WWE Raw rant 29/10/2012 (+HIAC finish thoughts)

Hell in a Cell thoughts

After reading about the HIAC WWE title match, I had to find it on Youtube so I could see if they'd protected Ryback enough. The finish saw referee Brad Maddox low-blow Ryback and then fast count when Punk rolled him up.

I suppose this was the best 'bad' finish they could come up with. I'm not a great fan of this but I suppose it did what it needed to do - keep Punk as the champ and make Ryback look strong from it. Even though he was pinned, he got back up, destroyed the ref and the then Shellshocked Punk on top of the cage; ending the PPV in command. Additionally, with no Cena on the show I suppose they weren't holding any hope of this PPV doing so well - so why put any effort into the finish (i.e having someone of worth coming back for a non-finish).

Raw

Raw kicked off with Punk (flanked by the 'belt carrier') basking in the glory of still being the WWE Champion (344 days). Out comes Mick Foley to give Punk crap on not living up to the legacy of HIAC (He won - surely that's the point? Was he meant to throw himself off the cage for it to mean anything?).

Randomly they decide to resolve their differences with a traditional Survivor Series match. I really like it when the Survivor Series actually delivers these types of matches but this seemed VERY random. It seems like throwing a match together to keep Punk's title reign going all the way to the Rumble. This way it 'rests' the title for a month and will probably result in Ryback getting a pin over Punk (when it doesn't matter) this time around.

It's a little disappointing that they haven't got a title match lined up for Punk's one year anniversary of capturing it - maybe they'll do something the week before?

Things of note in this segment: Punk again owns Cena by referring to himself being Kryptonite to the WWE's Superman (win after win after win). Also, I was surprised that JR's memory is letting him down - he seems to think that the HIAC finish was the most controversial he's witnessed in four decades in the business - so Montreal doesn't count then JR?

After smashing JTG (back to good ol' fashioned jobbers), Ryback cuts his first promo - not much to it and ended with a chant of his catchprase. A LOT more work needed before this guy stays at the top - he can't rely on just brute force forever!

The other main storyline from Raw is the growing AJ/Cena/Vickie saga. I really have no interest in seeing this. If it means Cena vs Dolph at Survivor Series fair enough, but just get these guys arguing it out - and not because of some 'affair' that might or might not have happened! I can't stand Cena (character) but he doesn't help himself by getting shitty over the allegations Vickie directs at him/AJ. If anything it really makes him look guilty - guilty of what though? They're both single - therefore get on with it John-boy!

As far as a potential Cena/Ziggler match in the future (more than likely at Survivor Series seeing as neither are part of the Foley vs Punk match) I can only see it going one way - a Cena win - WWE seem to continue to think that Ziggler can keep losing week after week, month after month and then win the World Title and it not look like crap! If they are going to give him that belt anytime soon then I'd rather see him STRONG leading up to it - not getting his arse handed to him all the time. I really hope they give him the win over Cena - clean - and then have him progress from there. That will be the perfect springboard for going for the big one.

Next on my hit-list is Irish Cena - Sheamus - he is getting more annoying by the week. I'm so glad that he lost the World Title as hopefully he'll get pissed off about it and get some attitude/aggression back.

The most annoying part of his speech was when he admitted that he 'didn't come to the WWE to always win'. I was absolutely shocked that he would admit something like that; he might as well say 'ah well, I lost the title but I'm having a great time and it's about the taking part, not the winning'. I always remember the likes of Triple H saying that if you're not in this to be 'the man' then you shouldn't be there - take note Ginger-boy!

This show felt very random by the end what with the random challenge of a traditional Survivor Series match - Foley hasn't been around for weeks and now he decides to show up to get back at Punk. The teams were a bit easy to predict too (Ryback/Kofi/Bryan/Kane/Orton vs Punk/Rhodes/Sandow/Miz/Del Rio) and could've been recruited/revealed in the coming weeks. I suppose this is a way to get some matches out of it without Foley having to be around until the PPV.

Lastly, there was no 'Brad Maddox payoff' on Raw - I'm not sure if they're selling the beating Ryback gave him (with wasn't much) but by next week, if they decide to reveal why he did what he did, nobody will care. It seems to me that his non appearance reinforced that the whole scenario was a last minute decision that they wanted to sweep under the carpet as soon as possible so that HIAC could be forgotten about and the Punk reign/Ryback 'strong' could continue.