Instant Feedback: Triple H Is Solar Powered

Any momentum that was lost last week from the main angle was regained. Why did we have any doubt? Did we think the soul-sucking WWE machine could take CM Punk and rob him of his ability to entrance crowds? Turns out the answer to that is now. Punk, who got loud reactions from an iffy crowd all night, a crowd that faded in and out all night long, showed that he can curry interest for a wrestling match by opening his mouth, not by holding a belt up to new theme music.

And let's not take credit away from Cena. He went meta at one point, mentioning workrate in his nerdy voice, and that was great from a different standpoint, but the rest of his delivery showed him at his best. He needs to be the strong, moral, lawful good voice that counterbalances the Punk who's chaotic good persona draws in the male fans who like people who like to watch the world burn. The WWE could really be onto something if they cultivate a split fanbase and start exploring the fact that different wrestlers appeal to different demographics.

They'd also be wise to have Triple H play as much of a background role as possible. Of course, his forced star turn tonight couldn't come at a worse time in terms of selfish reasons, as I'm planning a bunch of entries that look to reconcile my past as a wrestling fan re: Trips, and if I end up coming to a conclusion that forgives him and he ends up fucking up SummerSlam? Yeah, I don't even want to imagine that. Triple H as a forefront character for this angle is bad. As someone in the background, he works, especially if he lets Funkhauser, err, I mean Super Dave Osbourne, err, I mean John Laryngitis... err, Laurinitis become the real lightning rod proxy. It also helps that Mr. Ace has a puro education, because I doubt that flash kick from Punk was the last bump he'll be taking.

Of course, the perfect contract signing wasn't the only thing going on here. A lot of stuff happened on RAW tonight, including two potential SummerSlam matches being taken off the card. The first saw Miz continue Rey Mysterio's injury angle with a STELLAR beatdown. Again, he shows why he's the best at the Pearl Harbor, bar none. Obviously, since Rey will be back next week for his rematch, it lends credence to the report that his injury is just a "tweak". The other match taken off the books potentially has been R-Truth/John Morrison. Some have been speculating that it's a warning shot to go along with Melina's firing. It makes sense to me, but again, no primary source, no reporting as fact. That being said, with those two matches being moved off the card ostensibly, is it too much to ask to see Miz and Truf win the Tag Pennies and become JeriShow 2K11 at SummerSlam? Please?

This was a banner night for promos. Alberto del Rio's spot before his match with Punk was pretty good. Truf was hilarious as always. Punk's line of "Triple H needing the spotlight so much that he's solar powered" was GOLD, JERRY, GOLD. Of course, the wrestling was good for the most part too. Cena/Swagger was good. Kofi/Truth was deceptively excellent. After a week where they may have taken off, RAW bounced back with a strong show, one that gives me hope that maybe, just maybe, they won't fuck up SummerSlam.

Do You Want Wrestling?

Pictured: Wrestling.
Photo Credit: WWE.com

Gabe Sapolsky posted his daily question on Facebook today, asking what people thought about RAW. The first comment was someone complaining about there being a lack of skits and backstage segments, implying that there was too much wrestling. It's funny, because the Sapolsky crowd usually is the one that's hashtagging #IWantWrestling on Twitter like it's their jobs. Then again, I have no idea whether this JP Ham fellow is part of that crew, but then again, he wasn't the only one. A lot of people were bemoaning the lack of segments on social media from what I saw. Some of them were calling the show boring before the show even began. One of those people was Sapolsky himself.

Yeah, the guy, who apparently is one of the godfathers of this push to want more wrestling saw that CM Punk wasn't going to be on the card and decided he was going to watch baseball instead. I guess he only wants wrestling if he's promoting it, which is fine, I guess. At the same time, to call a show boring before it even starts, one that was actually full of this thing called "wrestling", seems dishonest to me, especially among the fans, who don't have a monetary stake in wrestling and who proclaim to watch the product to be happy and be entertained.

So, when they get what they want, why are they clamoring for the status quo? I mean, there were seven matches last night, six if you don't want to count that Divas match and if you don't, I won't blame you. The only competitor in those six matches who was overexposed at this point was Rey Mysterio, and he had two borderline great matches with Dolph Ziggler and then R-Truth. The Miz worked babyface perfectly albeit possibly unintentionally. Kofi Kingston got to defeat Alberto del Rio and then cut a promo afterwards. This was everything that "we"₁ wanted. So why are there those among us who shit on the main event thrust of the show? It's the reason why we can't have nice things.

Granted, I know why people do this kind of thing. They're trolls, or they like complaining. I get it, but it's just frustrating, especially when that crowd for weeks says WWE doesn't give you wrestling. Two days in a row, two shows in a row, it was nothing but wrestling in the spotlight. I dunno.

But I'll tell you this. If you really want wrestling, then you're not going to comment on social media that there's too much wrestling on a wrestling show. There's no such thing as too much wrestling.

1 - "We" in quotes to poke fun at the stereotype that the Internet Wrestling Community has a hive-mind and thinks alike, disproven a clause later.

Hey, the Divas CAN Work (Kinda)

It wasn't bad, which for them is like saying "IT WAS FIVE STAR!!!1"
Photo Credit: WWE.com

So, as I mentioned before, I thoroughly enjoyed the entire episode of RAW last night. That included an extended match featuring Eve Torres, Kelly Kelly and the Bella Twins. Yes, I enjoyed that too. No, I'm not high on peyote. Please, stop laughing at me, it was a decent match. No, seriously, for them it was okay. Please, put the straitjacket down.

In all seriousness, it was the best Divas match that I've seen in awhile that didn't involve Michelle McCool, Mickie James, Beth Phoenix or Nattie Neidhart. I was surprised at the levels of competency in it, but I can bet that there was someone out there who wasn't. Razor of House Kick-Out!! said on The Wrestling Podcast last week (have you listened to it yet and have you left feedback? DO IT) that all he thought the Divas needed was just a little more time and a little more effort. I disagreed with it slightly, because really, there are only a few women in WWE right now who can give you a good match without being carried.

But then I watched the match. Granted, it wasn't Savage vs. Steamboat good, or even Masters vs. Ryder on Superstars good. Eve's shimmy before her standing moonsault was lulz-inducing in a bad way, and as my newest blogging Bromar Garciaparra (Mitch, we have another brother!) Brandon Stroud points out in his latest Best and Worst of RAW column at With Leather, Kelly Kelly's offensive output should be limited to an inside cradle after selling for the entire match, and maybe that stinkface she does, because that's hot and I get at least one pervy reference per blog post about women in WWE. The Bellas are works in progress too, although (and this should make Jason Mann happy) they are a bit further progressed than their babyface counterparts are in the match last night. So while quality-wise, it wasn't great, for them, it was like their Savage/Steamboat moment. If that makes sense.

What I hope happens is that next week, they get a little bit better, and with each week, the same. Then, maybe in a year, after some seasoning, some advice from agents who know the business and the like, we have some fine Divas wrestlers who can work a 8-12 minute free TV match with a goal that's more lofty than "not botch the shit out of the simplest things". It worked with Trish Stratus, who started out as a fitness model and left WWE as a bona fide wrestler. With Kharma coming back in less than a year and the spry and more-than-capable AJ being groomed on Smackdown, Beth, Nattie and I guess Gail Kim will have more "aces" to help them along with the maturation of the Kelly Kellies and Bella Twins of the world.

At the end of the day, that's all any of us really want. I honestly don't care if your women's division is full of vapid model types or full of gals like Sara del Rey, Madison Eagles, Cheerleader Melissa and the like. Just as long as they're competent and can do wrestling, most sensible wrestling fans will be happy. The Divas tag from last night was a step in the right direction for them, and hopefully, they'll keep getting it right more and more until hey, they're actual wrestlers.

Instant Feedback: Memorable Memorial Day

If you excuse the technical difficulties and the uncharacteristic clunkiness of the Ziggler/Kofi match, this might have been a pitch-perfect RAW. Just amazing how much of what they did right. I mean, I'm buying more and more of R-Truth as a clinically insane guy one felony away from Arkham Asylum each week, and John Cena this week was a perfect canvas to play off of. Seriously, the main event and overrun were amazing television. Imagine that, Cena gets outsmarted and bothered, and it's great TV. Hmm....

The thing with RAW is that whenever the wrestling is good, the show tends to be better. Let's ignore the US non-title match to start; again, everyone has an off-night, even Dolph Ziggler. The Divas are a non-starter anymore, so I won't even bitch about them here (Although I will later in the week). They gave us a good bit of good wrestling this week. Punk vs. Rey? Awesome. Bourne vs. Swagger? Awesome x 2. Cena vs. Truf? Okay although with a VERY clever finish.

But it wasn't just the wrestling that was good this week. They continued building Alex Riley to the point where I think they may have a burgeoning star on their hands with him. I mean, they are playing the right strings with him, very reminiscent of the Flair/Perfect/Heenan turn saga in 1992. They're actually building an honest-to-God wrestling feud sub-the main event with Evan Bourne and Jack Swagger. They had a match with a clean finish last week, extracurriculars afterwards and then a clean, traded upset win this week? And then the finish to the main event, with Truf doing perhaps the best thing he's ever done and ever will do in WWE, throwing the soda into the face of the fan he was taunting at the top of the show? Holy shit, so good.

But the capper was Kharma's segment. First off, warmest congratulations to Kia Stevens, the person, for her pregnancy. As an expecting father, it's the best feeling in the world to be bringing life into the world. Second, it was amazing they let Kharma, the character, go out there and cut a heartfelt promo. Did it ruin Kharma's mystique? Yeah, it might have. Would it have been better to have her cold-cock Michael Cole or do something else that would have elicited a suspension? Maybe. Were the obviously baiting bully comments by the Bellas over the top? Given that they were the heels in the situation, no. Was it stupid for Lawler to come to Kharma's defense when he was doing the same thing to Vickie Guerrero even earlier in the show? Definitely.

That being said, I thought the segment worked and it was way better than I had expected it to be. It also gives them an earnest babyface that connected with the crowd to bring back in the future. Just the cap on a RAW that was unusually awesome tonight.

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