A phenomenal opening 20 minutes!

Alright, I'll cool it down with all the wrestling talk shortly (don't worry, there's a Heroes commentary coming your way!), but I just HAD to comment on the opening 20 minutes of tonight's Raw. In my last post I proposed that Raw go until September without a World Champion, creating a real sense of desperation for the brand before CM Punk decides to cash in his Money in the Bank title shot, unseating Edge for the World Heavyweight Championship and bringing the title back to Raw.

Well, the WWE took my advice, albeit on a much shorter scale. Beggars truly can't be choosers, because the way it was handled was truly near-flawless. The show opened with JR, who had been announcing for Raw for the past decade before being drafted to Smackdown last week, giving his farewell address. After talking for about 10 minutes, World Heavyweight Champion and Smackdown Superstar Edge came down to gloat about his victory at last night's Pay-Per-View. In a truly awesome moment, he then had his minions escort JR out of the ring (this was an excellent touch, as it gave a logical explanation for where they were later on). After promising the Raw fans that they'd never see him again, Edge started making his exit.

It was at this time that I was near the edge of my seat waiting for CM Punk's music to play. But, instead, Edge's music played. And instead of his music being interrupted, he started walking up the aisle. It wasn't until he reached the stage that somebody else's entrance theme played....but it wasn't CM Punk's. It was Batista's.

And after a brief staredown, the big man went on an absolute rampage, ripping apart the Rated R Superstar and making him pay for his cheap victory last night. After Batista unleashed his fury on Edge, I AGAIN was hoping for Punk's music to play. But instead, Batista's theme played as he began to exit.

I finally came to accept that perhaps WWE wasn't going to take advantage of this perfect opportunity. Maybe this was just their way of allowing Batista to get the upper hand without winning the title, now that he and Edge are on different brands. But as Batista reached the stage, CM Punk's music DID finally play. And out he came, with his briefcase in his hand and a referee at his side.

Punk hurried to the ring as Edge staggered to his feet. The challenger anxiously awaited Lillian Garcia's announcement that this is officially a title match. And just as the bell rang, Punk lifted Edge onto his shoulders and hit him with a GREAT looking GTS. He pinned the champion, and won the World Heavyweight Championship. And the best part is that this win wasn't in the least bit cheap, since Edge utilized this EXACT ploy not once, but TWICE! It was the perfect "taste of his own medicine" scenario. And despite the fact that I'm probably the biggest Edge fan you'll ever meet (I was a fan even BEFORE his Brood days), I was actually cheering out loud when Punk won the title. It was that well played out.

And although this wasn't a multi-month long angle in which Punk was made the savior of Raw with the entire roster getting behind him, the writers did do a commendable job of establishing the importance of Punk's title win, with both Rey Mysterio and John Cena making it a point to congratulate him during their in-ring promos.

For the first time in a long time, I honestly felt like I was seeing something different. And, as expected, the status quo has now been restored: Raw has the World Heavyweight Championship, Smackdown has the WWE Championship, and ECW has the ECW Championship.

UPDATE: Watch the scene, nearly in its entirety: