The three hour Raw was quite strange. They packed the first hour with three different title matches, well before the normal fans would be watching. I’d guess the purpose of this was to make a lot of fans miss what they wanted to see to try and get them to tune in early next time.
The start of the second and last hours were devoted to the Raw title situation. Putting the belt back on Orton is fine, as Batista’s win was clearly meant to be a short term credibility thing, setting up a return feud with Orton regardless of who has the belt. Triple H winning the battle royal, however, made far less sense… actually, the problem was even booking a battle royal when everyone knew the match you wanted to do was Orton vs. H. They’ve had an issue dating back years now, which has been being rehashed since January. If they want to do this match, as they clearly do, then increasing the heat on the match should be the goal of their segments. Triple H doesn’t need to “earn†a title shot; he’s umpteen time champion. These two don’t need to set up an issue; it’s already there. What a waste of time.
Finally, the Smackdown title match was the best thing I’ve seen on Raw in ages. Let’s review the match.
WWE Title Match: CM Punk © vs. Edge vs. Jeff Hardy
Raw: Three-for-All, 6/15/09
Edge spent most of this match as a foil for Punk and Hardy’s real match-within-the-match. Punk began working at Edge exactly as Jeff would, using reversals and high risk moves to claim advantage. Jeff showed, however, why he is a main eventer, using his own high flying far more effectively and several times thwarting Punk’s attempts at taking to the air. Reversals, however, were another story. Punk was clearly ahead in this, though his focus was almost entirely on Edge, while Hardy had no problem going after Punk, exchanges he often won. These all played off Edge’s opportunist gimmick as he threatened to steal the title against two guys clearly out-wrestling him.
The finish saw an awesome looking knee injury on Punk as he went over the top into the steps. For a moment, there was serious concern that either the WWE was pulling the plug on Punk again without him being involved in the result, or that this was a real injury. Punk managed to gut it out, in a move that makes me question a heel turn, while Jeff actually took a page out of Punk and Edge’s book and attacked the hurt knee viciously. He was apparently superior enough to do this and still take out Edge, but Punk is simply better at being an opportunist (see how he won the title) and he snaked the win from Jeff after Jeff hit the Swanton.
Punk over Jeff Hardy and Edge (**** ¼)
They’ve now perfectly set and established roles for Jeff and Punk. Jeff is the star, the flier and maybe even the better wrestler, but Punk is just a step behind and far smarter and less mistake prone. I watched this with my girlfriend who’s been to countless ROH shows and her reply was “That was great†while the chat room I was in lit up with comments about how genius that match was. Suddenly, I’m really looking forward to the Bash.
That’s it for today, check back tomorrow for my thoughts on The Donald and a match review incase your sick of reading about that.
