TAPED Raw thoughts

11:06 - I thought the end segment played out a lot better than it sounded like it would when I read the spoilers. My only real complaint -- other than Vince's loosened, crooked tie being REALLY distracting -- is that we got "Mr. McMahon" when we should have gotten "Vince McMahon." Since last week, WWE has, I believe, deliberately referred to him as "Vince McMahon." During Punk's promo, he referred to him as Vince McMahon. When the suspension was announced on WWE.com, he was referred to as Vince McMahon. And at the start of the show, Cena repeatedly referred to him as Vince McMahon. WWE has done an effective job of establishing that Vince McMahon is the person and that Mr. McMahon is the character. And throughout the week, dealing with "Vince McMahon" brought a lot of realism to it.

So, yes, I was a bit disappointed when McMahon came out with his exaggerated swagger and being introduced as "Mr. McMahon." And, of course, the cartoonish "You're FIIIIIIIIIIRRRRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEED."

But overall, McMahon and Cena both did an absolutely fantastic job of building the suspense and the epic feeling of the match. I totally plan on ordering the PPV, and I think it would be the first time since the brand extension that I have ordered a non-big four PPV.

10:55 - CM Punk is A LOT better at the worked shoot than Vince.

10:53 - Let's see how this plays out.

10:33 - Great video package for Riley. They've done a great job overall with these video montages.

10:29 - I love how they edited the Miz Girl into the Miz's Money in the Bank victory. Also, could you imagine Ted DiBiase in that match now, with that caliber of talent? Edge....Orton....Morrisonw....Miz.....DiBiase?

10:22 - "He was born in Africa!" One of those things that, while true, just comes out sounding really badly.

10:17 - These Money in the Bank videos are really cool, showing past matches and how the winner became champion shortly thereafter. Pretty effective way to push the PPV.

10:11 - Fun match that gives Del Rio some extra credibility going into Money in the Bank. For what it's worth, they're really selling the idea that Punk really is being removed from the match by immediately naming a new #1 contender and discussing how that person now needs to be replaced in their match. Plus, there's now a tailor made story next month with ADR claiming he's #1 contender (even if he has the briefcase).

9:59 - If this match legitimately decided a new #1 contender, and one of them really was removed from the match (and to be replaced by somebody else), here's a fun added stipulation: Each competitor gets to pick who would replace them in Money in the Bank. For argument's sake, let's say Rey picks Big Show, Del Rio picks Drew McIntyre and R-Truth picks Mason Ryan. Now, in addition to the three competitors fighting, you have three bystanders with a vested interest in who wins. Could create some fun interference scenarios.

9:48 - I love how nonchalantly everybody is blowing off the Iraqi sympathizer thing. They're saying "everybody makes mistakes" like he forgot to return a phone call.

9:41 - If I were Evan Bourne, I'd say "Yeah, keep me out of it when people bring up you siding with Iraq during the Gulf War."

9:38 - Not sure what they have up their sleeves with Zack Ryder, but at least they're doing SOMETHING with him. Looks like they may team him with somebody to take on Nexus. Maybe his former partner Curt Hawkins? David Hart Smith? Or here's an idea -- a returning Skip Sheffield (not sure when he's expected back).

9:30 - I'm surprised they had Nexus come out to Punk's music and not the original Nexus music. Seems like an easy way to disappoint your audience. Needlessly, too.

9:27 - So I'm curious to see where this World Heavyweight Championship thing is going. Is Sheamus getting inserted in the match, making it a triple threat? Does that mean his participation in the Money in the Bank match was a tease? If so, who replaces him? Ted DiBiase?

If Sheamus is in it, my bet is that he eats the pin, which classifies as Christian being "screwed over" and getting another title shot.

9:21 - I really like these FCW training videos with the Tough Enough winner. In the past, one of two things have happened with the winner of Tough Enough. They either debuted immediately after winning the competition, but they weren't ready yet. And the fans could tell, so they ended up struggling. Or they went through the proper training and re-appeared long after anybody cared about them. This is a good way of keeping him in the public eye while making sure he's ready for the big show.

9:11 - I really enjoyed that opening segment. They've got an interesting thing going here with John Cena coming to CM Punk's defense regarding his "suspension." And I was pretty surprised to see them bring up Daniel Bryan's firing and especially the confiscation of signs, since they're so anti-censorship. This was also an effective way of curbing all of the fans from turning on Cena and siding with the now ultra cool CM Punk.

9:03 - To all the people complaining that the Raw recap cut all of the best parts from Punk's promo, I think that's sorta the point.

8:44 - So before we get to my ongoing thoughts on tonight's Raw, I thought I'd discuss two things that I haven't talked about at length. The first is CM Punk's incredible Raw promo last week. Briefly, my favorite thing about it (other than the content) was the delivery. It reminded me of Jake "The Snake" Roberts, who used to sound so devious and passionate without raising his voice. Punk wasn't speaking in a whisper (like Jake used to), but he remained calm and composed throughout his entire speech. I love Edge, and I think he's got awesome mic skills, but even he relied on yelling and screaming in order to convey anger and frustration (even greats like the Rock and Ric Flair are guilty of this). Punk, on the other hand, expressed this wide range of emotions while speaking with a level headed tone. It was incredible. As the IWantWrestling podcast brought up, every word was so deliberate and well thought out. Just awesome.

The next is also about Punk. Specifically, TMZ's posting of his "gay slur" directed at a fan in Australia. While I do think people need to be conscious of other's feelings and hateful prejudices are unacceptable, TMZ is also exceptionally guilty of blowing anything that is remotely homophobic out of proportion. To me, this didn't seem like a big deal. I mean, Punk called the guy a bitch and said he has a vagina. But saying "homo" was when it went too far? C'mon...