Hey! 10 Thoughts on Raw is back, which is a…good thing? Who knows. Before we get into the red meat here, I’d like to inform everyone that I, provocateur/muck-raker that I am, will be appearing on Tuesday’s edition of Inside Pulse Wrestling Radio, where Matt Harrak and I will tackle the issues of the day. Or hit them with a steel chair, I haven’t decided yet. If you have a question or comment, you can call us while the show is live, starting at 6:30 Eastern/3:30 Pacific. After that, you can always download the show as a podcast. Let us know what you think!
Moving on, I’ll begin by saying that I’m not holding my breath for the WWE to start answering some of the questions they’ve brought up over the last few weeks. It seems that the company is looking to extend this Punk/Nash/HHH storyline as long as they possibly can. Good thing? To some degree; the WWE has had a bad habit of dropping or resolving storylines too early. On the other hand, the story needs to progress, or else it’s going to grow stagnant. I hope that something happens this episode. I’m not sold on the idea that they’re actually going to pull the trigger on a plot-point this week. Well, let’s get to it then.
1. HHH just opened up a whole new can of worms with his “super-show†initiative. He said that this push will continue for the foreseeable future, so that leads me to believe that the WWE is doing a test-run for ending the Brand Extension permanently. If ratings improve, say goodbye to the divided roster. If the ratings decrease or stay the same, they may return to the status-quo.
2. So we get Punk, HHH, and Nash to open the show. Maybe I was wrong, maybe the WWE will further this storyline tonight. I do find it a bit odd that the WWE is using the nWo theme for Nash; didn’t the nWo stable almost kill the WWF before the Attitude Era kicked off? I wouldn’t think that would be something they’d want to remind people of. Oh well. I’ll say that Mr. Just-for-Men has been a bit better on the mic tonight than in previous weeks. Ah, and Johnny Ace shows his weasel tendencies once again; no surprise there. Okay, the Punk vomiting bit killed me.
3. Letting Punk loose on the mic has been the WWE’s best decision in years. Every week I expect Punk to have an off-week. Every week he knocks it out of the park. I am a little surprised that the WWE set up the Nash/Punk match for Night of Champions; I was betting on a three-way title match as you all know. At the rate things are going, I expect to see Punk fall that night and for the story to continue.
4. Am I hearing things? Did Jerry actually have some positive words for Vickie Guerrero? That can’t be; I must be hallucinating. In the meantime, this has been a nice brawl between Dolph and Randy, which is a good way to start off an episode of Raw. Getting another match against Randy is good for Dolph, and really pushing Randy to the limit like he has makes him look strong. I think we’ll see Dolph get another push after this storyline with Vickie ends; he’s earned it. Let me revise my earlier assessment: this match was great.
5. Sigh. Cena promo. I can argue about the quality of the promo, but at least it will keep the crowd’s energy up as they either cheer or lustily boo John. Jeez, this promo has been so hopelessly cheesy, even a Mark Henry appearance would make it better. Christian coming out certainly makes it better. I think the guy got a surprisingly warm reception in Tulsa this week, or is it just his theme music that gets a good pop? Probably the latter. And…right back to stupid kiddy jokes from Cena. I thought you were getting better during the Punk feud! How dare you make me look like a fool!
6. Miz has been firing on all cylinders on the mic recently. I would really enjoy a Miz/Punk main-event program after the current storylines are over and done with. And we’ve had another good match here. That’s the one thing I’ll bet on with these new “super-showsâ€: we’ll probably get better matches overall.
7. Man, the WWE is really pushing this Nash/Punk storyline. We’ve had several continuations of the story so far tonight. It’s actually been a great thing to see the WWE really, really get behind some of their stories lately.
8. Ah, fake Sin Cara! Actually, Hunico does have a very similar body-type to Mistico, so he’s got that going for him. However, he does work a slower, more conservative style than Mistico. I have to wonder how long this Sin Cara gimmick is going to last, and if casual fans will pick up on the fact that it’s not the same guy behind the mask.
9. The WWE needs to get to creating a single theme for the team of Kofi and Evan Bourne. I’m actually far more interested in talking about the new tag champs’ team name and a new theme than their match. The previous champs, who shall not be named, just aren’t worth talking about. I find it funny that King is trying to backpedal…sorta…kinda…in regards to his comments about the previous champs last week. You dropped napalm on those two, Jerry, you can’t backpedal on that! I know that Mr. Jennifer Hudson was trying to menace Jerry, but it looked like he was giving him some bedroom eyes.
10. Wow, Beth and Natalya are psychic! I was just thinking, “Why the hell aren’t either one of them in a match tonight? This is a big Raw; they could use the exposure leading up to Night of Champions!†No sooner had the thought formed than the Divas of Doom showed up with that exact promo. Pay more attention to these two, WWE, you could use their extraordinary mental abilities.
Extra Thoughts!
11. Inside Out looks better than The Chaperone, which is damning with faint praise. I don’t know; WWE Films’ output has been underwhelming, to say the least.
12. The main-event was…okay. It was your usual main-event tag-team stuff. The big news is Punk getting in the ring with HHH instead of Nash. This could go either way: the good way is Hunter getting Punk over, the bad way is Hunter making Punk look weak. Win, lose, or draw, HHH needs to shed his reputation for burying guys. Hopefully, now that HHH is primarily going to be a backstage guy, he’ll understand what’s at stake and make Punk look good.
Big Raw tonight. There were three weak matches: Hunico vs. Swagger, Kelly Kelly vs. Whichever Bella Twin, and the tag-team match. Other than that, a good Raw which added some new intrigue. As for the “super-show†format, we’ll see how that goes. I like it, but I know a lot of people are worried about how an end to the brand split will effect the mid-card. Let’s be honest, the mid-card has been weak for a while. The bright spots, guys like R-Truth, Cody Rhodes, Dolph, Kofi, Morrison, etc., will still get plenty of opportunities to shine. The guys who only work house shows or Superstars, well, I think they’ll keep doing what they’re doing.
One more thing before I end this. I would love it if you, the readers, contributed to this column each week. In that spirit, I’m going to propose this: after you watch Raw on Mondays, you can e-mail me your thoughts in a paragraph or less. It can be about the show as a whole, a particular superstar, or a storyline or match. Just e-mail me your thoughts to the address below by midnight Pacific time, and I’ll include the best ones in that week’s column. I’ll also include that e-mail and a reminder in next Monday’s Caught in the Ropes. So get your ponderin’ caps on for next week, and I’ll see you later.
Send your thoughts to: shoddyworksucks@gmail.com
