kofi/Birchhill — it seems to indicate that they’re planning on going a little heavier on the writing. I think this will probably be a good thing. They pretty much entirely reset the Raw roster… we have to know something about these guys.
Not as good a show this week but still good. Awesome that I missed a top five Raw.
