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11:08 - That was an intriguing ending to Raw. Perhaps deliberately, Triple H's defense was weak and flimsy. He basically blew everybody off. And, thankfully, the writers didn't have the Superstars/Divas/referees back down. They didn't bring up a valid point and just back down when Triple H answered. They challenged him, to the point that Triple H had no option but to blow them off.
What I found odd, though, was that Jerry Lawler was the voice that ultimately tipped the scales. This guy has been getting physically involved at the announce table for years now. How was the Mark Henry situation any different?
The walk out was good, with it happening in segments. And WWE must certainly realize what a valuable asset they have in Jim Ross now. No other personality could have filled that role. Having JR be the last person to walk out was fitting and appropriate, and it hit the right note. There were a lot of nice touches as well, like having the cameramen leave as well.
The question is - where do we go from here? What do you think?
11:03 - Was Michael Cole walking out with the Raw GM Laptop?
10:57 - Let the Internet go crazy that -- gasp -- referee's names were mentioned!!
10:55 - Wade Barrett brings up some good points. Triple H's counterargument was weak. He said himself that when he wasn't the man in charge, he created chaos, but things are different when you're the one making decisions.
10:50 - I didn't notice, are Punk and Cena out there?
10:47 - So the WWE and World Heavyweight Champions came out to their show's music, but the play-by-play guy got his own entrance and theme? Yipes.
10:39 - I say this every week, but "The Great White" is the worst nickname ever. And the fact that they go with "Team Cena" and not "Team Punk" or even "Team Cena & Punk" is rather telling.
10:25 - It's never a good sign when you have to explain the legal mumbo jumbo to your audience. I try not to be overly negative, especially towards the people that Internet fans seem to take aim at, but it truly does amaze me -- and not in a good way -- that the red hot anti-authority CM Punk angle turned into a Triple H power struggle. Who in their right mind thought that was a good idea? Who could have imagined that the story would take that sort of turn.
10:17 - So does anybody remember the New Nexus? There hasn't been a single reference to the fact that CM Punk was the one who brought in Mason Ryan in the first place. Or the fact that they used to team with their opponent, David Otunga. I didn't see Hell in a Cell last night, but did that even come up during Otunga and Punk's backstage segment?
10:11 - Is it a bad sign when they don't even show the WWE Champion's entrance?
10:05 - I still don't really care for CM Punk's ice cream t-shirt. It's just too cutesy for his character. It's something that would work for Cena, but not Punk. Stick to the awesome Best in the World style shirts.
10:02 - This is a complaint Seth Mates (another former WWE writer) always makes, but it's a fair point. If Vince McMahon was removed from his position for his irrational actions -- namely, questionable decisions and firing personnel -- then why hasn't Triple H faced the same consequences?
10:01 - I know they're not scissors, but running with bolt cutters can't possibly be safe.
9:44 - I don't even know what to say about that Kelly Kelly segment. It was not good.
9:33 - It is remarkable how much louder the crowd gets for Vickie the second she begins speaking.
9:26 - I also suspect that Mark Henry is a genuinely good guy, because the former WWE writers on Twitter are constantly singing his praises (to, I believe, an excessive level). One says that he's making the WWE Championship seem secondary to the World Heavyweight Championship. I disagree. Generally speaking, the WHC has always seemingly switched hands less times than the WWE Championship. And, in my opinion, the champion and contenders have all acted like the WHC is a genuine prize as well. Another writer says that having a monster heel champion who can talk is unprecedented. How about Kane last year? The Big Show at various points? Batista? Yeah, there were Yokozunas and Undertakers out there, but c'mon, Mark Henry isn't breaking ground here.
9:22 - So do I need to turn in my IWC card if I say that Mark Henry isn't setting my world on fire? The truth is, we've seen mean, tough, angry Mark Henry countless times before. This is nothing new. The only the different is that he's getting a really, really strong push. And I'm happy for him, and I'm glad we're getting some fresh blood in the main event scene (then again, we DID have that with Christian also). Having said that, I don't think he's the highlight of the show and I don't think he's creating this perception that the World Heavyweight Championship is THE title in wrestling. Sorry.
9:17 - On Twitter I had joked that I wanted to see Drew McIntyre and John Morrison face to see if the bookers could find some way to job them both. Well, McIntyre jobbed to Orton (although gave a stronger showing than I expected) and who's going to do the deed for Mark Henry? Mr. Morrison! Let's see if it's competitive.
9:08 - Drew McIntyre lasted much, much longer than I expected him to. I thought we'd see an RKO immediately to end the match.
9:00 - I didn't notice, but has CM Punk been added to the opening signature yet? I only ask because I did see Mark Henry is on there now. Punk certainly should.
It looks pretty damn cool, I must say, although I am surprised by two things: One is that they're using the white strap, only because none of the other titles have used a different color strap since the early days of the Attitude era. And the second is that the Intercontinental title is the one that got the redesign treatment. Sure, most people prefer the classic look (it ranked #5 on my Top Ten Cases list), but was anybody really demanding that this belt get a facelift? Especially when the WWE Championship has been in desperate need for a redesign, and people HAVE been really outspoken about that. Even John Cena, on Twitter, said he wants the belt to get a new look.
On the topic of the WWE Championship, everybody seems to want the Winged Eagle style back. I'm in the minority here, but I never much cared for that belt. I always thought it looked too small and diminutive. When I was younger, I thought the Intercontinental Championship was the more prestigious title because, physically, it looked bigger. And Lord, did it pale in comparison to the Big Gold Belt. Maybe if they increased the size by 25-50% I'd feel different, but overall I think I'd either want them to go back to the Undisputed title or to a new design altogether.
So, what do you think of the "new" Intercontinental Championship and whether the WWE Championship will get a redesign as well?
6 comments:
I really loved the redesign of the IC title, love the white strap and hope that this is a new push going forward for the championship and the talent surrounding it, I'm very high on Cody Rhodes and I know that if he's given the chance, he can really turn it up to the next level. That being said, I also would love a redesign of the current WWE Championship, I'd prefer a new belt but I really loved the Atitude Era WWE Championship.
By the way, regarding the white strap, I would totally love for them to revert back to colorized straps. Actually, I had suggested that they have Rey Mysterio change the color of the strap depending on his uniform when he was IC champion.
Would be a great look, but they would be making a whole lot of belts!
I'll use that classic argument that it'll also give them more commemorative belts to sell. But, fair enough. I think they could do well with just a selection of colors that could go with various costumes (blue, red, yellow, green, white, black, for example).
Didn't watch it live so I'll respond now to a few things.
First, Mark Henry: People may be exaggerating it. BUT, let me see if I can make the point as to why I, who have never enjoyed Mark Henry's work (he seems like a good guy who works hard, just never liked him) have really liked his current run. #1, it's DIFFERENT than what we've been seeing. Every heel lately is the same. Cowardly, weak heels who aren't in the same league as Cena and Orton. Punk had to essentially turn face to be booked like that. Christian came close but as he went more and more heelish he was less and less in Orton's league, until he only one via a crazy stipulation and trickery. Miz, Truth, Del Rio, all booked as cowardly weak heels. Cena openly said Del Rio sucks and isn't in his league, then proved that to be correct by beating him at Extreme Rules and only losing here due to a triple threat stipulation and Cena being locked out of the cage. Mark Henry, meanwhile, just went out there and kicked Orton's ass, beating him clean. WWE hasn't really done that in a VERY long time. Sure, sometimes heels will beat up Cena or Orton, but that's always through dastardly sneak attacks and usually involve multiple people. In the context of a match, they never get beaten down like this. It's incredibly refreshing to see.
As far as why people are saying the WHC is higher on the food chain now, I don't think it is either, BUT, the argument is based on the fact that Orton and Henry actually seem to care about the title. That's what they're fighting over. Meanwhile, on Raw, it's a mess of inside references and lawyer angles and whatever. Punk lost the title to Del Rio and didn't even seem to care. Cena seemed much more concerned with whether or not Del Rio knew what his car was called as opposed to wanting the title (save for a brief promo about how Del Rio doesn't deserve the title because he sucks). There was some crappy buildup to Hell in a Cell, Del Rio won, which was immediately pushed aside for the Miz/Truth angle. And what happens on Raw the next night? It's pretty much ignored save for a few brief mentions. I'll get to this in my next post but we had literally no movement on the WWE title front last night. I don't mean no movement like the World Heavyweight title had, where we're not sure if Orton and Henry will fight again due to the pull apart brawl or not because Henry said he was done with Orton...I mean LITERALLY no movement. Nobody asked for a title shot. Cena didn't demand a rematch or overly seem to care that he lost his title last night. Punk didn't demand another shot. Just...nothing. With the next PPV 3 weeks away. Now the buildup has been cut down to "Hell in a Cell" time because the extra week between the PPVs is gone without even the tiniest bit of movement. At least Henry and Orton act like they care.
Okay, here's my second thing with Raw. I have major, major, MAJOR concerns for where this is going in the future. 2 weeks ago I had concerns because the overall storyline was getting a little convoluted, but I thought it still had a lot of potential especially with Miz and Truth fired. One week ago, I didn't like where they went with that (no Miz/Truth, HHH just saying he fired him cause shutup I wanted to instead of saying he discovered evidence they were the ones who, say, cut off Punk's mic or something like that), but again, I still thought it was salvageable. After Hell in a Cell, I didn't like how it ended (I liked Miz/Truth causing havoc, I didn't like HHH attacks them and beats them up while handcuffed) but still thought it was going somewhere cool, like an nWo style stable of renegades (not necessarily the nWo but something similar) with Miz/Truth/Nash/maybe someone else too. Now? I've lost all faith this is going somewhere interesting.
How did they follow it up? Did the renegades Miz and Truth show up and cause more trouble? No, they showed a youtube video of them meekly apologizing to the fans for having to file a lawsuit because they just want their jobs back. WHAT? That was what they came up with as the followup????? Nash meanwhile has disappeared off the face of the earth since Extreme Rules, barely even being mentioned now. And the show ends with a vote of no confidence based on...well, nothing that makes storyline sense. You could make a weird case for Vince being fired (in storylines) since he lost the WWE title to someone quitting the company. But what was this? The following people have legit storyline grievances against HHH that anyone could have taken seriously: Miz. Truth. The Cameramen. That's it. Miz and Truth were "fired" for doing something HHH did a million times, so they have a gripe even though it shouldn't have been enough to get HHH canned considering Vince would fire people all the time back in the day. The cameramen could have a gripe, they rarely if ever get attacked but Miz/Truth attacked them at HiaC because of something HHH did. Beyond that, nobody has a legit gripe. The heels whined because, what, HHH booked them in matches? Huh? The referees complained about getting beaten up...they ALWAYS get beaten up. Lawler complained and that literally had nothing to do with HHH. Mark Henry attacked JR because of comments JR made 15 years ago, and Lawler came to his defense. It wasn't even remotely connected to the HHH storyline. It is not even close to "more chaotic and more hostile" than it has been EVER. There's no legit justification in storyline, but the problem is they're not booking it as just the heels complaining (I could buy that). The writers want us to believe that everyone, even the faces, agree it's a hostile work environment and we're supposed to understand...yet they haven't showed us that. At all. That's poor writing.
And what scares me is this really seems obvious where this is going now. HHH will be forced to resign and who will come in to save the day? A McMahon! Probably Vince but off chance of Stephanie (although unlikely as I understand she's staying closer to home more often now). Because only Vince can run the day to day operations of WWE, you understand. I have a feeling that's what this ENTIRE STORYLINE was all about now, to teach everyone a valuable lesson that only Vincent Kennedy McMahon can run WWE. Every day that passes with another meek youtube message and nothing else from Miz/Truth and every day that passes without a Kevin Nash appearance is more and more evidence that any kind of a group with those 3 isn't coming, that more likely, Vince will return and rehire them and everything will go back to normal. Or if not Vince, then a new "GM" or "COO" who will probably end up answering to him or end up struggling just like HHH.
I hope I'm wrong. But that's what it looks like to me.
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