raw Discussion Thread

[METAL ON METAL]

Glad Ziggler is finally using the Downstait theme, they've had that done for close to a year - cracking version.

 

What the hell did Eve do?

[d-d-d-dAz]

My misses is not a wrestling fan, and normally reads her book whilst i'm watching the show, but on the Raw where Punk done his 'shoot' she couldn't keep her eyes off the screen. She was totally roped in, and has been since that Raw. The following Raw she was calling Cena all the idiots going because he went against Vince to get Punk re-hired (she actually started to believe it was all real and thought Cena would get fired). Then when Punk won the belt she was in utter shock! The following night when Vince got relieved of his duties, that actually upset her quite a bit, she went on about it for a few days and couldn't understand how that could happen and made comments like "I feel so sorry for Vince, thats so unfair" (by this time, i was enjoying going along with it). Then came this weeks Raw, and Punks return. As soon as he walked through the curtain her exact word were:

 

"Oh my god, this was all fake from the beginning! I feel so stupid, I thought it was real! What a bloody con!"

 

I'm not saying the live crowd would've felt this way, or even the people at home watching on TV, but I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of people felt a bit let down. I know up until last night I believed Punk was going to be the next big thing....now i believe he'll be mid-carding by the end of the year again.

 

It's absolutely fantastic that someone was dragged into that level, but if you allow yourself to believe it is real then you have only yourself to blame if you're disapointed.

 

The thing I don't get is, this was their hook feud/angle coming out of MiTB and Punk was their hottest property; going into Summerslam they were obviously going to bring that to a head. Anyone who is surprised that Punk is back in time for Summerslam let themselves get too carried away with the possibilities.

 

Had they let Punk sit SSlam out, they would have had to russell a brand new main event feud in four weeks which would have been so much more disappointing than anything else...

[Magnum]

My misses is not a wrestling fan, and normally reads her book whilst i'm watching the show, but on the Raw where Punk done his 'shoot' she couldn't keep her eyes off the screen. She was totally roped in, and has been since that Raw. The following Raw she was calling Cena all the idiots going because he went against Vince to get Punk re-hired (she actually started to believe it was all real and thought Cena would get fired). Then when Punk won the belt she was in utter shock! The following night when Vince got relieved of his duties, that actually upset her quite a bit, she went on about it for a few days and couldn't understand how that could happen and made comments like "I feel so sorry for Vince, thats so unfair" (by this time, i was enjoying going along with it). Then came this weeks Raw, and Punks return. As soon as he walked through the curtain her exact word were:

 

"Oh my god, this was all fake from the beginning! I feel so stupid, I thought it was real! What a bloody con!"

 

I'm not saying the live crowd would've felt this way, or even the people at home watching on TV, but I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of people felt a bit let down. I know up until last night I believed Punk was going to be the next big thing....now i believe he'll be mid-carding by the end of the year again.

 

Surely she would've known it was 'fake' the moment they gave him the title? Anyone who knows that wrestling results are pre-determined knows that they wouldn't have booked him to win that PPV match if he really was leaving.

 

I'm of the viewpoint that it's right to bring him back at this stage, because the company has momentum at the moment and a large part of that is predicated specifically on CM Punk. I think even a few more weeks of Cena as champion in a placeholder programme with Del Rio or Rey would've gone down like a fart in a lift with the fans who've been hooked by the Punk angle. I really do feel strongly that you don't get momentum like Punk's had recently too often in wrestling these days, and when someone is that hot, there's no such thing as overexposure.

 

Although I did like the viral aspect of it all last week, there's no reason why they can't maintain the counter-culture feel of Punk's angle with him on the show. If anything, it strengthens his stance at the start of the feud that Cena is a hollow figurehead for the establishment, particularly if Triple H refuses to acknowledge his belt and/or costs him the match at Summerslam.

[Carbomb]

Had they let Punk sit SSlam out, they would have had to russell a brand new main event feud in four weeks which would have been so much more disappointing than anything else...

[xear]

It's a strange angle this because in the eyes of WWE Rey is now listed as a former WWE Champ and John Cena is now listed as a 9 time WWE champ however in the eyes of fans CM Punk is still the WWE Champ cause he never got beat for it.

[RepoMan]

Haven't read the rest of the topic yet but I'll offer my thoughts before being tainted by everyone else's

 

I'm definitely torn on this one.

 

Good

 

- Miz/Mysterio as an opening match. Even though it pretty much gave away something big happening at the end, it was still a decent match and gave Raw a 'must-see' feel.

 

- Ziggler's 'new' theme, and more cocky attitude. I'd like to see him push that more, as it seemed to give him a better intensity.

 

- HHH vs R-Truth. Yes, I laughed. I don't care how silly it was, it was funny.

 

- JR's return. I look forward to the dynamic between the three guys, and hope JR can return to form. He didn't seem too bad last night.

 

- Cole as The Game. Simple but effective.

 

- Ryder on Raw. If anyone complains about HHH not putting anyone over .. seriously! Good that he's a babyface anyway.

 

- Del Rio/Kingston. Decent enough match made better by the HOT crowd for Kofi for some reason. In fact they were brilliant all night long.

 

- Cena/Mysterio. Very good main event. They worked well together, and I wasn't overly annoyed by the ending for some reason.

 

- Punk's return. Yes, they could have held him back longer, but I can't blame them for wanting to capitalise on his popularity at the moment. It's a very tricky call to make. Sometimes heat can burn out, so you don't want to risk losing interest. The million fanboy booking ideas were never going to happen, and it was clear from last night that he got a fantastic reaction. I just hope he doesn't get buried by Cena as they've managed to do a very good job with him.

 

Bad

 

- Morrison's return. It was the wrong time for me. Too much going on, and he's not big enough for people to care about at that point. He should've come back by costing Truth a title shot or something similar. A quiet crowd reaction from a crowd who were cheering the fuck for Kofi ..

 

- Women's match. No point whatsoever.

 

- Same old, same old. Like I said, I'm torn. They could have completely changed the way things were going, yet you don't want them to completely abandon things that have been put in place previous to the HHH regime. As long as he continues to make subtle changes along the way, perhaps that is the best way to go overall.

[Ravenhill Promotions]

Surely she would've known it was 'fake' the moment they gave him the title? Anyone who knows that wrestling results are pre-determined knows that they wouldn't have booked him to win that PPV match if he really was leaving.

Well we know that, but somebody who knows nothing about wrestling wouldn't see it as being that obvious, and although she believes its 'fake' she still doesn't know for sure whether it is or not. And being totally honest here, when Punk won the title, I still wasn't sure what was going on! I was like "well he must've re-signed, but how comes it hasn't been leaked on the net?"

[RepoMan]

Having read through this topic, I'm surprised some people are moaning about the 'lack of reaction' to Punk - his fucking music was playing! How the shit can you hear how loud the bloody pop was? Idiots.

[Shovanist Pig]

Change the ring mat Paulie. I'm sick of white already.

[Vito]

Having read through this topic, I'm surprised some people are moaning about the 'lack of reaction' to Punk - his fucking music was playing! How the shit can you hear how loud the bloody pop was? Idiots.

What's wrong with your ears? Cena and Rey routinely get the kind of pop which drowns out their music, Punk had that kind of pop at MITB, the pop Punk got on Raw was pretty quiet, probably because nobody knew whose music was playing. If Punks old theme had played I bet everyone would have gone crazy.

[RepoMan]

What's wrong with my ears? Absolutely fucking nothing. That music is ridiculously loud. There's no way you can tell whether that's a 'decent' pop or not. Go watch it again. I just did.

[IANdrewDiceClay]

What's wrong with your ears? Cena and Rey routinely get the kind of pop which drowns out their music, Punk had that kind of pop at MITB, the pop Punk got on Raw was pretty quiet, probably because nobody knew whose music was playing. If Punks old theme had played I bet everyone would have gone crazy.

EXACTLY! Thats whats called a tease. Did you not see Cena looking around not knowing what was going on. Or the fact that they only put the "CM Punk" logo on the screen when Punk appeared on the ramp. The effect was nobody knows what music is playing. The fans already got teased of a Punk return with JR and John Morrison. Now the fans dont recognise the music so arent expecting Punk, and he walks down. The response was exactly what they wanted. Punk got a class response. Repo Man is spot on about the music being loud as well. Look at when Cena raises the belt and look at when Punk raises the belt. If Punk never got a decent reaction then Cena didnt either (even though ... they both did!)

[METAL ON METAL]

What's wrong with your ears? Cena and Rey routinely get the kind of pop which drowns out their music, Punk had that kind of pop at MITB, the pop Punk got on Raw was pretty quiet, probably because nobody knew whose music was playing. If Punks old theme had played I bet everyone would have gone crazy.

 

I just watched it again and the reaction Punk got was even louder than I remembered when watching live.

 

His music gets heavier just after he comes out, which makes it seem less of a reaction. Him getting twice the reaction of Cena when holding up the titles pretty much proves it.

[RepoMan]

Seriously, I've watched it quite a few times as I thought it was a great moment, and everything was done to perfection. I love the confusion, the fact that they didn't go for a cheap predictable pop return, and yet he STILL got an awesome reaction when he came out. And as people have said, against Cena holding the belt up, he got a solid reaction too.

 

The return was in no way ruined by lack of familiar theme. The return was MADE by it.

[METAL ON METAL]

The new CM Punk t-shirt, which alot of people on here wanted, is now available on WWEShop.com:

WWEShop

 

This one won't cost you