Monday Night Raw Warm Up for October 10th, 2011

Listening to what WWE has had to say about it, last week’s Monday Night Raw from Lafayette, Louisiana was a historic night that ushered in the “Walk Out” era as most of the Raw roster cast a no confidence vote in Triple H’s tenure as COO. It was admittedly a bit surreal seeing the assembled referees, announcers, and wrestlers leave the ringside area with only Triple H remaining when all was said and done. Unfortunately, it was a poorly executed segment that’s only “historic” because we’re being told it’s historic with less than a week having passed.

Tonight’s show in Oklahoma City is being touted as the next piece of history as Triple H tries to pick up the pieces and move forward with only John Cena, Randy Orton, Big Show, CM Punk and Sheamus officially scheduled to appear.

PTB: I liked the way the show developed last week through the first few segments, but I can’t think of a group of guys I care less about than the ones they used in the opening matches. I find both Orton and MacIntyre unwatchable and the announcers don’t do them any favors saying things like “Orton is showing absolutely no absence of malice.” What good does crowbarring in a movie reference from 1981 along with a double-negative do for anyone?

Making matters worse, then they roll John Lauranitis out to be part of the ongoing Mark Henry/Randy Orton feud along with everything else and put John Morrison out there to face Mark Henry. Isn’t he supposed to be an US title challenger?

Brian: I love the way Raw flowed this week with a match opening the show, but having Orton/McIntyre and Henry/Morrison in a squash totally derailed my interest. I think I FFed through a lot of the show.

PTB: They set Alberto Del Rio on another championship run coming out of the pay-per-view and he’s immediately thrown in with David Otunga’s grievance group of malcontents. They let him be the mouthpiece longer than the others when they took the ring, but including him shows me they have no idea what to do with him. 

I honestly think it’s a better group without him, but I’m all about the mid-card guys.

Brian: He doesn’t fit at all. Additionally, what’s his grievance? He’s had 2 title runs since HHH took over.

PTB: That’s true and he’s been the one perpetrating many of the sneak attacks the others in the group seem to be complaining about.

It was great to see Santino Marella back. Where has this guy been?

Brian: Broken collarbone or separated shoulder from a car accident.

PTB: It’s funny that his match was immediately after Triple H was talking with Lauranaits about a no confidence vote because this showed they have no confidence in Jinder Mahal.

Brian: I think Khali is gone for good. What do you do with Mahal now?

PTB: He was squashed on Smackdown as well, so I have no idea. Coming out of that match we got a promo package for Brodus Clay… “the man who will become the future of World Wrestling Entertainment.” So, right now, he’s the potential possible pre-future.

Brian: If he’s the future or pre-future, i’m done watching. I can’t stand Brodus. He looks like King Bowser from Mario Bros. in a onesie.

PTB: A lot of time at this point in the show was dedicated to pre-recorded bits primarily Miz and Truth’s (or Mike and Ronnie as the refer to themselves on YouTube) apology video.

Brian: I think I FFed through it.

PTB: You didn’t miss much. I liked the idea of a 12-man tag team match highlighting the show last week. It put the major players from the Hell in a Cell pay-per-view against one another in an all-star rematch and announcing it at the top of the show provided something big to look forward to. It was a good way to get some new pairings in the ring particularly Rhodes/Punk, and Bourne/Del Rio. Christian also came off looking pretty good in this match. I’m a little surprised at the choice to elevate Mason Ryan (and Otunga for that matter) though. 

Brian: I thought parts of the match were good. The thing that stood out for me was that the heels would try illegal double team moves that just didn’t seem to pan out like they should have. I remember more than once where someone from the outside getting involved and the legal man would escape the ring. It was odd.

PTB: There was a lot going on. We also haven’t talked about C.M. Punk’s Superstars Ice Cream Bar t-shirt.

Brian: I love the idea, but not crazy about the shirt. I’m still partial to the lightning bolt on the hand shirt.

PTB: What followed after the big tag match could have been epic, but there were so many weird decisions made in its execution. I get that they wanted to show the locker room emptying to get to the ring, but why send the guys who just wrestled back out? They even brought them out in groups of heels and faces? The whole segment was as absurd as Aksana’s outfit.

Brian: The best part about this segment was the Bella Twins new ring gear!!! I could hear Joey Styles saying “OH MY GOD!!!”

PTB: With everyone out there for the vote on Triple H as WWE’s COO I couldn’t help but wonder how would you have voted before it all went down.

Brian: I would vote in favor of HHH. This whole angle is stupid. Nothing any different is happening now that hasn’t happened before.

PTB: Agreed. It was a brutal segment. After seeing it, I give everyone who organized it a no confidence vote. They’ve got people who could really work a scene like that (like Jerry Lawler) but it was so poorly put together I couldn’t believe it.

Brian: I have a vote of no confidence for this angle. Punk started this whole movement to change WWE. So why is he not spearheading this? Why is he not complaining about being screwed over?

Why would Zack Ryder walk out? He’s had more TV time than any mid-carder since HHH was COO.

PTB: Ryder at least was a victim of one of Mark Henry’s attacks so I chalked his walking out up to that. It’s hard to see why things are so “out of control” under Triple H compared to the normal chaos of Monday Night Raw. 

Maybe the crowd could have helped this segment, but they weren’t being shown anything they could get behind.

Brian: I don’t think the crowd could have fixed that catastrophe.

PTB: I did notice William Regal out there and I was thrilled he’s still around. He walked out with mark Henry and I couldn’t help but think he was just the guy Henry needs to put him over the top.

Brian: Regal is so good. Maybe he could be Cody Rhodes’ mouthpiece. I would much rather hear him.

PTB: It seemed pretty clear that Laurinaitis and his crew of “fired” guys are the ones “behind the scenes” helping to promote the chaos. I’m glad they left it without pushing the next angle though. It was an awkward ending, memorable, but kind of terrible at the same time.

Brian: It’s clear Laurinaitis is part of it, but who’s steering Laurinaitis? I’m sure we’ll find out soon as WWE seems to move these storylines far too quick.

PTB: I can’t believe we won’t know more tonight.

I can’t help but notice that the anti-establishment angle that started with Punk has taken on a trajectory much like the NWO did after the first two months. It’s amazingly less organized than that was, but it seems like it went from involving one guy to everyone in the company seemingly overnight. As you pointed out, the worst part is that the one guy it started with isn’t even involved.

Read more about World Wrestling Entertainment on MyLatestDistraction.

Keep up with all of our weekly Monday Night Raw Warm Ups:
October 3rd, 2011 edition / October 17th, 2011 edition (coming next week)