The end to Raw, with the roster, crew, and even announcers walking out on the Triple H regime, was hugely controversial. Scott Keith, Andy Wheeler, and I all hated this angle. In an effort to bring you as many perspectives on the angle as possible, we’ve asked the InsidePulse Wrestling Staff to each give a quick write-up on what they thought of this enormous angle:
The Haters
Rhett Davis: I don’t know what the WWE is going for here. There are less than three weeks remaining until their next PPV and they drop the ‘bomb-shell’ that the entire roster sans Orton/Cena/Punk/Kelly/Sheamus have no faith in Triple H and want him to step down from his position. So rather than focusing on Vengeance, they are focusing their entire show on Triple H. With only three weeks left, there should be matches moving along storylines, but the entire show, including the end, was focused on Triple H. So the ‘no-confidence’ says that if over half of the roster vote no-confidence then Triple H has to step down or assign a replacement? As someone else said, why the hell wasn’t Vince fired last year when Nexus went bonkers on everyone? There’ve only been a handful of guys who have even been bothered. Seriously how has Alex Riley, Air Boom, Wade Barrett, Mark Henry, and Jack Swagger been affected by Triple H becoming COO? And JR walking out is just the epitome of how ridiculous it all is. He wouldn’t even be there if it weren’t for Triple H. The whole ending was bizarre and there’s really no way I see this storyline turning around. Sad day considering the PPV was so brilliant Sunday.
Joel Leonard: I know that they were going for a very dramatic “company threatening†feel by having Triple H stand alone in the ring. But my feeling is a little bit “so what?†It was stated multiple times earlier in the episode that the vote was just to see how people thought Triple H was doing, and his job was never in any real threat. In all his years in the WWE, Triple H has never been a character that is overly concerned with what people think about him. So what real effect does the walkout have? Are we expecting these wrestlers to refuses matches until Triple H steps down? But what about all the Smackdown stars who have an episode before this next Raw when we’ll see the fallout from this walking out segment. I’m not even sure what beef Smackdown wrestlers would have with Triple H since the only change they’ve experienced since his promotion is getting more screen time on Mondays. So it’s a nice dramatic gesture to end the show on, but I don’t see what’s stopping Triple H from merely shrugging his shoulders, saying “Too bad,†And making everybody go back to work.
Joe Violet: I’ve always ranted about continuity and consistency in storylines, and this segment dropped the ball on all levels this time. There were several breaches of character (Beth Phoenix immediately comes to mind), and the lines between face and heel have been even more blurred than ever. The entire “no confidence” reaction itself doesn’t really make any sense because things really aren’t that much different, except for Miz and R-Truth being painted as, for lack of a better term, vigilantes. I know it’s been this way for a while, but now, kayfabe has completely disintegrated. Even more alarming is the fact that the entire WWE has become centered around HHH again, and he’s not even in a wrestling capacity this time. Normally, I’m the kind of guy who wants to wait and see where a storyline goes, but this will either be brilliantly done, or it will bomb terribly…and there’s not really much you can do after a move like this.
Wait and See
Mike Gojira: So a lot of people are up in arms about this “Triple H walk out” deal. When you look at it objectively, it’s totally ridiculous, as the guys who are complaining the most are the ones most likely to cause the chaos. To top it all off, Miz/Truth are focused on Triple H, Cena, and Punk…three guys who have yet to complain about it. However, this reeks of a situation that Creative has forced upon itself and therefore decided, “Fuck it; we know it makes no sense but we need to advance the story.” The end of Raw was a necessary evil, in my opinion, because Triple H needed to experience what Punk was talking about for weeks. Could there have been a better way to do it? Sure, but what’s done is done. I’m not prescribing to the belief that this is all about Triple H…not yet. Let’s try to look at the bigger picture. For more from me on this situation, check out this week’s Stomping Ground.
Blair A. Douglas: The PPV was not brilliant on Sunday, people who enjoyed the main event are pretending it was but their minds have blocked out every single thing that came before it. Regarding the Triple H situation, it’s not my cup of tea personally, but what they’re going for does make sense. They’re trying to draw more of the roster into this one storyline, which is not a bad idea at all. They got people to care about The Miz and R-Truth. Now they’re trying to get it to happen with more people. How else are people supposed to care about guys like Dolph Ziggler and Jack Swagger? And it doesn’t even matter if you think they’re good wrestlers or not, the bottom line is that they and guys like them being in a central storyline will increase their importance. If we see any actual good matches out of it remains to be seen, and remember that the only 3 guys on the roster that really, truly matter (CM Punk, John Cena & Randy Orton) were not out there on Monday. So their take remains to be seen, and people are speculating about it. That’s a good thing. No one is speculating about anything else going on right now, aside from CM Punk. Again, this wasn’t exactly my cup of tea either, but is it better than watching Mark Henry fall on people and cut generic IM A MONSTER promos? You bet your sweet lawn jockey it is.
Steven Gepp: After an average PPV, RAW needed to do something to let the people at home know that WWE is still worth watching. What they got was something out of ‘Bold And The Beautiful’, where people did things so against character that it made no sense. Yet I still want to see where it’s going because I cannot see where it possibly could be going. This was just confusing. And how does this play to a PG audience? I think this is a serious misstep, but I am keeping my mind open… for the moment.
CW Sanders: Well, I’m taking a more “wait and see” approach.” I know in the past I’ve been pretty harsh on this whole storyline just because every week they threw in just one more ridiculous twist to the point where it was hard to remember everything. But with this newest addition to the story, I know they’re trying to lead to something big for Survivor Series so I’m giving WWE the benefit of the doubt in that there will be some sort of logical reason for all this at least through SS. After that point, who knows because WWE has a hard time with ending something. It does seem odd that Punk was the one that started all of this and yet now he doesn’t seem to be part of anything and now HHH is taking Punk’s spotlight. Not that HHH stealing someone’s spotlight is new or anything. MY whole point in this nonsensical diatribe is that I’m remaining optimistic despite my or anyone else’s better judgment. With that, I say, huzzah huzzah huzzah, and in all things, huzzah.
Positive Reviews
Mark Allen: I am actually in the minority on this. I actually didn’t mind this past week’s RAW and found it enjoyable for the most part. Were there flaws in the Triple H vote angle? Sure. The Beth Phoenix “we’re girls†statement was cringe-worthy and incredibly out-of-character for her. But I liked that Barrett spoke for the workers and then got called out on his hypocrisy. Is this a storyline that is a lot of talking and not necessarily leading to not a lot of wrestling? Sure. But there have been many angles like this in the past. For me I enjoy that is an all-encompassing, company wide story that weaves an entire theme through the company. It’s obvious that is building to an incredibly explosive story for Survivor Series, using actual elimination matches, something most of us crave out of our Survivor Series matches. With Cena, Orton, Sheamus and Punk not present for the meeting it immediately makes them conspicuous by their absence and thus makes them more important. It is obvious that the company is telling the fans that these are “the guys.†This already looks like the make-up of the team that would team with The Rock against the company’s top villains. As for the villains, so many have been integrated into this story, that it is great. David Otunga has finally found a purpose for him that is useful and makes him relevant for the first time in over a year. Plus add in Vickie’s team of “blonde bombers,†Christian and The WWE Champion Alberto Del Rio that immediately makes for a cohesive team. Not to mention the “fired†Kevin Nash, R-Truth and Miz should all be floating around by then again, making for plenty of options for the heroes to work against, and most likely lead to a second elimination match with the storyline’s b-team. This will then lead nicely into the end of the year, the all-important Royal Rumble and the holy grail of the Road to WrestleMania. Love it or hate it, fact is, this has been the most talked about episode of RAW since CM Punk’s first pipe bomb back in June. And for WWE, that’s a good thing. So I am taking a wait-and-see approach with everything here and will anxiously await this week’s RAW to see where the story leads from here.
Kelly Floyd: I actually enjoyed this. Call me crazy, but I was interested. It felt like real results, real consequences from a series of actions that we watched happen. Of course it had its brutal moments…I could smack Beth Phoenix for the pathetic ’50s flashback she induced. But I can see the seeds planted from numerous incidents, so it almost makes it feel real again. There’s a million and one ways they could take this…will it be the correct one? Well, probably not. But the potential is there. Hey, it had me intrigued, and I’ve allowed Raw to completely drop off my radar. And, I’m a cynical bitch. But mainly that first thing.
Finally, you can find Scott Keith’s thoughts at the end of his Smark Raw Rant, Andrew Wheeler in his Judicial Review and a special For Your Consideration, and my own at the end of 10 Thoughts on Raw.
