Monday, August 8, 2011

LIVE Raw thoughts

11:13 - What can I say about that closing segment? Wow. Just wow. I was skeptical when they began heavily involving Triple H, and I was especially nervous when he started in on the war of words, but thankfully they honed it in on Cena, Punk, and the WWE Championship. And I will give WWE an immense amount of credit for the liberties they've allowed Punk, and bravo to Cena, Triple H, and Johnny Ace for being good sports about what has been said about them....to their faces. It was really good stuff, I especially loved when Punk brought up the recent releases. And as I said in a recent post, Cena and Punk bring the best out of each other character wise. They just mesh together so well.

My only issue is that they're burying Cena. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad they're not treating Punk with kid gloves here -- both Cena and Triple H have called him out on his hypocrisy. But they've also allowed Punk to go on these long, witty, clever, and passionate diatribes that express what so many people feel, and as a result any response is going to come up short. I don't think they're going to turn Cena heel, so they're heading up a dangerous road.

10:54 - Annnnnnnnnnnd where's that new belt Punk promised us?

10:46 - I don't know what the deal with Morrison is right now. Is he still legitimately injured? If so, why bring him back so prematurely just to job him out? And if he's NOT still injured, why job him out period? He's an exceptionally rare talent -- I honestly don't believe anybody can do what he does -- why not take advantage of that?

Actually, I long felt that they should have reunited Morrison and Melina onscreen. As either a heel or face pair, I think their union would have been mutually beneficial. Melina is the talker, Morrison the walker, so to speak.

10:42 - Did Morrison's crotch just land in Truth's knee doing that flip move? OUCH!

10:35 - Really cool segment to promote Cena/Punk at SummerSlam. WWE is really good at presenting itself as a serious athletic competitive sport. It's too bad they don't take advantage of that more often.

10:24 - I just checked the SummerSlam website. Indeed, Sheamus vs. Mark Henry is the only undercard match signed on the card. Why not hold off and have this match at SummerSlam? That may be the plan, but why even tease it? Why not just save the whole thing for this Sunday?

10:17 - "No more splits." Oh, is THAT why Melina was released?

10:13 - Actually, I wouldn't have minded seeing Eve vs. Beth when both were babyfaces. Eve is a supremely underrated Diva.

10:08 - Over in the comment section, Kyle has made some great points regarding JR on commentary. As Kyle states, JR is one of two color commentators, while Michael Cole is the play-by-play man. This is completely backwards and counter productive. I'm not as anti-Cole as most people. Actually, until about WrestleMania, I quite enjoyed Cole (particularly on NXT). So there is a role for him, but it just isn't as the play-by-play announcer. Ross is the voice of reason and the man focused on the action in the ring. Cole is the outspoken blowhard with a severe bias and a chip on his shoulder. Why not switch their roles? To me, it makes no sense that Cole opens the show and introduces two people he hates.

9:58 - Yay! "It's clobberin' time!" is back! By the way, I love the "Cult of Personality" theme, but I fear (just fear) that it doesn't have quite the same effect as Punk's old theme. The rhythm of the music doesn't give the audience a great opportunity to explode with a great pop. Maybe he comes out too early, and would be better off waiting until after the first "Cult of Personality."

9:49 - Has Kofi Kingston EVER beaten the Miz?

9:44 - Ordinarily I would be thrilled that JR is back on the announce table, but at this point I question why. He barely gets in a word, and I wonder if it's because he lost a step. I'm not sure it's because Cole is so abrasive, because he worked quite successfully with Paul Heyman. And JR also worked in a number of three person teams, including most recently with King and Coach.

9:38 - Random observation, but has anybody used the WWE logo on the stage more times than The Miz? Also, have any undercard matches even been signed for SummerSlam? A whole lot of guys don't seem to have matches.

9:11 - I liked the attempt to "hide" the discussion between Cena and Triple H (Cena did particularly well here, talking into his shoulder). Added some nice realism to the scene.

9:06 - I'm guessing that CM Punk has to fight Otunga and/or McGillicutty, to firmly separate him from the Nexus.

8:57 - After being out of commission for a few weeks due to vacation and company softball, I'm back with my Raw thoughts. Check back in about five minutes when the show starts.

2 comments:

Kyle Litke said...

On JR: It's probably not his fault. The correct thing to do is for JR to be the play by play guy with Lawler and Cole as the two color guys. That could really work well. The problem is WWE brought back JR and essentially made him a color commentator. Michael Cole is still the play by play guy and the guy who acts as the "main commentator", and that's an enormous mistake. It's good that JR is there anyway, he makes points that weren't being made by the other two, but he needs to be the one "in charge", not Cole. And I'm guessing that comes from the back.

Kyle Litke said...

Agree completely by the way. My "Cole Hate" comes solely based on him being the play by play. His current character is horribly miscast in that role. I think he'd be a fantastic heel manager, I think he'd be a very good heel color commentator...but as a play by play guy it simply does not work.