It has come and gone. The 1000th episode of RAW is in the history books. If you read my review, it was a slightly disappointing show. Had it been a normal RAW with not as much hype it might have been better. But this show was hyped up like no other RAW before it and it just seemed to be a bit of a letdown. And just think, now the WWE has to fill 3 hours worth of programming with their own stars. They can't rely on legends to fill various time slots. The easy route is to just let their guys have 10-15 minute matches each week to help take time up. But we can't have that on a wrestling show.
RAW 1000 did have some noteworthy moments that left some thing to build on. First, lets look at the whole A.J. as RAW GM storyline. Again, I think this is just a simple fact of the WWE not knowing what they are doing with her. I'm sure they didn't expect A.J. to perform so well either. But now they have something that works and they don't know what to do with her. So they just threw her in the GM spot to keep her on TV for a while. They couldn't expand the program between her and Daniel Bryan anymore. But I fear this could end just like the whole John Laurinaitis experiment did. Laurinaitis was good in his role, but then he became over-exposed on TV and people became sick of him quick. My guess is A.J. tries to manipulate certain wrestlers to do her bidding. And eventually, she will turn heel and have her own personal henchmen just like every other heel GM has had before. I just honestly can't fathom a logical guess on where this is going.
Next we have the entire Brock Lesnar/Triple H debacle. I really hope Triple H standing tall at the end of this week's segment means that Lesnar wins at SummerSlam. In fact, if Lesnar doesn't win at SummerSlam then I would consider this whole experiment a complete failure. What would be the point? I can get Lesnar losing to Cena. I may not agree with it, but I can see the logic in it. But Lesnar losing to Triple H would be a big mistake. What does that leave for Lesnar if he loses? Triple H isn't even a full time wrestler anymore. Why would people care about Lesnar after another loss? The WWE has already done a good enough job mucking up Lesnar's return, as well as this angle, and they can't afford another gaff. Oh, and Stephanie McMahon making fun of Paul Heyman then appearing in a B.A. Star commercial was quite hilarious. Lesnar needs to win here to have any remaining value to the WWE. A win just to feed Triple H's ego would be bad for business. Hopefully even Hunter realizes that.
And of course, the big angle to finish the show, the heel turn of C.M. Punk. It is something the WWE had been planting the seeds for the past few weeks, but I didn't see it happening as it did. I just expected Punk to bring up the fact that he's been WWE Champ for so long, yet he still gets over looked and over shadowed by John Cena and The Rock. I didn't expect Punk to go heel in the process. Short term, I'm assuming we get a rematch between Punk and Cena at SummerSlam. Big Show needs to stay as far away from that match as possible. He would do nothing more than drag down the match. We would get 10 minutes of him just dominating Punk and Cena, which would be no fun at all. If you believe rumor sites, Cena is expected to win the WWE Title back at Night of Champions in his hometown of Boston, and not at SummerSlam. Cena has been away from the Title picture long enough that I'm fine with him being back in it, but I'm sure I will grow tired of him sooner rather than later.
The Rock, however, may have thrown a slight curve ball in future plans on Monday when he announced that he will fight the WWE Champion at the Royal Rumble. Now, logical booking ahead would mean this: The Rock beats C.M. Punk for the WWE Title at the Royal Rumble, then loses the Title to John Cena at Wrestlemania 29. Now of course, that contradicts reports that Cena would win the Title back at Night of Champions. With the WWE in favor of longer Title reigns recently, would they really have Cena win the Title in September only to lose it again in January? And would people really be that interested in another Cena/Rock match? A second route that could be taken would be to have Cena/Rock take place at the Royal Rumble, then have C.M. Punk win the Rumble and take on Rock at Wrestlemania. There are a lot of variables and moving parts with all of this. You have to think ahead to Wrestlemania 29 to see where each top guy fits in: Rock, Cena, Punk, Brock Lesnar, Undertaker. You want all of those guys in top matches, and its clear that someone might be the odd man out.
Of course, with C.M. Punk being heel again, it makes the possibility of a Punk/Steve Austin match at Wrestlemania 29 more likely. Austin recently had knee surgery that will keep him out 6 months, but that leaves enough time for Wrestlemania. Does the WWE really want to load up Mania 29 with Rock/Cena, Brock/Taker and Punk/Austin? Another idea I threw out there was the formation of a faction with Punk, Lesnar and Daniel Bryan lead by Paul Heyman. Punk and Heyman are close enough that I can see them lobbying for it to get done. There's lots of possibilities out there with C.M. Punk's heel turn, and we can only hope the WWE doesn't find a way to screw up their big summer angle again.
Some more minor observations:
-I don't know if I felt more sorry or happy for the Miz after he won the Intercontinental Title. The guy hasn't done anything in so long that I was glad to see him finally win something, but he's also fallen so far down the card that the IC Title seems like just something for Miz to do.
-Can we please just have someone beat Santino for the US Title already?
-As much as I don't want to see Daniel Bryan fight Charlie Sheen, it says a lot that the WWE has enough confidence in him to put him in a match against a top celebrity that they are bringing in.
-Has Rey Mysterio's return fallen flat or what?
-I really hope Dolph Ziggler and Chris Jericho get at least 15 minutes to have a match at SummerSlam.
That's all I have this week. See you all Monday for RAW.
Until Next Time,
Justin C
Follow Me On Twitter @JCWonka
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