Well, Raw was interesting. Not only was it an entire show of wrestling, not only did we get an end (for now) to the CM Punk storyline, but we also got a new WWE Chairman. First, let’s look at the resolution to the Punk situation.
CM Punk, in a moment to be celebrated, won the WWE Title from John Cena, figuratively thumbing his nose at Vince McMahon, and left the company. That left Raw without a title. On Raw, a tournament was announced for a new champion to be crowned, but where does that leave Punk?
Punk, reportedly, really does want some time off. There is, at this point, no reason for him to rush to return, as the anticipation for his eventual comeback should be huge. When he does come back, my guess is around Wrestlemania, he is still the champion and can pretty much immediately do a “real†champion angle against whomsoever is holding the title at that time. That match, for the title, could potentially stand up to Cena vs. The Rock in terms of fan interest, if the right man has the title. My current pick for that spot is Triple H, as face of WWE Corporate, vs. Punk, as the voice of the fans. But, we’ll get back to Triple H shortly.
WWE holding this tournament really served to point out how homogenized their style is. Many of these matches were utterly interchangeable and sloppy. From the start, four different people predicted to me that Miz vs. Rey was the final and the only drama was whether Miz was champion or Rey won and Alberto Del Rio cashed in his Money in the Bank win (show review here). Because of this predictability, there were only two interesting things to come out of the tournament.
1. Evan Bourne is the new Shelton Benjamin. He got his little push for Money in the Bank, then wasn’t involved in the tournament at all, even to the point where WWE went heel vs. heel in the first round. With Sin Cara likely gone, either Bourne or Kofi Kingston can move to Smackdown so that both may be pretend pushed and pretend protected.
2. Also interesting was Alberto Del Rio losing cleanly to Kofi Kingston. Del Rio was protected from this really mattering by the power of winning MitB the night prior, but Kofi is far, far below Del Rio on the perception totem pole. Perhaps WWE doesn’t view Del Rio as highly as we think? More likely, WWE needed a face to go against the Miz, but, even so, some protection for Del Rio in terms of interference or a distraction would be expected.
Finally, WWE Raw ended not with John Cena being “fired†again, but rather Vince McMahon being “relieved†of his CEO duties by Triple H. This is great, as a non-active Triple H in charge is a new role, and particularly interesting since it can immediately reveal, get rid of, or reinvigorate interest in the Anonymous Raw General Manager. In addition, with a new direction being teased since around Wrestlemania, Triple H in charge makes that distinction clear, allowing new risks to be taken. Finally, it changes the legitimacy of the tournament that made up this Raw A new boss means everything changes. Welcome to the new Raw. Whatever you think of Triple H, at least they (finally) aren’t making it easy and predictable.
