Originally Posted by keg in kc
I thought that was great. I'm not a HHH fan at all, but seeing him walk out in a suit and basically be Paul Levesque the corporate guy instead of Hun-Tor the DX goofball was something different and felt fresh to me. The end maybe dragged out a little too much, but I never in my life thought I'd see Vince in tears at the end of a Raw episode. I thought the two of them worked the live crowd really well, taking them from "hey hey goodbye" to "thank you vince" in a couple of minutes. It didn't come off like I would have expected if I'd read about it instead of watching - HHH was not the evil son-in-law trying to take over the empire, and Vince ended up almost sympathetic at the end. It came across like Hunter doing something he didn't want to, being a businessman and not a character (even though he was of course being a character).
It was a way to keep Cena in the company, which let's face it, they have to do. You could see how bereft of star power they really are by just how blase the rest of the show seemed. I mean, if you'd ask me what kind of Raw I'd prefer to see, it would be one like tonight: a bunch of long, good matches where wins and losses count leading to a title-holder based on competition instead of contrived feuds. But the show seemed boring, without any real stars. Until Vince and then Cena came out at the end.
Having Punk off air makes the events of last night seem legitimate (plus gives him time off he both needs and deserves). He said he was leaving with the title, and by not showing up the next night, he's done just that, something virtually nobody else has done. It's not John Cena being fired and showing up 5 minutes later. And I think it was great to have his name a no-no until Cena showed up, at which point it had grown to a degree of "ooh, he said Punk's name" with the audience (meaning the live crowd).
As far as Cena goes, I'm mixed on him. I like that he's playing the 'not an ass kisser/corporate stooge' on one hand, but on the other it feels like they've forcing him down our throats even more. And he's the corporate guy by default now, since the corporation has now chosen him over Vince. There's a lot of subtlety at play there, but I'm not sure how much of it is intentional.
I'm not sure how I'd handle Punk going forward. I liked the idea of doing vignettes of him out with the belt, but that wouldn't fit in with the whole "ignore him and move on" bit. And they have to find a way to bring him back. There's an automatic feud in place with whoever wins the title (I'd like to see it be Miz, but Punk works so well with Rey, as much as I can't stand Mysterio), but there has to be a reason for him to come back. Because right now, why would he even care if there's another champion.
All in all, I didn't think it was a terrible Raw. Anything was going to feel like a letdown after last night. That was one of the best shows, and best crowds, I've ever seen. It was wrestling-heavy, light on the bullshit (Cole's announcing aside...) and was an extension of last night's PPV. Everything was centered around the new title and fallout from MitB.
And as far as "was that Russo booking?" goes, well, they had straightforward matches with clean finishes all night, so I'm going to go out on a limb and say no, that wasn't Russo booking.
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